Wiktionary

quick

English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Middle English quik, quic, from Old English cwic (“alive”), from Proto-West Germanic *kwiku, from Proto-Germanic *kwikwaz, from Proto-Indo-European *gʷih₃wós (“alive”), from *gʷeyh₃- (“to live”), *gʷeyh₃w- (“to live”).

Cognate with Dutch kwik, kwiek, German keck, Danish kvik (“quick, quick-witted”) and Danish kæk (“bold; spirited”), Swedish kvick; and (from Indo-European) with Ancient Greek βίος (bíos, “life”), Latin vivus, Lithuanian gývas (“alive”), Latvian dzīvs (“alive”), Russian живо́й (živój), Polish żywy (“alive”), Welsh byw (“alive”), Irish beo (“alive”), biathaigh (“feed”), Northern Kurdish jîn (“to live”), jiyan (“life”), giyan (“soul”), can (“soul”), Sanskrit जीव (jīva, “living”), Albanian nxit (“to urge, stimulate”). Doublet of jiva.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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quick (comparative quicker or more quick, superlative quickest or most quick)

  1. Moving with speed, rapidity or swiftness, or capable of doing so; rapid; fast.
    I ran to the station – but I wasn't quick enough.
    He's a quick runner.
    • 2017, Danna Staaf, Squid Empire, ForeEdge, →ISBN, page 87:
      The quickest and nimblest were probably the oxycones, throwing themselves through the water like discuses.
  2. Occurring in a short time; happening or done rapidly.
    That was a quick meal.
    • 2023 December 27, Zachary Small, “Video Games Let Them Choose a Role. Their Transgender Identities Flourished.”, in The New York Times‎[1]:
      Veronica Ripley, 32, often speaks to friends about the role that video games played in her trans awakening: “I would try to explain it away, saying that I was playing the girl character because she had a smaller hitbox or quicker kill animations,” she said, referring to in-game advantages.
  3. Lively, fast-thinking, witty, intelligent.
    You have to be very quick to be able to compete in ad-lib theatrics.
  4. Mentally agile, alert, perceptive.
    My father is old but he still has a quick wit.
  5. (of people or tempers) Easily aroused to anger; quick-tempered.
    She has a very quick temper.
    He is wont to be rather quick of temper when tired.
    • 1549, Hugh Latimer, The Sixth Sermon Preached Before King Edward, April 6 1549:
      The bishop was somewhat quick with them, and signified that he was much offended.
  7. (archaic) Alive, living.
  8. (archaic, of a foetus) At the stage where it can be felt to move in the uterus.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Section 316, Penal Code (Cap. 224, 2008 Ed.) (Singapore)
      Whoever does any act under such circumstances that if he thereby caused death he would be guilty of culpable homicide, and does by such act cause the death of a quick unborn child, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 10 years, and shall also be liable to fine.
  9. (now rare, archaic) Pregnant, especially at the stage where the foetus's movements can be felt; figuratively, alive with some emotion or feeling.
    • c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]:
      she's quick; the child brags in her belly already: tis yours
    • 1941, Theodore Roethke, “Death Piece”, in Open House, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A[braham] Knopf, →OCLC; republished in The Collected Poems of Theodore Roethke, London: Faber and Faber […], 1968, →OCLC, page 4:
      Invention sleeps within a skull
      No longer quick with light,
      The hive that hummed in every cell
      Is now sealed honey-tight.
    • 2012, Jerry White, London in the Eighteenth Century, Bodley Head, published 2017, page 385:
      When sentenced she sought to avoid hanging by declaring herself with child – ironically, given her favourite deception – but a ‘jury of Matrons’ found her not quick.
  10. (archaic, of water) Flowing, not stagnant.
  11. (archaic) Burning, flammable, fiery.
    • 1922, E[ric] R[ücker] Eddison, The Worm Ouroboros‎[2], London: Jonathan Cape, page 18:
      And it seemed to me that the dream smote the roof above my bed, and the roof opened and disclosed the outer dark, and in the dark travelled a bearded star, and the night was quick with fiery signs.
  12. (obsolete) Fresh; bracing; sharp; keen.
  13. (mining, of a vein of ore) productive; not "dead" or barren
  14. (crosswording) Not cryptic.

Synonyms

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Antonyms

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  • (antonym(s) of “moving with speed”): slow
  • (antonym(s) of “alive”): dead

Derived terms

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English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *gʷeyh₃- (0 c, 33 e)

Translations

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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Adverb

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quick (comparative quicker, superlative quickest)

  1. Quickly, in a quick manner.
    Get rich quick.
    Come here, quick!
  2. Answer quickly.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Noun

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quick (plural quicks)

  1. Raw or sensitive flesh, especially that underneath finger and toe nails.
  2. Plants used in making a quickset hedge
    • 1641, John Evelyn, diary entry September 1641:
      The works […] are curiously hedged with quick.
  3. The life; the mortal point; a vital part; a part susceptible to serious injury or keen feeling.
    • 1550, Hugh Latimer, Sermon Preached at Stamford, 9 October 1550:
      This test nippeth, […] this toucheth the quick.
    • 1655, Thomas Fuller, The Church-history of Britain; […], London: […] Iohn Williams […], →OCLC, (please specify |book=I to XI):
      How feebly and unlike themselves they reason when they come to the quick of the difference!
    • 1941, Theodore Roethke, “Prognosis”, in Open House, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A[braham] Knopf, →OCLC; republished in The Collected Poems of Theodore Roethke, London: Faber and Faber […], 1968, →OCLC, page 5:
      O see the fate of him whose guard was lowered!—
      A single misstep and we leave the quick.
  4. (with "the", archaic) Synonym of living (“those who are alive”).
    Antonyms: dead; (polite) deceased, departed
    the quick and the dead
  5. Quitchgrass.
  6. (cricket) A fast bowler.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Verb

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quick (third-person singular simple present quicks, present participle quicking, simple past and past participle quicked)

  1. (transitive) To amalgamate surfaces prior to gilding or silvering by dipping them into a solution of mercury in nitric acid.
  2. (transitive, archaic, poetic) To quicken.
    • 1917, Thomas Hardy, At the Word ‘Farewell’:
      I rose as if quicked by a spur I was bound to obey.

References

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French

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Etymology

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From English.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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quick m (plural quicks)

  1. quick waltz

See also

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German

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Middle Low German quick, from Old Saxon quik, from Proto-West Germanic *kwiku, from Proto-Germanic *kwikwaz; also a Central Franconian form. Doublet of keck, which see for more.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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quick (strong nominative masculine singular quicker, comparative quicker, superlative am quicksten)

  1. (rather rare, dated) lively
    • 1896, Theodor Fontane, Effi Briest‎[3], Berlin: F. Fontane & Co.:
      »Eine hübsche Person«, sagte die Zwicker. »Und so quick und kasch, und ich möchte fast sagen, von einer natürlichen Anmut. Wissen Sie, liebe Baronin, daß mich diese Afra…
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)
    • 1899, Theodor Fontane, chapter 12, in Der Stechlin:
      Die Wirtin des Hauses, Frau Hagelversicherungssekretär Schickedanz, hätte diesen gelegentlichen Aufenthalt der Nichte Hartwigs eigentlich beanstanden müssen, ließ es aber gehen, weil Hedwig ein heiteres, quickes und sehr anstelliges Ding war und manches besaß, was die Schickedanz mit der Ungehörigkeit des ewigen Dienstwechsels wieder aussöhnte.
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Usage notes

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  • Much more common than the simplex is the pleonastic compound quicklebendig.

Declension

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Positive forms of quick
number & gender singular plural
masculine feminine neuter
predicative er ist quick sie ist quick es ist quick sie sind quick
strong declension
(without article) 		nominative quicker quicke quickes quicke
genitive quicken quicker quicken quicker
dative quickem quicker quickem quicken
accusative quicken quicke quickes quicke
weak declension
(with definite article) 		nominative der quicke die quicke das quicke die quicken
genitive des quicken der quicken des quicken der quicken
dative dem quicken der quicken dem quicken den quicken
accusative den quicken die quicke das quicke die quicken
mixed declension
(with indefinite article) 		nominative ein quicker eine quicke ein quickes (keine) quicken
genitive eines quicken einer quicken eines quicken (keiner) quicken
dative einem quicken einer quicken einem quicken (keinen) quicken
accusative einen quicken eine quicke ein quickes (keine) quicken
Comparative forms of quick
number & gender singular plural
masculine feminine neuter
predicative er ist quicker sie ist quicker es ist quicker sie sind quicker
strong declension
(without article) 		nominative quickerer quickere quickeres quickere
genitive quickeren quickerer quickeren quickerer
dative quickerem quickerer quickerem quickeren
accusative quickeren quickere quickeres quickere
weak declension
(with definite article) 		nominative der quickere die quickere das quickere die quickeren
genitive des quickeren der quickeren des quickeren der quickeren
dative dem quickeren der quickeren dem quickeren den quickeren
accusative den quickeren die quickere das quickere die quickeren
mixed declension
(with indefinite article) 		nominative ein quickerer eine quickere ein quickeres (keine) quickeren
genitive eines quickeren einer quickeren eines quickeren (keiner) quickeren
dative einem quickeren einer quickeren einem quickeren (keinen) quickeren
accusative einen quickeren eine quickere ein quickeres (keine) quickeren
Superlative forms of quick
number & gender singular plural
masculine feminine neuter
predicative er ist am quicksten sie ist am quicksten es ist am quicksten sie sind am quicksten
strong declension
(without article) 		nominative quickster quickste quickstes quickste
genitive quicksten quickster quicksten quickster
dative quickstem quickster quickstem quicksten
accusative quicksten quickste quickstes quickste
weak declension
(with definite article) 		nominative der quickste die quickste das quickste die quicksten
genitive des quicksten der quicksten des quicksten der quicksten
dative dem quicksten der quicksten dem quicksten den quicksten
accusative den quicksten die quickste das quickste die quicksten
mixed declension
(with indefinite article) 		nominative ein quickster eine quickste ein quickstes (keine) quicksten
genitive eines quicksten einer quicksten eines quicksten (keiner) quicksten
dative einem quicksten einer quicksten einem quicksten (keinen) quicksten
accusative einen quicksten eine quickste ein quickstes (keine) quicksten

Derived terms

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Further reading

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