quean

American  

[kween] / kwin /

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.

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quean British  

/ kwiːn /

noun

1. archaic

   1. a boisterous, impudent, or disreputable woman

   2. a prostitute; whore

2. a young unmarried woman or girl

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Other Word Forms

• queanish adjective
• queanlike adjective

Etymology

Origin of quean

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 kwenōn-; akin to Old English cwēn “woman, queen” ( see queen)

Example Sentences

Then, after the feast ye shall dance—dance, Elsie, as danced that other bonnie quean they caaed the dochter o' Herodias.

From Deep Moat Grange by Crockett, S. R. (Samuel Rutherford)

"Did I know Kate Happer?" replied the widow; "as well as the beggar knows his dish—a canty quean was Kate, and a special cummer of my ain maybe twenty years syne."

From The Monastery by Scott, Walter, Sir

Thou talkest like a foolish quean that has been frightened by the fluttering of her own poultry.

From The Headsman The Abbaye des Vignerons by Cooper, James Fenimore

She could coax you to the buying like a Cumnock quean, and fleece you in the selling like the cadgers o' Kincardine.

From The House with the Green Shutters by Brown, George Douglas

From commère comes Scot. cummer or kimmer— "A canty quean was Kate, and a special cummer of my ain."

From The Romance of Words (4th ed.) by Weekley, Ernest

Related Words

• tramp
• whore