noun
quean
Quean (noun) means (dated) A woman seen as bold or of low reputation, or a prostitute.
noun
1
(dated) A woman seen as bold or of low reputation, or a prostitute.
2
(dialect) A young woman or girl, especially someone's daughter.
"Forbye the two queans there was the son, John Gordon, as coarse a devil as you’d meet, he’d already had two–three queans in trouble and him but barely eighteen years old."
— Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Sunset Song (A Scots Quair) (1932)
Vocabulary Flow
Build your vocabulary from words like quean.
Vocabulary Flow serves the next word, and the next — meaning, pronunciation and an example each time. Practice at your level, or learn English in your own language.
Start vocabulary practice
Etymology
From Middle English quene (“young, robust woman”), from Old English cwene (“woman, female serf”), from Proto-West Germanic *kwenā, from Proto-Germanic *kwenǭ (“woman”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷḗn (“woman”). Doublet of gyne and queen. Cognate with Dutch kween (“a barren woman, a barren cow”), Low German quene (“barren cow, heifer”), German Kone (“wife”), Swedish kvinna (“woman”), Icelandic kona (“woman”), Gothic 𐌵𐌹𐌽𐍉 (qinō, “woman”), 𐌵𐌴𐌽𐍃 (qēns, “wife”).
Rhymes for quean
See all rhymes for quean →Frequently asked questions
What is the meaning of quean?
"quean" (noun) means (dated) A woman seen as bold or of low reputation, or a prostitute.
What are the different meanings of quean?
"quean" has 2 main meanings: 1. (dated) A woman seen as bold or of low reputation, or a prostitute; 2. (dialect) A young woman or girl, especially someone's daughter.
