coy
adjective/kɔɪ/
/kɔɪ/
- shy or pretending to be shy and innocent, especially about love or sex, sometimes in order to make people more interested in you
- She gave me a coy smile.
- He went all coy when I mentioned her name.
- She gave him a rather coy look.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryverbs- be
- play
- go
- …
- all
- extremely
- very
- …
- coy (about something) not willing to give information about something, or give answers that tell people too much about you synonym reticent
- She was a little coy about how much her contract is worth.
- The company is coy about revealing its profits.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryverbs- be
- remain
- extremely
- fairly
- very
- …
- about
Word OriginMiddle English: from Old French coi, quei, from Latin quietus ‘repose, quiet’. The original sense was ‘quiet, still’ (especially in behaviour), later ‘modestly retiring’, and hence (of a woman) ‘affecting to be unresponsive to advances’.
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coy