different between quaint vs singular

English

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) enPR: kw?nt, IPA^(key): /kwe?nt/, [k?we??nt]
• Rhymes: -e?nt

Etymology 1

From Middle English queynte, quoynte, from Anglo-Norman cointe, queinte and Old French cointe (“pretty, clever, knowing”), from Latin cognitus, past participle of cogn?sc? (“I know”).

Adjective

quaint (comparative quainter, superlative quaintest)

1. (obsolete) Of a person: cunning, crafty. [13th-19th c.]
   • 1591, William Shakespeare, Henry VI part 2:

     But you, my Lord, were glad to be imploy'd, / To shew how queint an Orator you are.

2. (obsolete) Cleverly made; artfully contrived. [14th-19th c.]
   • 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book IX:

     describe races and games, / Or tilting furniture, imblazon'd shields, / Impresses quaint, caparisons and steeds, / Bases and tinsel trappings [...].

3. (now dialectal) Strange or odd; unusual. [from 14th c.]
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, IV.4:

     Till that there entered on the other side / A straunger knight, from whence no man could reed, / In quyent disguise, full hard to be descride […].

   • 1924, Time, 17 Nov 1924:

     What none would dispute though many smiled over was the good-humored, necessary, yet quaint omission of the writer's name from the whole consideration.

4. (obsolete) Overly discriminating or needlessly meticulous; fastidious; prim. [15th-19th c.]
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.7:

     She, nothing quaint / Nor 'sdeignfull of so homely fashion, / Sith brought she was now to so hard constraint, / Sate downe upon the dusty ground anon [...].

5. Pleasingly unusual; especially, having old-fashioned charm. [from 18th c.]
   • 1815, Jane Austen, Emma:

     I admire all that quaint, old-fashioned politeness; it is much more to my taste than modern ease; modern ease often disgusts me.

   • 2011, Ian Sample, The Guardian, 31 Jan 2011:

     The rock is a haven for rare wildlife, a landscape where pretty hedgerows and quaint villages are bordered by a breathtaking, craggy coastline.

Synonyms

• (overly discriminating): See also Thesaurus:fastidious

Derived terms

• quaintly
• quaintness
• quaintsome

Translations

Etymology 2

A variant of cunt (possibly as a pun).

Noun

quaint (plural quaints)

1. (archaic) The vulva. [from 14th c.]
   • c. 1390, Geoffrey Chaucer, "The Wife of Bath's Tale", Canterbury Tales:

     And trewely, as myne housbondes tolde me, / I hadde þe beste queynte þat myghte be.

   • 2003, Peter Ackroyd, The Clerkenwell Tales, p. 9:

     The rest looked on, horrified, as Clarice trussed up her habit and in open view placed her hand within her queynte crying, ‘The first house of Sunday belongs to the sun, and the second to Venus.’

Anagrams

• quinta

Middle English

Adjective

quaint

1. Alternative form of queynte

English

Alternative forms

• sing., sg., sg (abbreviation)

Etymology

From Middle English singuler, borrowed from Old French, from Latin singul?ris (“alone of its kind”), from Latin singulus (“single”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?s???j?l?/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?s???j?l?/

Adjective

singular (comparative more singular, superlative most singular)

1. Being only one of a larger population.

   Synonym: individual

   Antonym: general

2. Being the only one of the kind; unique.

   • The busts […] of the emperors and empresses are all very scarce, and some of them almost singular in their kind.

   • And God forbid that all a company / Should rue a singular manne's folly.

   • 1620, Francis Bacon, Novum Organum

     singular instances

   Synonym: unique

3. Distinguished by superiority: peerless, unmatched, eminent, exceptional, extraordinary.

   Synonyms: exceptional, extraordinary, remarkable

4. Out of the ordinary; curious.
   • 1641, John Denham, The Sophy

     So singular a sadness / Must have a cause as strange as the effect.

   Synonyms: curious, eccentric, funny, odd, peculiar, rum, rummy, strange, unusual

5. (grammar) Referring to only one thing or person.

   Antonym: plural

6. (linear algebra, of matrix) Having no inverse.

   Synonym: non-invertible

   Antonyms: invertible, non-singular

7. (linear algebra, of transformation) Having the property that the matrix of coefficients of the new variables has a determinant equal to zero.
8. (set theory, of a cardinal number) Not equal to its own cofinality.
9. (law) Each; individual.

10. (obsolete) Engaged in by only one on a side; single.

    • Thus made he an end, and the two princes allowed well of his last motion, and so order was taken, that they should fight togither in a singular combat

Synonyms

• (being only one): see also Thesaurus:specific
• (being the only one of a kind): see also Thesaurus:unique
• (being out of the ordinary): see also Thesaurus:strange

Antonyms

• (being only one): see also Thesaurus:generic

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

singular (plural singulars)

1. (grammar) A form of a word that refers to only one person or thing.

   Antonym: plural

2. (logic) That which is not general; a specific determinate instance.

Derived terms

• singulare tantum

Related terms

• plural

Translations

See also

• (grammatical numbers) grammatical number; singular, dual, trial, quadral, paucal, plural ^{(Category: en:Grammar)}

Further reading

• singular in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• singular in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• singular at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• rail guns, railguns

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin singul?ris. Doublet of senglar.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /si?.?u?la/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /si?.?u?la?/

Adjective

singular (masculine and feminine plural singulars)

1. singular

   Antonym: plural

Derived terms

• singularment

Related terms

Galician

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin singul?ris.

Adjective

singular m or f (plural singulares)

1. (grammar) singular

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin singul?ris. Doublet of senheiro.

Adjective

singular m or f (plural singulares, comparable)

1. singular (being the only one of a kind)

   Synonym: único

2. (grammar) singular (referring to only one thing)

   Antonym: plural

Derived terms

• singularmente

Related terms

• singularidade

Noun

singular m (plural singulares)

1. (grammar) singular (form of a word that refers to only one thing)

   Antonym: plural

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin singul?ris.

Noun

s?ngul?r m (Cyrillic spelling ??????????)

1. singular

   Synonym: jednìna

Declension

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin singul?ris. Doublet of señero.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sin?u?la?/, [s??.?u?la?]

Adjective

singular (plural singulares)

1. singular

   Antonym: plural

2. odd, peculiar

Derived terms

• singularmente

Related terms

• singularidad

Noun

singular m (plural singulares)

1. singular

   Antonym: plural

Further reading

• “singular” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.