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Translingual Edit
Etymology Edit
From the Etruscan letter 𐌒 (q, “cu”), from the Ancient Greek letter Ϙ (Q, “qoppa”), derived from the Phoenician letter 𐤒 (q, “qop”), from the Egyptian hieroglyph 𓃻.
Letter Edit
Q (lower case q)
- The seventeenth letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.
- Queen, Qualen, Qatarien
See also Edit
- (Latin script): Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr Sſs Tt Uu Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz
- (Variations of letter Q): Ɋɋ ʠ Ｑｑ ȹ
Symbol Edit
Q
- Abbreviation of quetta-.
- (biochemistry) IUPAC 1-letter abbreviation for glutamine.
- (physics) Electric charge.
- (physics) Dynamic pressure.
- (logic, mathematics) Robinson arithmetic.
- Quetzal (currency of Guatemala).
- (linguistics) A wildcard for a uvular consonant.
- (linguistics, Japanese) Gemination as a phoneme.
Descendants Edit
- English: max Q
Gallery Edit
- Letter styles
-
Uppercase and lowercase versions of Q, in normal and italic type
-
Uppercase and lowercase Q in Fraktur
See also Edit
Other representations of Q:
English Edit
Etymology 1 Edit
Letter Edit
Q (upper case, lower case q, plural Qs or Q's)
- The seventeenth letter of the English alphabet, called cue and written in the Latin script.
See also Edit
- (Latin-script letters) letter; A a, B b, C c, D d, E e, F f, G g, H h, I i, J j, K k, L l, M m, N n, O o, P p, Q q, R r, S s, T t, U u, V v, W w, X x, Y y, Z z
Number Edit
Q (upper case, lower case q)
- The ordinal number seventeenth, derived from this letter of the English alphabet, called cue and written in the Latin script.
Etymology 2 Edit
Shortening
Pronunciation Edit
(Name of letter:)
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /kjuː/
Audio (UK) (file)
- (General American) IPA(key): /kju/
- (General Australian)
Audio (AU) (file)
- (New Zealand) IPA(key): /kjʉː/
- Rhymes: -uː
- Homophones: cue, queue, Kew
Noun Edit
Q
- Abbreviation of question or questions.
- Abbreviation of quarter.
- (electronics) Short for Q factor (“quality factor”).
- (astronomy) Abbreviation of quasar.
- (sports) Abbreviation of qualified.
- Antonym: DNQ
- American Library Association abbreviation of quarto (“book size”).
- (card games, chess) Abbreviation of queen.
- (medicine) Alternative letter-case form of q (“every”).
Derived terms Edit
Translations Edit
playing card
Proper noun Edit
Q
- (literature, pseudonym) Arthur Quiller-Couch.
- (Islam, followed by an ayah (verse) number) Abbreviation of Quran.
- (theology, Christianity) The hypothetical common source (logion collection) of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke (from German Quelle (“source”)); all the non-Marcan shared material in those gospels (not always considered a single document)
- 2006, Brian Han Gregg, The Historical Jesus and the Final Judgment Sayings in Q, Mohr Siebeck, →ISBN, page 103:
- In comparing Q 10:10–11 and Mark 6:11, there is no reliable way to determine which exact form of the saying is more primitive, the third person account of Mark or the direct speech recorded in Q.
- (US politics) Abbreviation of QAnon (“anonymous poster on anonymous online message boards”).
- 2017 December 19, Paris Martineau, “The Storm Is the New Pizzagate — Only Worse”, in New York[1], archived from the original on 26 December 2018:
- In this fantasy world, all of the far right’s wildest dreams come true: Q promises that Clinton, Obama, Podesta, Abedin, and even McCain are all either arrested and wearing secret police-issued ankle monitors, or just about to be indicted; that the Steele dossier is a total fabrication personally paid for by Clinton and Obama; and that the Las Vegas massacre was most definitely an inside job connected to the Saudi-Clinton cabal.
- 2018 July 31, Julia Carrie Wong, “What is QAnon? Explaining the bizarre rightwing conspiracy theory”, in The Guardian[2]:
- In a thread called “Calm Before the Storm”, and in subsequent posts, Q established his legend as a government insider with top security clearance who knew the truth about a secret struggle for power involving Donald Trump, the “deep state”, Robert Mueller, the Clintons, pedophile rings, and other stuff.
- 2019 March 6, Kaitlyn Tiffany, “How a conspiracy theory about Democrats drinking children’s blood topped Amazon’s best-sellers list”, in Vox[3], archived from the original on 7 March 2019:
- At the end of her report, Coaston concluded, “Most people have never heard of QAnon, or Q — and that includes most of Donald Trump’s supporters.” That’s still the case, but the fact that this book is at the top of some of Amazon’s most prominent recommendation lists means that a far larger share of the population will — at a minimum — stumble across these ideas.
Derived terms Edit
Etymology 3 Edit
From James Bond films, the quartermaster being codenamed Q, from the novels by Ian Flemming, where he created Q-branch, which creates secret devices hidden in plain sight, named after Q-ships, heavily armed merchantmen that look like normal merchantmen.
Noun Edit
Q (plural Qs)
Afar Edit
Letter Edit
Q
- The eleventh letter in the Afar alphabet.
See also Edit
Afrikaans Edit
Pronunciation Edit
Letter Edit
Q (upper case, lower case q)
- The seventeenth letter of the Afrikaans alphabet, written in the Latin script.
See also Edit
- (Latin-script letters) letter; Aa, Bb, Cc, Dd, Ee, Ff, Gg, Hh, Ii, Jj, Kk, Ll, Mm, Nn, Oo, Pp, Qq, Rr, Ss, Tt, Uu, Vv, Ww, Xx, Yy, Zz
Noun Edit
Albanian Edit
Pronunciation Edit
Letter Edit
Q (lower case q)
- The twenty-third letter of the Albanian alphabet, written in the Latin script.
See also Edit
Azerbaijani Edit
Letter Edit
Q upper case (lower case q)
- The seventeenth letter of the Azerbaijani alphabet, written in the Latin script.
See also Edit
Basque Edit
Pronunciation Edit
Letter Edit
Q (upper case, lower case q)
- The eighteenth letter of the Basque alphabet, called ku and written in the Latin script.
Usage notes Edit
- Used chiefly in recent loanwords and foreign proper nouns.
See also Edit
Central Franconian Edit
Letter Edit
Q
- A letter in the German-based alphabet of Central Franconian.
Usage notes Edit
- Only used in the digraph qu for /kʋ/. The Dutch-based spelling uses kw instead.
Chinese Edit
Etymology 1 Edit
Alternative forms Edit
Pronunciation Edit
Adjective Edit
Q
Derived terms Edit
Etymology 2 Edit
Pronunciation Edit
Adjective Edit
Q
Derived terms Edit
Etymology 3 Edit
Euphemistic form of 鳩／鸠 (gau1).
Pronunciation Edit
Infix Edit
Q
Etymology 4 Edit
Pronunciation Edit
Noun Edit
Q
Derived terms Edit
Classifier Edit
Q
- (Hong Kong Cantonese, slang, figurative) Classifier for number of sexual intercourses. (as a measure of pricing in prostitution) (clarification of this definition is needed)
- 睇戲，或者見啲人講笑嗰陣，咪好多時會聽到啲：「喂！幾錢Q呀？」咁上下嘅對白嘅？ [Cantonese, trad.]
- From: 2013, 合扶道・二媽, 援交妹自白 PT Girlfriend, page 92
- tai2 hei3, waak6 ze2 gin3 di1 jan4 gong2 siu3 go2 zan6, mai6 hou2 do1 si4 wui5 teng1 dou2 di1: “Wai3! gei2 cin2 kiu1 aa3?” Gam3 soeng6 haa6-2 ge3 deoi3 baak6 ge2? [Jyutping]
- In movies or when people are joking, you would often hear a saying along the lines of "Hey! How much is a bang?", won't you?
睇戏，或者见啲人讲笑嗰阵，咪好多时会听到啲：“喂！几钱Q呀？”咁上下嘅对白嘅？ [Cantonese, simp.]
Derived terms Edit
- 孖Q (maa1 kiu1) (Cantonese)
Etymology 5 Edit
Pronunciation Edit
Noun Edit
Q
Derived terms Edit
- 孖Q (maa1 kiu1) (Cantonese)
Etymology 6 Edit
From QQ, an adaptation of ICQ, another instant messaging program.
Pronunciation Edit
Verb Edit
Q
- (informal) to use QQ, the popular Chinese instant messaging program
Etymology 7 Edit
From clipping of English question. Orthography is from English Q (“question”).
Alternative forms Edit
Pronunciation Edit
Noun Edit
Q
- (Hong Kong Cantonese) question (in assignments, tests, exams, etc.) (Classifier: 條／条 c)
Etymology 8 Edit
From the letter Q of the English pattern playing cards. Various names exist for this symbol in the spoken language.
- Mandarin quān
- From 圈 (quān, “circle”), because the letter Q resembles a circle.
- Cantonese neoi5-1
- From 女 (neoi5-1, “woman”).
- Min Nan khu
- From the letter.
Pronunciation Edit
Noun Edit
Q
See also Edit
| Variety | Location | Words |
|---|---|---|
| Mandarin | Beijing | 疙瘩, 疙瘩包 |
| Luoyang | 皮蛋, 十二 | |
| Zhengzhou | 十二, 圈 | |
| Xi'an | 圈子 | |
| Ürümqi | 皮蛋, 圈子 | |
| Wuhan | 皮蛋, 蛋, 環, 婆婆 | |
| Guiyang | 蛋, 蛋蛋 | |
| Liuzhou | 悶, 丘 | |
| Xuzhou | 皮蛋, 皮球, 球蛋 | |
| Yangzhou | 皮蛋 | |
| Nanjing | 皮蛋 | |
| Cantonese | Guangzhou | 女 |
| Hong Kong | 女 | |
| Taishan | 女 | |
| Wuzhou | 敏 | |
| Yulin | 敏 | |
| Gan | Nanchang | 皮蛋 |
| Lichuan | 皮蛋 | |
| Pingxiang | 蛋, 皮蛋架架 | |
| Hakka | Yudu | 圈子 |
| Huizhou | Jixi | 皮蛋 |
| Jin | Taiyuan | 圈兒 |
| Min Nan | Xiamen | Q, 卵 |
| Shantou | 箍, 𡚸, 妹 | |
| Wu | Shanghai | 皮蛋 |
| Shanghai (Chongming) | 皮蛋 | |
| Suzhou | 蛋, 皮蛋 | |
| Ningbo | 皮蛋, 蛋 |
Etymology 9 Edit
Pronunciation 1 Edit
Letter Edit
Q
- The seventeenth letter of the Latin alphabet.
Pronunciation 2 Edit
Letter Edit
Q
- The seventeenth letter used in Pinyin.
Usage notes Edit
- 《汉语拼音方案》 defines a standard pronunciation for each letter. However, these pronunciations are rarely used in education; another pronunciation is commonly used instead.
- The pronunciations above are only used while referring to letters in Pinyin. They are not used in other context (such as English).
Compounds Edit
Dutch Edit
Pronunciation Edit
Letter Edit
Q (capital, lowercase q)
- The seventeenth letter of the Dutch alphabet.
See also Edit
Estonian Edit
Letter Edit
Q (upper case, lower case q)
- The seventeenth letter of the Estonian alphabet, called kuu and written in the Latin script.
Usage notes Edit
- Used only in foreign words.
See also Edit
Finnish Edit
Etymology Edit
The Finnish orthography using the Latin script was based on Swedish, German and Latin. No earlier script is known. See the Wikipedia article on Finnish for more information, and Q for development of the glyph itself.
Letter Edit
Q (upper case, lower case q)
- The seventeenth letter of the Finnish alphabet, called kuu and written in the Latin script.
Usage notes Edit
- Used only in loanwords. In more established loanwords qu is replaced with kv.
See also Edit
German Edit
Pronunciation Edit
Letter Edit
Q (upper case, lower case q)
- The seventeenth letter of the German alphabet.
Hungarian Edit
Pronunciation Edit
Letter Edit
Q (upper case, lower case q)
- A letter of the extended Hungarian alphabet, called kú and written in the Latin script.
Declension Edit
| Inflection (stem in long/high vowel, back harmony) | ||
|---|---|---|
| singular | plural | |
| nominative | Q | Q-k |
| accusative | Q-t | Q-kat |
| dative | Q-nak | Q-knak |
| instrumental | Q-val | Q-kkal |
| causal-final | Q-ért | Q-kért |
| translative | Q-vá | Q-kká |
| terminative | Q-ig | Q-kig |
| essive-formal | Q-ként | Q-kként |
| essive-modal | — | — |
| inessive | Q-ban | Q-kban |
| superessive | Q-n | Q-kon |
| adessive | Q-nál | Q-knál |
| illative | Q-ba | Q-kba |
| sublative | Q-ra | Q-kra |
| allative | Q-hoz | Q-khoz |
| elative | Q-ból | Q-kból |
| delative | Q-ról | Q-król |
| ablative | Q-tól | Q-któl |
| non-attributive possessive - singular |
Q-é | Q-ké |
| non-attributive possessive - plural |
Q-éi | Q-kéi |
| Possessive forms of Q | ||
|---|---|---|
| possessor | single possession | multiple possessions |
| 1st person sing. | Q-m | Q-im |
| 2nd person sing. | Q-d | Q-id |
| 3rd person sing. | Q-ja | Q-i |
| 1st person plural | Q-nk | Q-ink |
| 2nd person plural | Q-tok | Q-itok |
| 3rd person plural | Q-juk | Q-ik |
See also Edit
- (Latin-script letters) betű; A a, Á á, B b, C c, Cs cs, D d, Dz dz, Dzs dzs, E e, É é, F f, G g, Gy gy, H h, I i, Í í, J j, K k, L l, Ly ly, M m, N n, Ny ny, O o, Ó ó, Ö ö, Ő ő, P p, R r, S s, Sz sz, T t, Ty ty, U u, Ú ú, Ü ü, Ű ű, V v, Z z, Zs zs. Only in the extended alphabet: Q q W w X x Y y. Commonly used: ch. Also defined: à ë. In surnames (selection): ä aa cz ds eé eö ew oe oó th ts ÿ.
Ido Edit
Pronunciation Edit
Letter Edit
Q (lower case q)
- The seventeenth letter of the Ido alphabet, written in the Latin script.
See also Edit
Inupiaq Edit
Pronunciation Edit
Letter Edit
Q (lower case q)
- A letter of the Inupiaq alphabet, written in the Latin script.
Italian Edit
Pronunciation Edit
- (letter name) IPA(key): **/ˈku/*
- Rhymes: -u
- (phonemic realization; almost always found before u, where it forms the pronunciation /kw/) IPA(key): /k/
Letter Edit
Q f or m (invariable, upper case, lower case q)
- The fifteenth letter of the Italian alphabet, called cu and written in the Latin script.
See also Edit
Kwakʼwala Edit
Alternative forms Edit
- ⟨Ḵ⟩ in Uʼmista orthography (standard Kwakʼwala)
Pronunciation Edit
Letter Edit
Q (lower case q)
- (Liqʼwala dialect) A letter of the Kwak'wala alphabet, written in the Latin script.
Latin Edit
Letter Edit
Q
- The seventeenth letter of the Latin alphabet
References Edit
- "Q", in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- Q in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette
Malay Edit
Pronunciation Edit
- (Name of letter) IPA(key): [kiu], [kju]
- (Phoneme, Syllable initial) IPA(key): [q], [k]
- (Phoneme, Syllable final) IPA(key): [k̚]
Letter Edit
Q
- The seventeenth letter of the Malay alphabet, written in the Latin script.
See also Edit
Norwegian Edit
Pronunciation Edit
Omonyms: ku (Nynorsk), ku (Bokmål)
Letter Edit
Q (upper case Q, lower case q)
- the 17th letter of the Norwegian alphabet
Usage notes Edit
Only in loan words and foreign names. Also used in old inscriptions and texts, e.g. kv > qu. Used in the same way in some surnames. In the neo-runic inscriptions from 17-19 centuries may be written as ᛩ.
Portuguese Edit
Pronunciation Edit
Letter Edit
Q (upper case, lower case q)
- The seventeenth letter of the Portuguese alphabet, written in the Latin script.
See also Edit
Romani Edit
Pronunciation Edit
Letter Edit
Q (upper case, lower case q)
- (International Standard) Used to represent the dative and genitive cases.
See also Edit
- (Latin-script letters) A a, B b, C c, D d, E e, F f, G g, H h, X x, I i, J j, K k, Kh kh, L l, M m, N n, O o, P p, Ph ph, R r, S s, T t, Th th, U u, V v, Z z International Standard: (À à, Ä ä, Ǎ ǎ), Ć ć, Ćh ćh, (È è, Ë ë, Ě ě), (Ì ì, Ï ï, Ǐ ǐ), (Ò ò, Ö ö, Ǒ ǒ), Rr rr, Ś ś, (Ù ù, Ü ü, Ǔ ǔ), Ź ź, Ʒ ʒ, Q q, Ç ç, ϴ θ. Pan-Vlax: Č č, Čh čh, Dž dž, (Dź dź), Ř ř, Š š, (Ś ś), Ž ž, (Ź ź).
References Edit
- Yūsuke Sumi (2018), “-q-”, in ニューエクスプレス ロマ（ジプシー）語 [New Express Romani (Gypsy)] (in Japanese), Tokyo: Hakusuisha, →ISBN, page 15
Romanian Edit
Pronunciation Edit
Letter Edit
Q (upper case, lower case q)
- The twentieth letter of the Romanian alphabet, called chiu and written in the Latin script.
Usage notes Edit
- Used chiefly in loanwords.
- The digraph qu is pronounced /kw/, /kv/, or /kʲ/.
See also Edit
Saanich Edit
Pronunciation Edit
Letter Edit
Q
- The twenty-fifth letter of the Saanich alphabet, written in the Latin script.
See also Edit
Somali Edit
Pronunciation Edit
Letter Edit
Q upper case (lower case q)
- The fifteenth letter of the Somali alphabet, called qaaf and written in the Latin script.
Usage notes Edit
- The fifteenth letter of the Somali alphabet, which follows Arabic abjad order. It is preceded by F and followed by K.
See also Edit
Spanish Edit
Letter Edit
Q (upper case, lower case q)
- the 18th letter of the Spanish alphabet
Tagalog Edit
Etymology Edit
From Spanish Q. Each pronunciation has a different source:
- Filipino alphabet pronunciation is influenced by English Q.
- Abecedario pronunciation is from Spanish Q.
Pronunciation Edit
- Hyphenation: Q
- (letter name, Filipino alphabet): IPA(key): /ˈkju/, [ˈkju]
- (letter name, Abecedario): IPA(key): /ˈku/, [ˈku]
- (phoneme, usually together with u): IPA(key): /k/, [k]
- (phoneme, before u, English unadapted loanwords): IPA(key): /kw/, [kw]
- Rhymes: -u
Letter Edit
Q (upper case, lower case q, Baybayin spelling ᜃ᜔ᜌᜓ)
- The nineteenth letter of the Tagalog alphabet (Filipino alphabet), called kyu and written in the Latin script.
Usage notes Edit
- This letter is mostly used only in proper nouns, unadapted loanwords, or Spanish-based spellings.
See also Edit
- (Latin-script letters) titik; A a, B b, C c, D d, E e, F f, G g, H h, I i, J j, K k, L l, M m, N n, Ñ ñ, Ng ng, O o, P p, Q q, R r, S s, T t, U u, V v, W w, X x, Y y, Z z
Letter Edit
Q (upper case, lower case q, Baybayin spelling ᜃᜓ)
- (historical) The twentieth letter of the Tagalog alphabet (Abecedario), called cu and written in the Latin script.
Further reading Edit
- “Q”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, Manila: Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino, 2018
Vietnamese Edit
Pronunciation Edit
- (Hà Nội) IPA(key): [ku˧˧], [kwi˧˧], [kwəː˨˩]
- (Huế) IPA(key): [kʊw˧˧], [kwɪj˧˧], [kwəː˦˩]
- (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA(key): [kʊw˧˧], [wɪj˧˧], [wəː˨˩]
- Phonetic: cu, quy, quờ
Letter Edit
Q (upper case, lower case q)
- The twenty-first letter of the Vietnamese alphabet, called cu, quy, or quờ and written in the Latin script.
See also Edit
- (Quốc ngữ letters) chữ cái; A a (À à, Ả ả, Ã ã, Á á, Ạ ạ), Ă ă (Ằ ằ, Ẳ ẳ, Ẵ ẵ, Ắ ắ, Ặ ặ), Â â (Ầ ầ, Ẩ ẩ, Ẫ ẫ, Ấ ấ, Ậ ậ), B b, C c (Ch ch), D d, Đ đ, E e (È è, Ẻ ẻ, Ẽ ẽ, É é, Ẹ ẹ), Ê ê (Ề ề, Ể ể, Ễ ễ, Ế ế, Ệ ệ), G g (Gh gh, Gi gi), H h, I i (Ì ì, Ỉ ỉ, Ĩ ĩ, Í í, Ị ị), K k (Kh kh), L l, M m, N n (Ng ng, Ngh ngh, Nh nh), O o (Ò ò, Ỏ ỏ, Õ õ, Ó ó, Ọ ọ), Ô ô (Ồ ồ, Ổ ổ, Ỗ ỗ, Ố ố, Ộ ộ), Ơ ơ (Ờ ờ, Ở ở, Ỡ ỡ, Ớ ớ, Ợ ợ), P p (Ph ph), Q q (Qu qu), R r, S s, T t (Th th, Tr tr), U u (Ù ù, Ủ ủ, Ũ ũ, Ú ú, Ụ ụ), Ư ư (Ừ ừ, Ử ử, Ữ ữ, Ứ ứ, Ự ự), V v, X x, Y y (Ỳ ỳ, Ỷ ỷ, Ỹ ỹ, Ý ý, Ỵ ỵ)
Zulu Edit
Letter Edit
Q (upper case, lower case q)
- The seventeenth letter of the Zulu alphabet, written in the Latin script.