Couthie

Word of the Day for Friday, January 4, 2013

Couthie \KOO-thee\, adjective:

Agreeable; genial; kindly.

Occasionally he'd stab one of the buttons, never managing to stop the machines' couthie chatter of grunts and whistles.
-- James Meek, The Heart Broke In

… That her coming away from home was no small loss to England, not but that England, as we all knew, had many ladies, yet could not have many so couthie, and kind, and willing to help, as Mrs. Doctor More.
-- William Tait, "The Roads Through the World," Tait's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 24

Couthie stems from the Old English word cūth, originally meaning "to know." It arose in the 1700s in Scotland in the sense of "agreeable."

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com