Q

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.

Q (lower case q)

1. The seventeenth letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.

   Queen, Qualen, Qatarien

• (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

Q

1. Abbreviation of quetta-.
2. (biochemistry) IUPAC 1-letter abbreviation for glutamine.
3. (chemistry, hypothetical) quadrium
4. (physics) Electric charge.
5. (physics) Dynamic pressure.
6. (logic, mathematics) Robinson arithmetic.
7. Quetzal (currency of Guatemala).
8. (linguistics) A wildcard for a uvular consonant.

   Synonym: H (sometimes covers any guttural consonant)

9. (linguistics, Japanese) Gemination as a phoneme.

   Synonyms: ꟴ (ꟴ), ꞯ (ꞯ)

• English: max Q

• Letter styles
• 
  Uppercase and lowercase versions of Q, in normal and italic type
• 
  Uppercase and lowercase Q in Fraktur

Character=Q

Other representations of Q:

Latin Q (Q/q)

Q (upper case, lower case q, plural Qs or Q's)

1. The seventeenth letter of the English alphabet, called cue and written in the Latin script.

• (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

Q (upper case, lower case q)

1. The ordinal number seventeenth, derived from this letter of the English alphabet, called cue and written in the Latin script.

Shortening

(Name of letter:)

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kjuː/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /kju/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

• (General Australian)

  • Audio (AU)

    (file)

• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /kjʉː/
• Rhymes: -uː
• Homophones: cue, queue, Kew

Q

1. Abbreviation of question or questions.

   Q and A

2. Abbreviation of quarter.
3. (electronics) Short for Q factor (“quality factor”).
4. (astronomy) Abbreviation of quasar.
5. (sports) Abbreviation of qualified.

   Antonym: DNQ

6. American Library Association abbreviation of quarto (“book size”).
7. (card games, chess) Abbreviation of queen.
8. (medicine) Alternative letter-case form of q (“every”).

• (sports): DQ, DSQ, q
• (astronomy): RIQ, RLQ, RQQ

Q

1. (literature, pseudonym) Arthur Quiller-Couch.
2. (Islam, followed by an ayah (verse) number) Abbreviation of Quran.
3. (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.

4. (US politics) Abbreviation of QAnon (“anonymous poster on anonymous online message boards who originated a pro-Trump conspiracy theory”).
   • 2017 December 19, Paris Martineau, “The Storm Is the New Pizzagate — Only Worse”, in New York‎, 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:

     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, 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.

• (US politics): GQP, Qaren, Qultist

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.

Q (plural Qs)

1. (slang) A gadget master, gadget creator.

Q

1. The eleventh letter in the Afar alphabet.

• (Latin-script letters) A a, B b, T t, S s, E e, C c, K k, X x, I i, D d, Q q, R r, F f, G g, O o, L l, M m, N n, U u, W w, H h, Y y

• (letter name): IPA^(key): /ki/

Q (upper case, lower case q)

1. The seventeenth letter of the Afrikaans alphabet, written in the Latin script.

• (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

Q (plural Q's, diminutive Q'tjie)

1. Q

• IPA^(key): /c/

Q (lower case q)

1. The twenty-third letter of the Albanian alphabet, written in the Latin script.

• (Latin-script letters) shkronjë; A a, B b, C c, Ç ç, D d, Dh dh, E e, Ë ë, F f, G g, Gj gj, H h, I i, J j, K k, L l, Ll ll, M m, N n, Nj nj, O o, P p, Q q, R r, Rr rr, S s, Sh sh, T t, Th th, U u, V v, X x, Xh xh, Y y, Z z, Zh zh

Q upper case (lower case q)

1. The seventeenth letter of the Azerbaijani alphabet, written in the Latin script.

• (Latin-script letters) hərf; A a, B b, C c, Ç ç, D d, E e, Ə ə, F f, G g, Ğ ğ, H h, X x, I ı, İ i, J j, K k, Q q, L l, M m, N n, O o, Ö ö, P p, R r, S s, Ş ş, T t, U u, Ü ü, V v, Y y, Z z

• IPA^(key): /ku/, [ku]

Q (upper case, lower case q)

1. The eighteenth letter of the Basque alphabet, called ku and written in the Latin script.

• Used chiefly in recent loanwords and foreign proper nouns.

• (Latin-script letters) A a, B b, C c (Ç ç), D d, E e, F f, G g, H h, I i, J j, K k, L l, M m, N n, Ñ ñ, O o, P p, Q q, R r, S s, T t, U u (Ü ü), V v, W w, X x, Y y, Z z

Q

1. A letter in the German-based alphabet of Central Franconian.

• Only used in the digraph qu for /kʋ/. The Dutch-based spelling uses kw instead.

From English cute.

• cute

Q

1. (informal) cute

From Hokkien 𩚨 (khiū).

Q

1. (Taiwan, informal, of food) soft and pliable; chewy (like mochi), exhibiting Q texture

Euphemistic form of 鳩／鸠 (gau¹).

Q

1. (Cantonese, vulgar, euphemistic) fucking; bloody; damn

   多Q餘 [Cantonese, trad.]
   多Q余 [Cantonese, simp.]

   do¹ kiu¹ jyu⁴ [Jyutping]

   freaking unnecessary

   多Q事 [Cantonese, trad. and simp.]

   do¹ kiu¹ si⁶ [Jyutping]

   freaking nosy

From English cue.

Q

1. (informal) (snooker) cue

Q

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese, slang, figuratively) 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.]
     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.]

     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 haa^6-2 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?

From English quinella.

Q

1. (informal) quinella

From QQ, an adaptation of ICQ, another instant messaging program.

Q

1. (informal) to use QQ, the popular Chinese instant messaging program

From clipping of English question. Orthography is from English Q (“question”).

• q, quest, quet, ques, que

Q

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) question (in assignments, tests, exams, etc.) (Classifier: 條／条 c)

   你考試通常做long Q先定short Q先㗎？ [Cantonese, trad.]
   你考试通常做long Q先定short Q先㗎？ [Cantonese, simp.]

   nei⁵ haau² si³ tung¹ soeng⁴ zou⁶ long¹ kwet¹ sin¹ ding⁶ sot¹ kwet¹ sin¹ gaa³? [Jyutping]

   In exams, which of the following would you usually work on first, long questions or short questions?

From the letter Q of the English pattern playing cards. Various names exist for this symbol in the spoken language.

Mandarin

From 圈 (quān, “circle”), because the letter Q resembles a circle.

Cantonese

From 女 (neoi5-1, “woman”).

Hokkien

From the letter.

Q

1. (card games) queen (Classifier: 隻／只; 張／张)

Q

1. The seventeenth letter of the Latin alphabet.

Q

1. The seventeenth letter used in Pinyin.

• 《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).

• (letter name): IPA^(key): /ky/

• Audio

  (file)

Q (capital, lowercase q)

1. The seventeenth letter of the Dutch alphabet.

• Previous letter: P
• Next letter: R

Q (upper case, lower case q)

1. The seventeenth letter of the Estonian alphabet, called kuu and written in the Latin script.

• Used only in foreign words.

• (Latin-script letters) täht; 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, Š š, Z z, Ž ž, T t, U u, V v (W w), Õ õ, Ä ä, Ö ö, Ü ü (X x, Y y)

The Finnish orthography using the Latin script was based on those of Swedish, German and Latin, and was first used in the mid-16th century. No earlier script is known. See the Wikipedia article on Finnish for more information, and Q for information on the development of the glyph itself.

Q (upper case, lower case q)

1. The seventeenth letter of the Finnish alphabet, called kuu and written in the Latin script.

• Used only in loanwords. In more established loanwords qu is replaced with kv.

• (Latin-script letters) kirjain; 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 (Š š), T t, U u, V v (W w), X x, Y y, Z z (Ž ž), Å å, Ä ä, Ö ö

• IPA^(key): /kuː/

• Audio

  (file)

• Homophone: Kuh
• Rhymes: -uː

Q (upper case, lower case q)

1. The seventeenth letter of the German alphabet.

• (phoneme): IPA^(key): [ˈk]
• (letter name): IPA^(key): [ˈkuː]

Q (upper case, lower case q)

1. A letter of the extended Hungarian alphabet, called kú and written in the Latin script.

• (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.

• (always found before the letter U) IPA^(key): /kw/

Q (lower case q)

1. The seventeenth letter of the Ido alphabet, written in the Latin script.

• (Latin-script letters) litero; 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

1. IPA^(key): /q/

Q (lower case q)

1. A letter of the Inupiaq alphabet, written in the Latin script.

• (letter name) IPA^(key): ^**/ˈku/^*
  • Rhymes: -u
• (phonemic realization; almost always found before u, where it forms the pronunciation /kw/) IPA^(key): /k/

Q f or m (invariable, upper case, lower case q)

1. The fifteenth letter of the Italian alphabet, called cu and written in the Latin script.

• (Latin-script letters) lettera; A a (À à), B b, C c, D d, E e (É é, È è), F f, G g, H h, I i (Í í, Ì ì, Πî, J j, K k), L l, M m, N n, O o (Ó ó, Ò ò), P p, Q q, R r, S s, T t, U u (Ú ú, Ù ù), V v (W w, X x, Y y), Z z
• Italian alphabet on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• ⟨Ḵ⟩ in Uʼmista orthography (standard Kwak'wala)

• IPA^(key): /q/

Q (lower case q)

1. (Liqʼwala dialect) A letter of the Kwak'wala alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Q

1. The seventeenth letter of the Latin alphabet

• "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.

• (Name of letter) IPA^(key): [kiu], [kju]
• (Phoneme, Syllable initial) IPA^(key): [q], [k]
• (Phoneme, Syllable final) IPA^(key): [k̚]

Q

1. The seventeenth letter of the Malay alphabet, written in the Latin script.

• (Latin-script letters) 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

• IPA^(key): /kʉː/

Omonyms: ku (Nynorsk), ku (Bokmål)

Q (upper case Q, lower case q)

1. the 17th letter of the Norwegian alphabet

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.

IPA^(key): /ˈke/

Q (upper case, lower case q)

1. The seventeenth letter of the Portuguese alphabet, written in the Latin script.

• (Latin-script letters) letra; A a (Á á, À à,  â, àã), B b, C c (Ç ç), D d, E e (É é, Ê ê), F f, G g, H h, I i (Í í), J j, K k, L l, M m, N n, O o (Ó ó, Ô ô, Õ õ), P p, Q q, R r, S s, T t, U u (Ú ú), V v, W w, X x, Y y, Z z

• IPA^(key): (after n) /ɡ/, (after any other letter) /k/

Q (upper case, lower case q)

1. (International Standard) Used to represent the dative and genitive cases.

• (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).

• 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

• IPA^(key): /k/

Q (upper case, lower case q)

1. The twentieth letter of the Romanian alphabet, called chiu and written in the Latin script.

• Used chiefly in loanwords.
• The digraph qu is pronounced /kw/, /kv/, or /kʲ/.

• (Latin-script letters) A a, Ă ă,  â, B b, C c, D d, E e, F f, G g, H h, I i, Πî, J j, K k, L l, M m, N n, O o, P p, Q q, R r, S s, Ș ș, T t, Ț ț, U u, V v, W w, X x, Y y, Z z

• IPA^(key): /kʷʼ/

Q

1. The twenty-fifth letter of the Saanich alphabet, written in the Latin script.

• (Latin-script letters) A, Á, Ⱥ, B, C, Ć, Ȼ, D, E, H, I, Í, J, K, Ꝁ, Ꝃ, ₭, Ḵ, Ḱ, L, Ƚ, M, N, Ṉ, O, P, Q, S, Ś, T, Ⱦ, Ṯ, Ŧ, U, W, W̱, X, X̱, Y, Z, s, ,

• (phoneme): IPA^(key): /ɢ/
• (letter name): IPA^(key): /ɢɑːf/

Q upper case (lower case q)

1. The fifteenth letter of the Somali alphabet, called qaaf and written in the Latin script.

1. The fifteenth letter of the Somali alphabet, which follows Arabic abjad order. It is preceded by F and followed by K.

• (Latin-script letters) ʼ, B b, T t, J j, X x, Kh kh, D d, R r, S s, Sh sh, Dh dh, C c, G g, F f, Q q, K k, L l, M m, N n, W w, H h, Y y, A a, E e, I i, O o, U u

Q (upper case, lower case q)

1. the 18th letter of the Spanish alphabet

Borrowed from Spanish Q. Each pronunciation has a different source:

• Filipino alphabet pronunciation is influenced by English Q.
• Abecedario pronunciation is from Spanish Q.

• (Standard Tagalog)
  • IPA^(key): /ˈkju/ [ˈkju] (letter name, Filipino alphabet)
    • Rhymes: -u
  • IPA^(key): /ˈku/ [ˈku] (letter name, Abecedario)
    • Rhymes: -u
  • IPA^(key): /k/ [k] (phoneme, usually together with u)
  • IPA^(key): /ˈku/ [ˈku] (phoneme, before u, English unadapted loanwords)

Q (upper case, lower case q, Baybayin spelling ᜃ᜔ᜌᜓ)

1. The nineteenth letter of the Tagalog alphabet (the Filipino alphabet), called kyu and written in the Latin script.

• This letter is mostly used only in proper nouns, unadapted loanwords, or Spanish-based spellings.

• (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

Q (upper case, lower case q, Baybayin spelling ᜃᜓ)