In English, the letter Q is usually followed by the letter U, but there are some exceptions. The majority of these are anglicised from Arabic, Chinese, Hebrew, Inuktitut, or other languages that do not use the English alphabet, with Q representing a sound not found in English. For example, in the Chinese pinyin alphabet, qi is pronounced /tʃi/ (similar to "chi" in English) by an English speaker, as pinyin uses "q" to represent the sound [tɕʰ], which is approximated as [tʃ] (ch) in English. In other examples, Q represents [q] in standard Arabic, such as in qat and faqir. In Arabic, the letter ق, traditionally romanised as Q, is quite distinct from ك, traditionally romanised as K; for example, قلب /qalb/ means "heart" but كلب /kalb/ means "dog". However, alternative spellings are sometimes accepted, which use K (or sometimes C) in place of Q; for example, Koran (Qur'ān) and Cairo (al-Qāhira).
Of the words in this list, most are (or can be) interpreted as nouns, and most would generally be considered loanwords.[1] However, all of the loanwords on this list are considered to be naturalised in English according to at least one major dictionary (see References), often because they refer to concepts or societal roles that do not have an accurate equivalent in English. For words to appear here, they must appear in their own entry in a dictionary; words that occur only as part of a longer phrase are not included.
Proper nouns are not included in the list. There are, in addition, many place names and personal names, mostly originating from Arabic-speaking countries, Albania, or China, that have a Q without a U. The most familiar of these are the countries of Iraq and Qatar, along with the derived words Iraqi and Qatari. Iqaluit, the capital of the Canadian territory of Nunavut, also has a Q that is not directly followed by a U. Qaqortoq,[2] in Greenland, is notable for having three such Qs. Other proper names and acronyms that have attained the status of English words include Compaq (a computer company),[3] Nasdaq (a US electronic stock market),[4] Qantas (an Australian airline),[5] and QinetiQ (a British technology company).[6][7] Saqqara (an ancient burial ground in Egypt)[8] is a proper noun notable for its use of a double Q.
Words
Unless noted otherwise, all words listed here are assumed to be pluralized by adding -s or -es. References in the "Sources" column relate to the headword in column one; variant spellings are then separately referenced. The sources given are selective, and the absence of a reference to a particular dictionary does not necessarily mean that the word does not appear in that dictionary.
In American and Canadian English, there are currently 4,422 words with Q not followed by U including the following words in the table below.
| Word | Meaning | Sources | Other forms | Etymology |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| bianqing | An ancient Chinese percussion instrument | [MW] | Chinese: 編磬 | |
| buqsha | A former Yemeni monetary unit | [L] | Also written bogache | Arabic |
| burqa | A veiled garment worn by some Muslim women | [ODE][LC][C][AHC][OED] | Also written burka, burkha, or burqua | Urdu and Persian burqa, from Arabic burqu` |
| cinq | The number five, as signified in dice or cards | [ODE][COD][OED] | French cinq 'five' | |
| cinqfoil | A plant of the genus Potentilla, or an ornamental design thereof | [SOED][OED] | Much more commonly written cinquefoil | Middle English, from Latin quinquefolium, from quinque 'five' + folium 'leaf' |
| coq | A trimming of cock feathers on a woman's hat | [WI] | French coq 'cockerel' | |
| faqih | An Islamic jurisprudent | [RHW] | Plural faqihs or fuqaha [RHU] | Arabic فَقِيه |
| faqir | A Muslim ascetic | [L] | More commonly written fakir | Arabic فَقِير 'poverty-stricken' |
| fiqh | Muslim jurisprudence | [ODE] | Arabic فِقْه 'understanding' | |
| inqilab | A revolution in India or Pakistan | [C] | Arabic إِنْقِلَاب | |
| jelq | Manual penis enlargement exercise | Is also a verb. Derived words include jelqs, jelqed and jelqing | ||
| mbaqanga | A style of South African music | [ODE][C][W] | Zulu umbaqanga 'steamed maize bread' | |
| miqra | The Tanakh, or Hebrew text of the Bible | [WI] | Hebrew מקרא | |
| muqaddam | A Bangladeshi or Punjabi headman | [C] | Arabic مُقَدَّم | |
| nastaliq | An Arabic script used in Persian writings | [OED] | Also written nasta'liq [C], nestaliq [OED], nastaleeq, or shortened to just taliq [OED] | Persian نستعليق, from naskh + ta`liq |
| niqab | A veil for the lower-face worn by some Muslim women | [ODE] | Also written niqaab | From Arabic نِقَاب |
| nuqta | Diacritic mark that was introduced in Devanagari | Also written nukta | ||
| pontacq | A sweet wine from Pontacq (France) | [OED] | French | |
| q | Q or q, the 17th letter of the modern English alphabet | [MW] | Greek or Latin | |
| qabab | A dish consisting of pieces of seasoned meat | [OED] | More commonly written kebab, kebap, kebob, kibob, kebhav, kephav, kebabie, or kabob | Persian کباب |
| qabalah | A form of Jewish mysticism | [C][AHC][WI] | More commonly written Kabbalah, and also written Qabala [AHC], Qabbala [WI], Cabalah etc. Derived words include qabalism, qabalist, and qabalistic. | Hebrew קַבָּלָה |
| qadarite | A member of the Qadariyah | [RHU] | ||
| qadariyah | In Islam, adherents of the doctrine of free will | [RHU] | Also written Qadariya [RHU] | |
| qaddish | In Judaism, a prayer of mourning | [C] | More commonly written Kaddish | Hebrew קדיש |
| qadi | A Muslim judge | [L][C][W][OED][AOX] | Also written qadhi [OED], qaadi, kadi, kazi qaadee or qazi [OED] | Arabic قَاضِى |
| qadiriyah | In Islam, a Sufi order | [RHU] | Also written Qadiriya [RHU] | Arabic القَادِرِيَّة |
| qaf | ق, the twenty-first letter of the Arabic alphabet | [RHW] | Also written qaph or qap | Arabic قَاف |
| qaid | A Muslim tribal chief | [RHW] | Also written caid or kaid | Arabic قَائِد, 'leader', 'commander' |
| qaimaqam | A minor official of the Ottoman Empire | [C][OED] | Also written kaymakam, kaimakam, caimacam, or qaim makam | From Arabic قَائِم 'standing' + مَقَام 'place', meaning 'standing in place' |
| qalamdan | A Persian writing-case | [C] | Persian قلمدان | |
| qalandar | A member of an order of mendicant dervishes | [RHU] | Also written calender, or capitalised | |
| qanat | A type of water-supply tunnel found in north Africa and the Middle East | [ODE][C][OED][AOX] | Also written kanat, khanat, kunut, kona, konait, ghanat, or ghundat | Persian, from Arabic qanāt 'channel' |
| qanun | A type of harp | [OED] | Also written qanon or kanun [OED] | Arabic قَانُون, rule, principle or mode |
| qasida | An Arabian poem of praise or satire | [C][OED][AOX] | Also written qasidah | Arabic قَصِيدَة |
| qat | A kind of Arabian shrub used as a narcotic | [L][C][OED] | More commonly written khat, kat or gat | Arabic qāt |
| qawwal | A person who practices qawwali music | [ODE][C][AOX] | ||
| qawwali | Devotional music of the Sufis | [ODE][C][AOX] | Arabic قوَّالِي (qawwāli) 'loquacious' or 'singer' | |
| Qazaq | Variant spelling of the people of Kazakhstan | [OED] | More commonly spelled Kazakh. | |
| qere | A marginal reading in the Hebrew Bible | [OED][WI] | Also written qeri [WI] or qre [WI] | Aramaic קְרֵי, '[what is] read' |
| qhat | An obsolete spelling of what | [OED] | Likely of Scots origin, in which an older spelling convention used "quh-" or "qh-" where English had "wh-".[9] | |
| qheche | An obsolete spelling of which | [OED] | ||
| qhom | An obsolete spelling of whom | [OED] | ||
| qhythsontyd | An obsolete spelling of Whitsuntide (the day of Pentecost) | [OED] | ||
| qi | In Chinese culture, a physical life force | [ODE][C][AHC][OED] | Commonly written chi or ki | simplified Chinese: 气; traditional Chinese: 氣 |
| qiana | A type of nylon | [OED] | Originally a trademark of DuPont, now generic | |
| qibla | The point to which Muslims turn in prayer | [ODE][COD][C][OED][AOX] | Also written qiblah [OED], kiblah, qiblih, kibla or qib'lah [RHU], sometimes capitalised | 17th-century Arabic for 'the opposite' |
| qibli | A local Libyan name for the sirocco, a southeasterly Mediterranean wind | [OED] | Also written ghibli | Arabic قِبلي, "coming from the qibla |
| qid | Four times a day | [MW] | Latin quater in die | |
| qigong | A Chinese system of medical exercises | [ODE][C][AOX] | Also written chi gong, ki gong, or chi kung | simplified Chinese: 气功; traditional Chinese: 氣功 |
| qin | A classification of Chinese musical instruments | [AOX] | Chinese: 琴 | |
| qinah | A Hebrew elegy | [WI] | Also written kinah; plural qinot, qinoth and qindarkë | Hebrew קינה |
| qindar | An Albanian unit of currency, equal to one one-hundredth of a lek | [ODE][L][C] | Plural qindarka [L] or qindars [C]. Also written qintar [L][C][AOX] or quintal | Albanian |
| qing | A Chinese chime | [MW] | Also written as: ch'ing | Chinese: 磬 |
| qinghaosu | A drug, artemisinin, used to treat malaria | [C] | Chinese: 青蒿素 | |
| qingsongite | A rare mineral found in China. | Plural qingsongites | named after geologist Qingsong Fang | |
| qinter | An Albanian money system | [OED] | Albanian | |
| qipao | A traditional Chinese dress | [OED] | Also written chi pao | Chinese: 旗袍 |
| qiran | A currency of Iran between 1825 and 1932 | [MW] | Also written as: kran | Persian qrān |
| qirsh | A monetary unit of Saudi Arabia and, formerly, various other countries | [RHU] | Also written qurush, qursh, gursh, girsh or ghirsh | |
| qiviut | The wool of the musk-ox | [OED] | Inuktitut ᕿᕕᐅᖅ | |
| qiyas | An analogy in Sharia, Islamic law | [RHW] | Arabic قِيَاس | |
| qoph | The nineteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet | [L][C] | Also written koph | Hebrew קוף |
| qorma | A type of curry | [Co] | Much more commonly written korma | Persian→Urdu قورمه |
| QWERTY | A standard English keyboard layout | [ODE][COD][LC][C][AOX][OED] | Plural qwertys or qwerties; also rendered QWERTY | Named after the first letters on the top row of the QWERTY keyboard layout. |
| Qyrghyz | Variant spelling of the people of Kyrgyzstan | [MW] | More commonly spelled Kyrgyz. | |
| rencq | An obsolete spelling of rank | [OED] | ||
| sambuq | A type of dhow, a small Arabian boat | [OED] | Arabic سَنْبُوك | |
| sheqel | A unit of weight originally used in Mesopotamia. The currency of Israel, divided into 100 agorot | [MW] | Plural sheqels or sheqalim; more commonly written shekel | Hebrew שקל, Yiddish ניי-שקל |
| souq | An Arab marketplace | [ODE][C][OED][AOX] | Also written sooq, soq, suq, souk, esouk, or suk | Arabic سُوق (sūq) |
| talaq | A form of Islamic divorce | [ODE][C][OED] | Arabic طَلَاق (talāq), from talaqa 'repudiate' | |
| taluq | An Indian estate | [OED] | Also written taluk or talook | Arabic→Urdu تَعَلُّقَة (ta'alluqa) 'connection', 'relationship' |
| taluqdar | A person who collects the revenues of a taluq | [OED] | Also written talukdar or talookdar | Arabic→Urdu تعلقدار (ta'alluq-dar) 'landholder', 'possessor of an estate', 'lord of a manor' |
| taluqdari | An Indian landholding tenure | [OED] | ||
| taqiya | Concealing faith in Islam due to fear of persecution | [RHW] | Also written taqiyah [RHU], or capitalised | Arabic التَقِيَّة |
| taqlid | Acceptance of Muslim orthodoxy | [RHW] | Arabic تَقْلِيد | |
| tariqa | A Sufi method of spiritual development, or a Sufi missionary | [E][AOX] | Also written tariqat [E] or tarika | Arabic طَرِيق |
| tranq | Tranquilizer (sedative) | [OED] | Also written trank [OED] | Apocopation from tranquilizer |
| tsaddiq | In Judaism, a title for a righteous person | [C][OED] | Plural tsaddiqs or tsaddiqim; also written tzaddiq [C], tzadik or tzaddik | Hebrew צדיק |
| umiaq | An open Inuit boat | [OSPD4] | Also spelled umiak, umialak, umiac, oomiac or oomiak | |
| waqf | A charitable trust in Islamic law | [ODE][C][OED] | Also written wakf; plural waqf [ODE][C][OED] or waqfs [C][OED] | Arabic, literally 'stoppage' from waqafa, 'come to a standstill' |
| xiangqi | Chess variant native to China | Chinese: 象棋 | ||
| xiqin | Traditional Chinese bowed string musical instrument | Chinese: 奚琴 | ||
| yangqin | A trapezoidal Chinese hammered dulcimer | [C] | Chinese: 揚琴 | |
| yaqona | A Fijian intoxicating beverage, kava | [C][OED] | Fijian yaqona, in which q represents [ŋɡ] |
Uses in Scrabble
In many word games, notably in Scrabble, a player must build a word using a certain set of letters. If a player is obliged to use a q, but does not have a u, it may be possible to play words from this list. Not all words in this list are acceptable in Scrabble tournament games. Scrabble tournaments around the world use their own sets of words from selected dictionaries that might not contain all the words listed here.
Qi is the most commonly played word in Scrabble tournaments,[10] and was added to the official North American word list in 2006.[11]
Other words listed in this article, such as suq, umiaq or qiviut, are also acceptable, but since these contain a u, they are less likely to be useful in the situation described.[12]
List of dictionaries cited
- [AH]: The American Heritage Dictionary (4 ed.). Dell. 2001. ISBN 0-440-23701-7.
- [AHC]: American Heritage College Dictionary (4 ed.). Houghton Mifflin. 2007. ISBN 978-0-618-83595-9.
- [AOX]: "Ask Oxford". Archived from the original on June 23, 2011. Retrieved July 27, 2009.
- [C]: The Chambers Dictionary (9 ed.). Chambers. 2003. ISBN 0-550-10105-5.
- [Co]: Collins English Dictionary (3 ed.). HarperCollins. 1994. ISBN 0-00-470678-1.
- [COD]: Concise Oxford Dictionary (8 ed.). Clarendon. 1990. ISBN 0-19-861200-1.
- [E]: "Microsoft Encarta online dictionary". Archived from the original on November 2, 2009. Retrieved May 29, 2006.
- [L]: The Longman Dictionary of the English Language (5 ed.). Longman. 1988. ISBN 0-582-55511-6.
- [LC]: The Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (4 ed.). Longman. 2003. ISBN 0-582-77649-X.
- [MW]: Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (11 ed.). Merriam-Webster. 2003. ISBN 0-87779-809-5.
- [MWO]: "Merriam-Webster online dictionary". Retrieved May 29, 2006.
- [ODE]: Oxford Dictionary of English (2 ed.). Oxford UP. 2003. ISBN 0-19-861347-4.
- [OED]: Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford UP. 2003. ISBN 0-19-861347-4.
- [OSPD4]: The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary (4 ed.). Merriam-Webster. 2005. ISBN 0-87779-929-6.
- [RHU]: Random House Unabridged Dictionary (2 ed.). Random House. 1998. ISBN 0-517-19931-9.
- [RHW]: Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (2 ed.). Random House. 2005. ISBN 0-375-42599-3.
- [SOED]: The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (3 ed.). Clarendon. 1992. ISBN 0-19-861294-X.
- [TWL]: Official Tournament and Club Word List (2 ed.). Merriam-Webster. 2006. ISBN 0-87779-635-1.
- [W]: Random House Webster's Collegiate Dictionary. Random House Reference. 2000. ISBN 0-375-42560-8.
- [WI]: Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged. Merriam-Webster. 2002. ISBN 0-87779-201-1.
See also
References
Bibliography
- Eckler, A. Ross (1976). "Must You Join the Queue?". Word Ways. 9 (2): 113–115. Retrieved October 19, 2010.
- Quinion, Michael (2003). "Q followed by U". World Wide Words. Archived from the original on October 7, 2010. Retrieved October 19, 2010.
- Quinion, Michael (2009). Why is Q Always Followed by U? Word-perfect Answers to the Most-asked Questions about Language. Penguin Books. ISBN 978-1-84614-184-3. Retrieved October 19, 2010.
- Scrabble Word Lists Q without U – Parker Brothers, attributed to: Joe Edley; John D. Williams, Jr. (2009). "Chapter 6: Your Fourth-Grade Teacher, Mrs. Kleinfelder, Lied to you: You Can Have Words with a Q and No U". Everything Scrabble: Third Edition. Simon and Schuster. pp. 56–58. ISBN 978-1-4165-6175-0.