What does coigne mean?
Coigne is a largely literary English noun meaning a corner, angle, or projecting point, and — far more commonly — an advantageous or commanding position, as in the set phrase 'a coign of vantage.' The word descends from Old French coin, meaning corner or wedge, which also gave English the words coin and quoin; all trace back to Latin cuneus, a wedge. In everyday modern usage, coigne appears almost exclusively in that single Shakespearean phrase: Macbeth's witches speak of 'the very portage of the knife' from a coign of vantage, and writers have leaned on the expression ever since to describe any perch, balcony, or outlook offering a superior view or strategic edge. Because of its rarity elsewhere, using coigne lends a sentence a distinctly elevated, archaic flavor, and careful writers reserve it for contexts — literal or figurative — where a position of advantage is genuinely at issue.
nounA corner, angle, or projecting point, especially a favorable position from which to observe or act. The word survives almost exclusively in the phrase 'coign of vantage,' meaning a commanding or advantageous standpoint.
- A corner, angle, or projecting point of a structure.
- (In the fixed phrase 'coign of vantage') A position giving a commanding or advantageous view or outlook.
"From his coign of vantage on the balcony, she watched the entire procession pass below."
"The mason fitted the stones carefully at each coigne of the old tower."
"The reporter found a coign of vantage near the podium where she could see and hear everything."
The plural is rare, since the word itself is uncommon and usually appears in the singular fixed phrase.
"The fortress's coignes offered archers clear lines of fire in every direction."
'Coign of vantage' is one of English's great fossil phrases — Shakespeare coined it in Macbeth, and it has refused to die ever since.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of coigne
Coigne comes from Old French coin, meaning 'corner, angle, or wedge,' ultimately from Latin cuneus, 'wedge.' The same French word produced both English 'coin' (originally a wedge-shaped die for stamping money) and 'quoin' (the cornerstone of a wall). The famous phrase 'coign of vantage' entered English through Shakespeare's Macbeth in the early seventeenth century and remains the word's principal surviving habitat.
Related word forms
How coigne is actually used
Coigne is rare and chiefly literary today; outside the phrase 'coign of vantage' it will strike most readers as archaic. The spellings coign and coigne are interchangeable, with coigne being the more traditional form. It carries a somewhat elevated, bookish connotation.
Easily confused with coigne
Quoin refers specifically to the solid exterior corner stones of a masonry wall (or the wedge used in printing), while coigne is the broader, mostly figurative word for a corner or advantageous vantage point.
Coin is money or metal currency, whereas coigne means a corner or vantage point; the two share an ancient root but are entirely separate words in modern use.