Q (letter)

Q is the seventeenth letter of the English alphabet. Its name is pronounced like the words cue and queue.

Use in English

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.

q is also used in transliterations from other languages to represent sounds not used in English, most commonly, to represent the sound of qaf in Arabic, and 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 non-English words can it be doubled or otherwise appear minus the u: Sadíqqi, Qátar, Irāqi, níqab, qát stimulant (= cát animal); and in the alternative spelling of Korān the u is a vowel: Quràn (ù; or Qur’an).

In the pinyin system of transliterating Chinese, "q" is pronounced like "ch", as in Qíng Dýnasty (BrE), Qíng Dŷnasty (AmE).

The one native-English exception is the keyboard-describing word qwërty.

qu can have an odd effect on a, like that of w in ẁas, making a sound like ó: qùantity, qùarrel, qùality, eqùality. And, also like w, it can go even further as in quårtz (cf. wåltz).

But 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: queûe line = Keŵ Gardens = cûe prompt, billiards = the name of the letter q.

The ending -que sounds like -k, often with a French vowel sound preceding: BrE chéque money (= chéck verify = Czéch nationality), unìque, bezìque, oblìque, clìque, opâque, mósque, Bāsque; cf. -gue: lêague plâgue, also with silent -ue.

Other redundant u’s after q: líquor (*líkkə), píquèt (*pêekây), crôcquèt (*crôakây), Jácqueline (= Jácklin surname).

q does not begin clusters. qq appears only in some Arabic names; its normal ‘double’ is cq as in: acquîre, acquiésce.

See also

• Spelling pronunciation
• Letter (alphabet)
• Alphabet
• Writing system
• Orthography
• Written language
• Writing