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coy (koi)
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adj. coy·er, coy·est
1.
a. Affectedly and often flirtatiously shy or modest: "I pictured myself as some sylvan deity, and she a coy wood nymph of whom I was in pursuit" (Washington Irving).
b. Characterized by or suggesting such shyness or modesty: "How absurd I must have looked standing there before him ... a coy little simper on my foolish young face" (Jane Avrich).
2. Unwilling to make a commitment or divulge information: "As a child, when I asked my mother her age she was coy and evasive" (Lynne Sharon Schwartz).
3. Tending to avoid people and social situations; reserved: "The children were staring up at him, too coy to question him and too curious not to stare" (Edwidge Danticat).

[Middle English, from Old French quei, coi, quiet, still, from Vulgar Latin *quētus, from Latin quiētus, past participle of quiēscere, to rest; see kweiə- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]

coyly adv.
coyness n.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.