Quaint

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /kweɪnt/

Definitions

1. Having an old-fashioned or unusual charm that is pleasing and interesting ; being charmingly odd or whimsically unusual in style or character
2. Attractive due to being unusual or from an earlier time period ; pleasantly strange or quirky in a way that appeals
3. Appealing because it looks or feels like something from the past ; exhibiting a whimsical or quaint peculiarity that attracts attention

Etymology: The word "quaint" began as a compliment to cleverness rather than charm. In Old French, "cointe" meant "pretty, clever, knowing," and English borrowed it in its Middle English forms "queynte" and "quoynte." Its deepest root is the Latin "cognitus," the past participle of "cognoscere" ("to know"), so the adjective's distant ancestor is a word about knowing things. Those early senses drifted far from the modern one. Middle English speakers used "quaint" to describe things that were skilfully made or cleverly contrived, and it could also suggest something strange or fastidious. Over the centuries the word's meaning shifted from ingenuity toward oddness, and eventually toward the pleasantly old-fashioned sense it carries today.

Synonyms: charming, old-fashioned, picturesque

Antonyms: modern, unattractive