"Q" Word Origins

Quentin

Latin

From Latin Quīntīnus, a derivative of the Roman praenomen Quīntus, from quīntus ("fifth").

querida

Spanish

Borrowed from Spanish querida, "beloved," from querer, "to love, to want."

querk

Origin

From Middle English querken (also as querkenen), from Old Norse kvirkja (“to strangle”), from Proto-Germanic *kwirkijaną, from Proto-Germanic *kwerkō (“gullet, throat”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷergʷ-, *gʷerkʷ-, *gʷerw- (“throat, neck”). Cognate with Old Frisian querka ("to strangle"; > North Frisian querke, quirke (“to querk”)), Danish kværke (“to throttle, strangle, suffocate”), Icelandic kyrkja, kvirkja (“to throttle, strangle”), Middle Low German querken (“to strangle”), Middle Low German querke, quarke (“throat, gullet”), Old High German querka, querkela (“throat, gullet”), Latin gurguliō (“throat”). More at gurgle.

querulous

Origin

From Old French querelos, from Late Latin querulōsus, from Latin querulus, from queror (“to complain”).

query

Latin

From an old variant of Latin quaere, "ask, seek" — the imperative form of quaerere.

quesadilla

Spanish

Borrowed from Spanish quesadilla, a diminutive built from queso, "cheese."

quest

Latin

From Old French queste, "search, hunt," from Latin quaerere, "to seek."

Questa

Spanish

A misspelling of Spanish cuesta ("ridge, slope").

question

Latin

From Old French question, from Latin quaestio, "a seeking, inquiry," from quaerere, "to seek, ask."

questionable

Origin

From question + -able.

questioner

Middle English

From Middle English questioner; equivalent to question + -er.

questioning

Origin

From question + -ing.

questionlessly

Origin

From questionless + -ly.

questionnaire

Late Latin

Borrowed from French questionnaire, from Late Latin quaestionarius, related to quaestio, "question."

queue

Old French

From Old French cöe/cue, "tail" — the same idea survives in the sense of a line of people trailing off like a tail.

quibble

Latin

Origin unclear, but likely connected to the legal Latin word quibus ("in what respect?"), which cropped up so often in wordy legal documents that it became linked with pointless nitpicking.

quiche

French

Borrowed from French quiche, itself from a German dialect word for "cake," tracing back to the same root as the English word "cookie."

quick

Origin

Originally meant "alive, living" (as in "the quick and the dead") before it came to mean "fast."

quicken

Origin

Built from the old sense of "quick" meaning "alive" (as in "the quick and the dead") plus the verb-forming suffix "-en," so it originally meant "to bring to life."

quickens

Origin

From quicken + -s (suffix forming pluralia tantum, plurals of nouns, and the third-person singular indicative present tense of verbs).

quickie

Origin

Simply "quick" plus the informal noun-forming suffix "-ie."

quickly

Old English

From Old English cwiculīċe, built on "quick" (meaning "lively" or "alive") plus the adverb ending "-ly."

quickness

Origin

From Middle English quiknes, qwiknes, quyknesse, cwicnesse, equivalent to quick + -ness.

quicksand

Old English

From Old English cwecesand, literally "living sand" — the same old sense of "quick" meaning "alive" combined with "sand."

quicksilver

Old English

From Old English cwicseolfor, literally "living silver," describing how mercury seems to move on its own.

quicksome

Origin

From quick + -some.

quid

Latin

Borrowed from Latin quid, "what" or "something," possibly via the phrase quid pro quo — "something for something."

quid pro quo

Latin

Latin for 'something for something'. It originally referred to substituting one medicine for another, and later came to mean an equivalent given in exchange.

quidditch

Origin

Coined by British author J. K. Rowling in her 1997 book Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. In Quidditch Through the Ages, Rowling gives some etymological information, hinting that the word evolved from Queerditch (compound of queer + ditch), with some spelling variation as would be expected in real life Middle English, namely Kwidditch, Kweerditch.

quiddity

Origin

From Middle English quidite, from Old French quidité, and its source, Late Latin quidditās, from Latin quid (“what”) + -itas (“-ness”) (whence -ity).

quidnunc

Origin

From Latin quid nunc? (“what now?”).

quiesce

Origin

Borrowed from Latin quiēscō ("I rest, repose, become quiet").

quiescence

Origin

From quiescent + -ence, or borrowed from Latin quiescentia, from quiescens, present participle of quiesco, from quies.

quiescent

Origin

Learned borrowing from Latin quiēscēns, quiēscentem.

quiet

Latin

From Latin quiētus, "at rest," the same root that gives us "quit," "quite," and "quietus."

quieten

Origin

Formed from "quiet" plus the verb-forming suffix "-en," much like "soften" from "soft."

quietly

Middle English

From Middle English quietely, quyetly, equivalent to quiet + -ly.

quietness

Origin

From Middle English quietnes, quietnesse, quietenesse, qwietnesse, qwietenesse, equivalent to quiet + -ness.

quietude

Origin

Borrowed from Middle French quiétude, from Late Latin quiētūdō, from Latin quiētus, perfect passive participle of quiēscō (“rest”).

quietus

Origin

Short for Medieval Latin quiētus est (literally “he is quiet”). First attested in the 1530s. Earlier attested as Late Middle English quietus est. Doublet of coy, quiet, quit, and quite.

quiff

Origin

Variant form of whiff.

Quigley

Irish

Reduced Anglicized form of Irish Ó Coigligh.

quill

Origin

From late Middle English quyl, which is first attested in the early 15th century with the meanings "fragment of reed" and "shaft of a feather", probably from Low German and Middle Low German quiele, possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʷelH- (“to pierce, stick”). Compare Middle High German kil (“large feather, quill”), which is derived from the Low German term.

quilt

Latin

From Old French cuilte, ultimately from Latin culcita, meaning a stuffed mattress or cushion.

quim

Origin

Uncertain; perhaps an alteration of queme. The English Dialect Dictionary has a citation of "quim and cosh" from 1723 which it glosses as "intimate and familiar". Compare also quaint, cunt. Derivation from Welsh cwm (“hollow”) is sometimes suggested, but the OED notes that this is "unlikely on both semantic and phonological grounds".

quince

Latin

From Old French cooing, ultimately from Latin mālum Cydōnium, the "Cydonian apple," named after the ancient city of Cydonia on Crete.

Quincy

Origin

The wine takes its name from the town of Quincy in France. The toilet sense is said to nod to President John Quincy Adams, reputedly the first to have one installed in the White House.

quinine

French

Traced back through Spanish quina and French quinquina to Quechua kina, the native word for cinchona bark.