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View synonyms for

quean

[ kween ]

noun

  1. Archaic. an overly forward, impudent woman; shrew; hussy.
  2. Archaic. a prostitute.
  3. British Dialect. Sometimes quine. a girl or young woman, especially a robust one.


quean

/ ɾː /

noun

  1. archaic.
    1. a boisterous, impudent, or disreputable woman
    2. a prostitute; whore
  2. a young unmarried woman or girl
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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Other Word Forms

  • ܱ𲹲· adjective
  • ܱ𲹲· adjective
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Word History and Origins

Origin of quean1

First recorded before 1000; Middle English quene, Old English cwene; cognate with Middle Dutch quene, kone, Old Saxon, Old High German quena, Gothic qino, from unattested Germanic ɱō-; akin to Old English ŧ “woman, queen” ( queen )
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Word History and Origins

Origin of quean1

Old English cwene; related to Old Saxon, Old High German quena, Gothic qino, Old Norse kona, Greek ܲŧ woman. Compare queen
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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

“Like, we should be able to wear leggings without feeling like it’s a problem because guys will be staring at us,” student Quean Foster told a local NBC News affiliate.

From

While the author of the “Anatomy of Melancholy” is still more unkind, for he says— “A filthy knave, a deformed quean, a crooked carcass, a maukin, a witch, a rotten post, a hedge-stake may be so set out and tricked up, that it shall make a fair show, as much enamour as the rest.”—Part iii. sect.

From

Deil a wig has a provost of Fairport worn sin’ auld Provost Jervie’s time—and he had a quean of a servant-lass that dressed it hersel’, wi’ the doup o’ a candle and a dredging box.

From

For the boatmen had scarce told us the matter, and that it was a man and a woman for stealing glazed windows out of housen, and that the man was hanged at daybreak, and the quean to be drowned, when lo; they did fling her off the bridge, and fell in the water not far from us.

From

There is many a quean in it, fairer than I twice told, and not spoiled with weeping.

From

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