Q (letter)
Q, q is a letter of the Latin alphabet. It is the seventeenth letter of most variants, being placed after P and before R, as is the case for instance in the English alphabet. Its English name is pronounced [ˈkjuː], like the words cue and queue.
Use in English
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | |
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| Use in English | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alphabetical word list | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Common misspellings |
q has the same sound as k in kít and c in cát. It is almost always followed by a u, which is normally pronounced 'w'. So qu = kw (kw itself is rare and accidental: åwkward). Examples (the accents show stress and pronunciation: see English phonemes for the IPA and English spellings for a table): quêen, quîet, quîte, quínce, quít, quíck, quêer, quâil, quáck, qùad, quŏrum, êqual, équity, aquátic, përquisíte, réquisíte, líquid. There is also the keyboard-describing word qwërty.
q is also used in transliterations from other languages to represent sounds not used in English: most commonly, that of the letter qaf in Arabic, as well as similar sounds in other Semitic languages and various Iranian languages including Persian. Thus q alone is used at the end of certain words from Arabic: Sádiq, Táriq, Iràq, and only in similar examples can it be doubled or otherwise appear minus the u: Sadíqqi, Qátar, Irāqi, níqab, qát stimulant (= cát animal).
In the pinyin system of transliterating Chinese, q is pronounced like ch in chürch, so Qíng Dynasty = Chíng I Ching.
In British English, qu can have an odd effect on a, like that of w in ẁas, making a sound like ó (shown here as qùa-): qùantity, qùarrel, qùality, eqùality (in American English, these are just quà-.). And, also as after w, it can go even further, as in quårtz (cf. wåltz).
Other vowels are not affected: quést, quêasy, quôte, inquîry or enquîry and neither is the a in quàrk, quáck.
The first u in queûe is redundant, so that the usual 'w' sound gives way to the 'y' semi-consonant that begins eû, so queûe line = Keŵ Gardens = cûe prompt, billiards = the name of the letter Q.
The ending -que sounds like -k: BrE chéque money (= chéck verify, AmE money = Czéch nationality), unìque, bezìque, oblìque, clìque, opâque, mósque, Bāsque, Cínque Pŏrts; cf. -gue: lêague, plâgue, also with silent -ue.
Other redundant us after q: líquor (*líkkər), pìquèt/píquet cards (*pêekây or = pícket fence, strike), crôquèt (*crôakây), Jácqueline (girl's name = Jácklin surname).
In old Scottish spelling, quh represented the sound now spelt wh. This old spelling is retained in some proper names, with varying pronunciations: Fàrquhar *Fàrkwar, Colquhoûn *Cohoôn (perhaps the only instance of silent q).
q does not begin clusters. It is one of the three letters, the others being j and v, that are never silent, except in proper names.
qq appears only in some Arabic names; its normal ‘double’ is cq as in acquîre and acquiésce.