kwee

English

Alternative forms

• c'we

Contraction

kwee

1. (chiefly US, childish) Contraction of can +‎ we.
   • 1986, Peter De Vries, The Prick of Noon‎, page 186:

     "I do. Kwee do this fast? Kwee hurry this up?"

   • 1998, James Kaplan, Two Guys from Verona‎, page 189:

     “Kwee have gummy bears?” Faith asks.
     “No. No candy in the morning.” I'm making this up, but it sounds right.

   • 2011, Audrey Vernick, Water Balloon‎, page 43:

     “Daddy, kwee have pancakes?” Rachel asked, a little too brightly.

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch quede, from Old Dutch [Term?], from Proto-West Germanic [Term?], from Latin *quidōnea (see cotōneum, cydōnium), from Ancient Greek κυδώνιον (kudṓnion).

The n seen in Latin and Greek was lost at some point after the Germanic borrowing from Latin, likely due to its re-interpretation as a plural ending (an instance of back-formation); compare Luxembourgish Quitt.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

kwee m or f (plural kweeën, diminutive kweetje n)

1. quince (Cydonia oblonga, plant or fruit)

   Synonyms: kweepeer, kweeappel

Derived terms

• kweeappel
• kweeboom
• kweepeer
• sierkwee

References

• van der Sijs, Nicoline, editor (2010), “kwee¹”, in Etymologiebank, Meertens Institute

Further reading

• kweepeer on the Dutch Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^nl