quaint

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: B2 — Upper-Intermediate

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. adjective strange in an interesting or pleasing way
  2. adjective very strange or unusual; odd or even incongruous in character or appearance; - Bill Beatty; - Sir Walter Scott
  3. adjective attractively old-fashioned (but not necessarily authentic)

Etymology

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

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