quaint English · revision 100

5 Oct 2026, 20:55 by bogdan “Extended entry (pronunciation, etymology, semantic history, meanings) from AHD, Etymonline, MW, OED, RHWU, Wiktionary”
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+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA: /kweɪnt/^(Wiktionary)
+ * Respelling: ''kwānt''^(AHD)^(RHWU)
+ 
+ ==Etymology==
+ Recorded from c. 1200 as ''cointe'', ''cwointe'';^(Etymonline) the modern spelling dates from the early 14th century.^(Etymonline) From [[enm|queinte]],^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU) [[bor|fro|cointe|t=knowledgeable, clever; elegant; proud]], ''queinte'',^(Etymonline)^(RHWU) [[der|la|cognitus|t=known]], past participle of [[la|cognōscere|t=to get to know]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(Etymonline) Compare [[cognition]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)
+ 
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ “Cunning, artful, ingenious”, in both good and bad senses;^(Etymonline) of persons, “wise, skilled, clever”.^(OED 1989)^(MW Collegiate)
+ 
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ The word moved from cleverness to the things cleverness produces, “elaborate, skilfully made” (c. 1300), and then to “strange, fanciful, odd” (mid-14th century).^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) All the old senses are now archaic or obsolete;^(Etymonline) Etymonline suggests that the mixture of good and bad senses may have contributed to this.^(Etymonline) The word became rare after about 1700, then recovered in the sense “unusual or old-fashioned but charming”.^(Etymonline)
+ 
+ ==Timeline==
+ * c. 1200 – “cunning, artful, ingenious; proud”.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)
+ * c. 1290 – of things, “ingeniously contrived; elaborate”.^(OED 1989)
+ * 14th century – of things and dress, “beautiful, fine, elegant”.^(OED 1989)
+ * mid-14th century – “strange, fanciful, odd”.^(Etymonline)
+ * 1782 – “unusual or old-fashioned but charming”; the OED's first quotation is from 1795.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)
+ 
+ ==Modern meaning==
+ ===Adjective===
+ # Attractively unusual or old-fashioned; picturesque.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)
+ # Strange or unusual in an interesting or amusing way.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)
+ # ''(obsolete)'' Skilled, clever; skilfully made.^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)
+ 
+ ==Word family==
+ * [[quaintly]]^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)
+ * [[quaintness]]^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)
+ 
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[cognition]], [[cognizance]]^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(Etymonline)
+ 
+ ==References==
+ {{reflist}}