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Quaint vs Ancient - What's the difference?

quaint | ancient |

In obsolete terms the difference between quaint and ancient

is that quaint is overly discriminating or needlessly meticulous; fastidious; prim while ancient is a senior; an elder; a predecessor.

quaint

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) cointe, (queinte) et al., (etyl) .

Adjective

(er)
  • (obsolete) Of a person: cunning, crafty.
  • * 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.
  • (obsolete) Cleverly made; artfully contrived.
  • * 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 [...].
  • * 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 […].
  • * 1808 , (Walter Scott), Marmion XX:
    • Lord Gifford, deep beneath the ground, / Heard Alexander's bugle sound, / And tarried not his garb to change, / But, in his wizard habit strange, / Came forth,—a quaint and fearful sight!
  • * 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.
  • (obsolete) Overly discriminating or needlessly meticulous; fastidious; prim.
  • * 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 [...].
  • Pleasingly unusual; especially, having old-fashioned charm.
  • * 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

    * See also

    Derived terms

    * quaintly * quaintness

    Etymology 2

    A variant of cunt (possibly as a pun).

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (archaic) The vulva.
  • * 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.’

    ancient

    English

    (wikipedia ancient)

    Alternative forms

    * anchient, antient, aunchient, auncient, auntient, awncient, awntient (obsolete)

    Adjective

    (en-adj)
  • Having lasted from a remote period; having been of long duration; of great age; very old.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham)
    • , title=(The China Governess) , chapter=Foreword citation , passage=‘I understand that the district was considered a sort of sanctuary,’ the Chief was saying. ‘An Alsatia like the ancient one behind the Strand, or the Saffron Hill before the First World War. […]’}}
  • Existent or occurring in time long past, usually in remote ages; belonging to or associated with antiquity; old, as opposed to modern.
  • * {{quote-book, year=2006, author=(Edwin Black), title=Internal Combustion
    • , chapter=2 citation , passage=Buried within the Mediterranean littoral are some seventy to ninety million tons of slag from ancient smelting, about a third of it concentrated in Iberia. This ceaseless industrial fueling caused the deforestation of an estimated fifty to seventy million acres of woodlands.}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author=(Henry Petroski)
    • , title= Geothermal Energy , volume=101, issue=4, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Energy has seldom been found where we need it when we want it. Ancient nomads, wishing to ward off the evening chill and enjoy a meal around a campfire, had to collect wood and then spend time and effort coaxing the heat of friction out from between sticks to kindle a flame. With more settled people, animals were harnessed to capstans or caged in treadmills to turn grist into meal.}}
  • (label) Relating to antiquity as a primarily European historical period; the time before the Middle Ages.
  • (obsolete) Experienced; versed.
  • * Berners
    • Though [he] was the youngest brother, yet he was the most ancient in the business of the realm.
  • (obsolete) Former; sometime.
  • * Alexander Pope
    • They mourned their ancient leader lost.

    Antonyms

    * modern

    Derived terms

    * Ancient Egypt * Ancient Greece * ancient lights * Ancient Macedonian * ancient pyramid * Ancient Rome * ancientry

    Related terms

    () * antic * antique * antiquary * antiquarian * antiquated * antiquity

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A person who is very old.
  • A person who lived in ancient times.
  • (heraldry, archaic) A flag, banner, standard or ensign.
  • * 1719 ,
    • I got all things ready as he had directed, and waited the next morning with the boat washed clean, her ancient and pendants out, and everything to accommodate his guests..
  • (UK, legal) One of the senior members of the Inns of Court or of Chancery.
  • (obsolete) A senior; an elder; a predecessor.
  • * Hooker
    • Junius and Andronicus were his ancients .

    References

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    Statistics

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    Anagrams

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