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Vinony

coyness

noun

  1. reluctance to do something or be explicit about it
L318801 on Wikidata ↗

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /kɔɪnɛs/ / /kɔɪnəs/

noun

Etymology: Etymology tree English coy Proto-Germanic *-inōną Proto-Indo-European *-dyé- Proto-Germanic *-atjaną Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Germanic *-þuz Proto-Germanic *-assuz Proto-Germanic *-inassuz Proto-West Germanic *-nassī Old English -nes Middle English -nesse English -ness English coyness From coy + -ness.

  1. The property of being coy.

    “Her coyneſs was conquered by aſſiduity, and at laſt ſhe conſented to reſign the treaſure of her charms to my paſſion.”

    “Former Harvard professor and communist Noel Ignatiev, who co-founded the New Abolitionist Society and founded a journal called Race Traitor, named after a book he coauthored in the mid-1990s, famously advocated for the complete abolition of the white race […] Note a certain coyness about whether this destruction refers to only a white race category or to all white-skinned people.”