List of English words containing Q not followed by U

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

, the letter q
Q
Q is the seventeenth letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.- History :The Semitic sound value of Qôp was , a sound common to Semitic languages, but not found in English or most Indo-European ones...

is usually followed by the letter u
U
U is the twenty-first letter and a vowel in the basic modern Latin alphabet.-History:The letter U ultimately comes from the Semitic letter Waw by way of the letter Y. See the letter Y for details....

, but there are some exceptions. The majority of these are naturalised

Naturalization

Naturalization is the acquisition of citizenship and nationality by somebody who was not a citizen of that country at the time of birth....

from Arabic

Arabic language

Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...

, Chinese

Chinese language

The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...

, Hebrew

Hebrew language

Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...

, Inuktitut

Inuktitut

Inuktitut or Eastern Canadian Inuktitut, Eastern Canadian Inuit language is the name of some of the Inuit languages spoken in Canada...

, or other languages which do not use the English alphabet

English alphabet

The modern English alphabet is a Latin alphabet consisting of 26 letters and 2 ligatures – the same letters that are found in the Basic modern Latin alphabet:...

, with q representing a sound not found in English. For example, in the Chinese pinyin

Pinyin

Pinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. It is also often used to teach Mandarin Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into...

alphabet, qi
Qi
In traditional Chinese culture, qì is an active principle forming part of any living thing. Qi is frequently translated as life energy, lifeforce, or energy flow. Qi is the central underlying principle in traditional Chinese medicine and martial arts...

is pronounced /tʃi/ by an English speaker, as pinyin uses ⟨q⟩ to represent the sound [tɕʰ], which is approximated as tʃ in English. In other examples, q represents q in standard Arabic

Arabic language

Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...

, such as in qat
Khat
Khat, qat, gat or Waquish Spoken from true Yemeni, is a flowering plant native to tropical East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula....

, faqir and Qur'ān
Qur'an
The Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...

. 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
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...

(al-Qāhira).

67 of the 71 words in this list are nouns, and 66 of the 71 would generally be considered loanword

Loanword

A loanword is a word borrowed from a donor language and incorporated into a recipient language. By contrast, a calque or loan translation is a related concept where the meaning or idiom is borrowed rather than the lexical item itself. The word loanword is itself a calque of the German Lehnwort,...

s. However, they are all considered to be naturalised in English according to at least one major dictionary

Dictionary

A dictionary is a collection of words in one or more specific languages, often listed alphabetically, with usage information, definitions, etymologies, phonetics, pronunciations, and other information; or a book of words in one language with their equivalents in another, also known as a lexicon...

(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 which occur only as part of a longer phrase are not included.

Proper noun

Proper noun

A proper noun or proper name is a noun representing a unique entity , as distinguished from a common noun, which represents a class of entities —for example, city, planet, person or corporation)...

s are not included in the list. There are, in addition, many place names and personal names, mostly originating from North Africa, the Middle East or China, that have a q without a u. The most familiar of these are the countries of Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

and Qatar
Qatar
Qatar , also known as the State of Qatar or locally Dawlat Qaṭar, is a sovereign Arab state, located in the Middle East, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeasterly coast of the much larger Arabian Peninsula. Its sole land border is with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its...

, along with the derived words Iraqi and Qatari. Iqaluit
Iqaluit, Nunavut
Iqaluit is the territorial capital and the largest community of the Canadian territory of Nunavut. Iqaluit is located on the south coast of Baffin Island at the head of Frobisher Bay. As of the 2006 census the population was 6,184, an increase of 18.1 percent from the 2001 census; it has the...

, the capital of the Canadian territory of Nunavut

Nunavut

Nunavut is the largest and newest federal territory of Canada; it was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the Nunavut Act and the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act, though the actual boundaries had been established in 1993...

, also has a q which is not directly followed by a u. Qaqortoq
Qaqortoq
Qaqortoq is a town in the Kujalleq municipality in southern Greenland. With a population of 3,230 as of 2011, it is the most populous town in southern Greenland, and the fourth-largest town in the country. The name is western Greenlandic and means "[the] white [one]".- History :The area around...

, in Greenland

Greenland

Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...

, is notable for having three naked qs. Other proper names and acronyms that have attained the status of English words include: Compaq
Compaq
Compaq Computer Corporation is a personal computer company founded in 1982. Once the largest supplier of personal computing systems in the world, Compaq existed as an independent corporation until 2002, when it was acquired for US$25 billion by Hewlett-Packard....

(a computer company), Nasdaq
NASDAQ
The NASDAQ Stock Market, also known as the NASDAQ, is an American stock exchange. "NASDAQ" originally stood for "National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations". It is the second-largest stock exchange by market capitalization in the world, after the New York Stock Exchange. As of...

(the US electronic stock market), Qantas
Qantas
Qantas Airways Limited is the flag carrier of Australia. The name was originally "QANTAS", an initialism for "Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services". Nicknamed "The Flying Kangaroo", the airline is based in Sydney, with its main hub at Sydney Airport...

(the Australian airline), and QinetiQ
QinetiQ
Qinetiq is a British global defence technology company, formed from the greater part of the former UK government agency, Defence Evaluation and Research Agency , when it was split up in June 2001...

(a British technology company). Zaqqum
Zaqqum
Zaqqum is a tree that Muslims believe grows in Jahannam . Its dwellers are compelled to eat Adh-Dhari, bitter fruit, to intensify their torment . The Khati'un may eat only the fruit or Ghislin . Its fruits are shaped like devils' heads...

(a tree mentioned in the Qur'an

Qur'an

The Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...

) and Saqqara
Saqqara
Saqqara is a vast, ancient burial ground in Egypt, serving as the necropolis for the Ancient Egyptian capital, Memphis. Saqqara features numerous pyramids, including the world famous Step pyramid of Djoser, sometimes referred to as the Step Tomb due to its rectangular base, as well as a number of...

are proper nouns notable for their 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.


buqsha Yemeni buqsha A buqsha or bogache is a former monetary unit of the Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen and the Yemen Arab Republic. 40 buqshas make up one Yemeni rial....	A former Yemen Yemen The Republic of Yemen , commonly known as Yemen , is a country located in the Middle East, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east.... i monetary unit	[L]	Also written bogache	Arabic Arabic language Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
burqa Burqa A burqa is an enveloping outer garment worn by women in some Islamic religion to cover their bodies in public places. The burqa is usually understood to be the woman's loose body-covering , plus the head-covering , plus the face-veil .-Etymology:A speculative and unattested etymology...	A veiled garment worn by Muslim Muslim A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable... women	[ODE][LC][C][AHC][OED]	Also written burka, burkha or iraq	Urdu and Persian Persian language Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence... burqa, from Arabic Arabic language Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book... burqu`
cinq	The number five, as signified in dice or cards	[ODE][COD][OED]		French French language French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts... cinq, "five"
cinqfoil	A plant of the genus Potentilla Potentilla Potentilla is the genus of typical cinquefoils, containing about 500 species of annual, biennial and perennial herbs in the rose family Rosaceae. They are generally Holarctic in distribution, though some may even be found in montane biomes of the New Guinea Highlands... , or an ornamental design thereof	[SOED][OED]	Much more commonly written cinquefoil	Middle English Middle English Middle English is the stage in the history of the English language during the High and Late Middle Ages, or roughly during the four centuries between the late 11th and the late 15th century.... , from Latin Latin Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and... quinquefolium, from quinque "five" + folium "leaf"
coq	A trimming of cock feathers on a woman's hat	[WI]		French French language French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts... coq, "cockerel"

|- valign="top"
|faqih

Faqih

A Faqīh is an expert in fiqh, or, Islamic jurisprudence.A faqih is an expert in Islamic Law, and, as such, the word Faqih can literally be generally translated as Jurist.- The definition of Fiqh and its relation to the Faqih:...

|An Islamic jurisprudent
|[RHW]
|Plural faqihs or fuqaha [RHU]
|Arabic

Arabic language

Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...

فقيه.
|- valign="top"
|faqir

Fakir

The fakir or faqir ; ) Derived from faqr is a Muslim Sufi ascetic in Middle East and South Asia. The Faqirs were wandering Dervishes teaching Islam and living on alms....

|A Muslim

Muslim

A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...

ascetic
|[L]
|More commonly written fakir
|Arabic

Arabic language

Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...

فقير "poverty-stricken"
|- valign="top"
|fiqh

Fiqh

Fiqh is Islamic jurisprudence. Fiqh is an expansion of the code of conduct expounded in the Quran, often supplemented by tradition and implemented by the rulings and interpretations of Islamic jurists....

|Muslim

Muslim

jurisprudence
|[ODE]
|
|Arabic

Arabic language

Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...

فقه, "understanding"
|- valign="top"
|inqilab
|A revolution in India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

or Pakistan

Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

|[C]
|
|Arabic

Arabic language

Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...

, إنقلاب
|- valign="top"
|mbaqanga

Mbaqanga

Mbaqanga is a style of South African music with rural Zulu roots that continues to influence musicians worldwide today. The style originated in the early 1960s.-History:...

|A style of South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

n music
|[ODE][C][W]
|
|Zulu

Zulu language

Zulu is the language of the Zulu people with about 10 million speakers, the vast majority of whom live in South Africa. Zulu is the most widely spoken home language in South Africa as well as being understood by over 50% of the population...

umbaqanga, "steamed maize bread"
|- valign="top"
|miqra

Tanakh

The Tanakh is a name used in Judaism for the canon of the Hebrew Bible. The Tanakh is also known as the Masoretic Text or the Miqra. The name is an acronym formed from the initial Hebrew letters of the Masoretic Text's three traditional subdivisions: The Torah , Nevi'im and Ketuvim —hence...

|The Tanakh, or Hebrew text of the Bible
|[WI]
|
|Hebrew

Hebrew language

מקרא.
|- valign="top"
|muqaddam

Muqaddam

Muqaddam is an Arabic title, adopted in other Islamic cultures, for any of various civil or religious officials. The literal meaning is something like "expediter", "facilitator", or "assistant"....

|A Bangladesh

Bangladesh

Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...

Nasta'liq script

' is one of the main script styles used in writing the Perso-Arabic script, and traditionally the predominant style in Persian calligraphy. It was developed in Iran in the 8th and 9th centuries...

|An Arabic script used in Persian

Persian language

Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...

writings
|[OED]
|Also written nasta'liq [C], nestaliq [OED], nastaleeq, or shortened to just taliq [OED]
|Arabic

Arabic language

Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...

نستعليق, from naskh + ta`liq
|- valign="top"
|niqab

Niqab

A niqab is a cloth which covers the face, worn by some Muslim women as a part of sartorial hijāb...

|A veil for the lower-face worn by some Muslim

Muslim

women
|[ODE]
|Also written niqaab
|From Arabic

Arabic language

Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...

نِقاب
|- valign="top"
|pontacq
|A sweet wine from Pontacq

Pontacq

Pontacq is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in south-western France.-References:*...

Kebab

Kebab is a wide variety of meat dishes originating in Middle East and later on adopted by the Middle East, and Asia Minor, and now found worldwide. In English, kebab with no qualification generally refers more specifically to shish kebab served on the skewer...

|A dish consisting of pieces of seasoned meat
|[OED]
|More commonly written kebab, kebap, kebob, kibob, kebhav, kephav, kebabie, or kabob
|Persian

Persian language

|- valign="top"
|qabalah

Kabbalah

Kabbalah/Kabala is a discipline and school of thought concerned with the esoteric aspect of Rabbinic Judaism. It was systematized in 11th-13th century Hachmei Provence and Spain, and again after the Expulsion from Spain, in 16th century Ottoman Palestine...

|A form of Jewish mysticism
|[C][AHC][WI]
|More commonly written Kabbalah, and also written Qabala [AHC], Qabbala [WI], Cabalah etc
|Hebrew

Hebrew language

Qadariyah

Qadariyah , in Islam, are adherents of the doctrine of free will. The word Qadar is derived from qadr ....

Kaddish

Kaddish is a prayer found in the Jewish prayer service. The central theme of the Kaddish is the magnification and sanctification of God's name. In the liturgy different versions of the Kaddish are used functionally as separators between sections of the service...

Qadi

Qadi is a judge ruling in accordance with Islamic religious law appointed by the ruler of a Muslim country. Because Islam makes no distinction between religious and secular domains, qadis traditionally have jurisdiction over all legal matters involving Muslims...

|A Muslim

Muslim

judge
|[L][C][W][OED][AOX]
|Also written qadhi [OED], qaadi, kadi, kazi qaadee or qazi [OED]
|Arabic

Arabic language

Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...

Qaf

Qaf may mean:* Qāf , a letter in the Arabic alphabet.** the Surat Qaf of the Qur'an* Ka with descender , a letter in the Kazakh, Uzbek, and Abkhaz alphabets* Jabal Qaf or Mount Qaf, a mythical mountain according to Muslim tradition....

|Twenty-first letter of the Arabic alphabet

Arabic alphabet

The Arabic alphabet or Arabic abjad is the Arabic script as it is codified for writing the Arabic language. It is written from right to left, in a cursive style, and includes 28 letters. Because letters usually stand for consonants, it is classified as an abjad.-Consonants:The Arabic alphabet has...

|[RHW]
|Also written qaph or qap
|Arabic

Arabic language

Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...

ق.
|- valign="top"
|qaid
|A Muslim

Muslim

tribal chief
|[RHW]
|Also written caid or kaid
|Arabic

Arabic language

Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...

قائد "leader", "commander"
|- valign="top"
|qaimaqam
|A minor official of the Ottoman Empire

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

Persian language

Qalandar

Qalandars are wandering ascetic Sufi dervishes who may or may not be connected to a specific tariqat. They are most prevalent in Central Asia, India and Pakistan, in the latter "qalandar" is also used as a title...

|A member of an order of mendicant dervish

Dervish

A Dervish or Darvesh is someone treading a Sufi Muslim ascetic path or "Tariqah", known for their extreme poverty and austerity, similar to mendicant friars in Christianity or Hindu/Buddhist/Jain sadhus.-Etymology:The Persian word darvīsh is of ancient origin and descends from a Proto-Iranian...

Qanat

A qanāt is a water management system used to provide a reliable supply of water for human settlements and irrigation in hot, arid and semi-arid climates...

|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

Persian language

, from Arabic

Arabic language

Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...

qanāt, "channel"
|- valign="top"
|qanun

Kanun (Instrument)

The Qanun is a string instrument found in the 10th century in Farab in Turkestan...

|A type of harp

Harp

The harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...

Qasida

The qaṣīdaᵗ , in Arabic: قصيدة, plural qasā'id, قــصــائـد; in Persian: قصیده , is a form of lyric poetry that originated in preIslamic Arabia...

|An Arabian poem of praise or satire
|[C][OED][AOX]
|Also written qasidah
|Arabic

Arabic language

Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...

قصيدة.
|- valign="top"
|qat

Khat

Khat, qat, gat or Waquish Spoken from true Yemeni, is a flowering plant native to tropical East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula....

|A kind of Arabian shrub

Shrub

A shrub or bush is distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and shorter height, usually under 5–6 m tall. A large number of plants may become either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience...

used as a narcotic

Narcotic

The term narcotic originally referred medically to any psychoactive compound with any sleep-inducing properties. In the United States of America it has since become associated with opioids, commonly morphine and heroin and their derivatives, such as hydrocodone. The term is, today, imprecisely...

|[L][C][OED]
|More commonly written khat, kat or gat
|Arabic

Arabic language

Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...

Qawwali

Qawwali is a form of Sufi devotional music popular in South Asia, particularly in the Punjab and Sindh regions of Pakistan, Hyderabad, Delhi, and other parts of northern India...

|Devotional music of the Sufis
|[ODE][C][AOX]
|
|Arabic

Arabic language

Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...

Hebrew Bible

The Hebrew Bible is a term used by biblical scholars outside of Judaism to refer to the Tanakh , a canonical collection of Jewish texts, and the common textual antecedent of the several canonical editions of the Christian Old Testament...

Pentecost

Pentecost is a prominent feast in the calendar of Ancient Israel celebrating the giving of the Law on Sinai, and also later in the Christian liturgical year commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples of Christ after the Resurrection of Jesus...

)
|[OED]
|
|
|- valign="top"
|qi

In traditional Chinese culture, qì is an active principle forming part of any living thing. Qi is frequently translated as life energy, lifeforce, or energy flow. Qi is the central underlying principle in traditional Chinese medicine and martial arts...

|In Chinese culture

Culture of China

Chinese culture is one of the world's oldest and most complex. The area in which the culture is dominant covers a large geographical region in eastern Asia with customs and traditions varying greatly between towns, cities and provinces...

, a physical life force
|[ODE][C][AHC][OED]
|Commonly written chi or ki
|Chinese

Chinese language

氣, 'air'
|- valign="top"
|qiana

Qiana

Qiana is a silky nylon fiber first developed by DuPont in 1968 . Initially intended for high-end fashions, it became a popular material in the 1970s for faux-silk, men's shirts, displaying bold patterns. The shirts were generally cut tight and included wide collars to fit over the collars of the...

|A type of nylon

Nylon

Nylon is a generic designation for a family of synthetic polymers known generically as polyamides, first produced on February 28, 1935, by Wallace Carothers at DuPont's research facility at the DuPont Experimental Station...

|[OED]
|
|Originally a trademark of DuPont

DuPont

E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company , commonly referred to as DuPont, is an American chemical company that was founded in July 1802 as a gunpowder mill by Eleuthère Irénée du Pont. DuPont was the world's third largest chemical company based on market capitalization and ninth based on revenue in 2009...

, now generic
|- valign="top"
|qibla

Qibla

The Qiblah , also transliterated as Qibla, Kiblah or Kibla, is the direction that should be faced when a Muslim prays during salah...

|The point to which Muslim

Muslim

s turn in prayer
|[ODE][COD][C][OED][AOX]
|Also written qiblah [OED], kiblah, qiblih, kibla or qib'lah [RHU], sometimes capitalised
|17th Century Arabic

Arabic language

Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...

, "the opposite"
|- valign="top"
|qibli
|A local Libyan name for the sirocco

Sirocco

Sirocco, scirocco, , jugo or, rarely, siroc is a Mediterranean wind that comes from the Sahara and reaches hurricane speeds in North Africa and Southern Europe. It is known in North Africa by the Arabic word qibli or ghibli Sirocco, scirocco, , jugo or, rarely, siroc is a Mediterranean wind...

, a southeasterly Mediterranean wind
|[OED]
|Also written ghibli
Sirocco
Sirocco, scirocco, , jugo or, rarely, siroc is a Mediterranean wind that comes from the Sahara and reaches hurricane speeds in North Africa and Southern Europe. It is known in North Africa by the Arabic word qibli or ghibli Sirocco, scirocco, , jugo or, rarely, siroc is a Mediterranean wind...

|
|- valign="top"
|qigong

Qigong

Qigong or chi kung is a practice of aligning breath, movement, and awareness for exercise, healing, and meditation...

|A Chinese system of medical exercises
|[ODE][C][AOX]
|Also written qi gong, ki gong, or chi kung
|Chinese

Chinese language

气功 (simp.)
|- valign="top"
|qin

Guqin

The guqin is the modern name for a plucked seven-string Chinese musical instrument of the zither family...

|A classification of Chinese musical instruments
|[AOX]
|
|Chinese

Chinese language

琴
|- valign="top"
|qinah

Kinah

Kinah or qinah is Hebrew for dirge or lamentation. Its general meaning is a dirge or lament, especially as sung by Jewish professional mourning women. Specifically, it refers to a Hebrew elegy chanted traditionally on the Ninth of Ab.Kinah was also a city in the extreme south of Judah...

|A Hebrew

Hebrew language

Qindarka

Qindarkë is an Albanian unit of currency equal to 1/100 of a lek....

|An Albania

Albania

Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...

n unit of currency, equal to one one-hundredth of a lek

Albanian lek

The lek is the official currency of Albania. It is subdivided into 100 qindarka , although qindarka are no longer issued.-Names:...

|[ODE][L][C]
|Plural qindarka [L] or qindars [C]. Also written qintar [L][C][AOX] or quintal
|Albanian

Albanian language

Albanian is an Indo-European language spoken by approximately 7.6 million people, primarily in Albania and Kosovo but also in other areas of the Balkans in which there is an Albanian population, including western Macedonia, southern Montenegro, southern Serbia and northwestern Greece...

|- valign="top"
|qinghaosu
|A drug, artemisinin

Artemisinin

Artemisinin , also known as Qinghaosu , and its derivatives are a group of drugs that possess the most rapid action of all current drugs against falciparum malaria. Treatments containing an artemisinin derivative are now standard treatment worldwide for falciparum malaria...

Qipao

The cheongsam is a body-hugging one-piece Chinese dress for women; the male version is the changshan. It is known in Mandarin Chinese as the qípáo Wade-Giles ch'i-p'ao, and is also known in English as a mandarin gown...

|A traditional Chinese dress
|[OED]
|Also written chi pao
|Chinese

Chinese language

旗袍.
|- valign="top"
|qirsh

Qirsh

Qirsh, Gersh, Grush, Kuruş and Grosi are all names for currency denominations in and around the territories formerly part of the Ottoman Empire. The variation in the name stems from the different languages it is used in and the different transcriptions into the Latin alphabet...

Qiviut

Qiviut is an Inuit word commonly used to indicate the wool of the muskox. The word was originally used to refer to the down feathers of birds as well as the inner wool of the muskox. It is valued for its use as a fiber as, unlike sheep's wool, it does not shrink in water at any temperature...

|The wool of the musk-ox
|[OED]
|
|Inuktitut

Inuktitut

Inuktitut or Eastern Canadian Inuktitut, Eastern Canadian Inuit language is the name of some of the Inuit languages spoken in Canada...

|- valign="top"
|qiyas

Qiyas

In Islamic jurisprudence, qiyās is the process of deductive analogy in which the teachings of the Hadith are compared and contrasted with those of the Qur'an, in order to apply a known injunction to a new circumstance and create a new injunction...

|An analogy in Sharia

Sharia

Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...

, Islamic law
|[RHW]
|
|Arabic

Arabic language

Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...

قياس.
|- valign="top"
|qoph

Qoph

Qoph or Qop is the nineteenth letter in many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Syriac, Hebrew and Arabic alphabet . Its sound value is an emphatic or . The OHED gives the letter Qoph a transliteration value of Q or a K and a final transliteration value as a ck...

|The nineteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet

Hebrew alphabet

The Hebrew alphabet , known variously by scholars as the Jewish script, square script, block script, or more historically, the Assyrian script, is used in the writing of the Hebrew language, as well as other Jewish languages, most notably Yiddish, Ladino, and Judeo-Arabic. There have been two...

|[L][C]
|Also written koph
|Hebrew

Hebrew language

ק
|- valign="top"
|qorma

Korma

Korma is a dish originating in South Asia or Central Asia which can be made with yoghurt, cream, nut and seed pastes or coconut milk; it is usually considered a type of curry...

|A type of curry
|[Co]
|Much more commonly written korma
|Urdu

Urdu

Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...

.
|- valign="top"
|qwerty

QWERTY

QWERTY is the most common modern-day keyboard layout. The name comes from the first six letters appearing in the topleft letter row of the keyboard, read left to right: Q-W-E-R-T-Y. The QWERTY design is based on a layout created for the Sholes and Glidden typewriter and sold to Remington in the...

Sambuk

A Sambuk, Sanbuk or Sambuq is a type of dhow, a traditional wooden Arabic sailing vessel.It has a characteristic keel design, with a sharp curve right below the top of the prow...

|A type of Dhow

Dhow

Dhow is the generic name of a number of traditional sailing vessels with one or more masts with lateen sails used in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean region. Some historians believe the dhow was invented by Arabs but this is disputed by some others. Dhows typically weigh 300 to 500 tons, and have a...

Shekel

Shekel , is any of several ancient units of weight or of currency. The first usage is from Mesopotamia around 3000 BC. Initially, it may have referred to a weight of barley...

|A unit of weight originally used in Mesopotamia. The currency of Israel, divided into 100 agorot

Israeli agora

The agora is a denomination of the currency of Israel. The Israeli currency - the new Israeli shekel is divided into 100 agorot.The name agora actually refers to three kinds of currencies that were used in Israel throughout its history, all of them have been subdivisions of the main currency...

|[MW]
|Plural sheqels or sheqalim. More commonly written shekel.
|Hebrew

Hebrew language

Arabic language

Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...

سوق (sūq)
|- valign="top"
|talaq

Talaq (Nikah)

In Islam there are separate rules for divorce for men and women under the terms of Islamic law . When a man has initiated a divorce the procedure is called . When a woman has initiated a divorce it is called khula ....

|A form of Islamic divorce
|[ODE][C][OED]
|
|Arabic

Arabic language

Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...

Taluqdar

A taluqdar or talukdar , is a term used for Indian land holders in Mughal and British times, responsible for collecting taxes from a district...

Taqiyya

Taqiyya , meaning religious dissimulation, is a practice emphasized in Shi'a Islam whereby adherents may conceal their religion when they are under threat, persecution, or compulsion...

|In Islam, the dissimulation of faith displayed for fear of one's life
|[RHW]
|Also written taqiyah [RHU], or capitalised
|Arabic

Arabic language

Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...

التقية.
|- valign="top"
|taqlid

Taqlid

Taqlid or taklid is an Arabic term in Islamic legal terminology connoting "imitation", that is; following the decisions of a religious authority without necessarily examining the scriptural basis or reasoning of that decision, such as accepting and following the verdict of scholars of...

|Acceptance of Muslim

Muslim

orthodoxy
|[RHW]
|
|Arabic

Arabic language

Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...

قْلي.
|- valign="top"
|tariqa

Tariqah

A tariqa is an Islamic religious order. In Sufism one starts with Islamic law, the exoteric or mundane practice of Islam and then is initiated onto the mystical path of a tariqa. Through spiritual practices and guidance of a tariqa the aspirant seeks ḥaqīqah - ultimate truth.-Meaning:A tariqa is a...

|A Sufi method of spiritual development, or a Sufi missionary
|[E][AOX]
|Also written tariqat [E] or tarika
|Arabic

Arabic language

Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...

طريق.
|- valign="top"
|tranq
|A form of sedative

Sedative

A sedative or tranquilizer is a substance that induces sedation by reducing irritability or excitement....

Tzadik

Tzadik/Zadik/Sadiq is a title given to personalities in Jewish tradition considered righteous, such as Biblical figures and later spiritual masters. The root of the word ṣadiq, is ṣ-d-q , which means "justice" or "righteousness", also the root of Tzedakah...

|In Judaism, a term bestowed upon the righteous.
|[C][OED]
|Plural tsaddiqs or tsaddiqim. Also written tzaddiq [C], tzadik or tzaddik.
|Hebrew

Hebrew language

Waqf

A waqf also spelled wakf formally known as wakf-alal-aulad is an inalienable religious endowment in Islamic law, typically denoting a building or plot of land for Muslim religious or charitable purposes. The donated assets are held by a charitable trust...

|A charitable trust in Islamic law
|[ODE][C][OED]
|Also written wakf. Plural waqf [ODE][C][OED] or waqfs [C][OED]
|Arabic

Arabic language

Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...

, literally "stoppage" from waqafa, "come to a standstill"
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|yaqona
|A Fijian intoxicating beverage, kava

Kava

Kava or kava-kava is a crop of the western Pacific....

|[C][OED]
|
|Fijian

Fijian language

Fijian is an Austronesian language of the Malayo-Polynesian family spoken in Fiji. It has 450,000 first-language speakers, which is less than half the population of Fiji, but another 200,000 speak it as a second language...

yaqona, in which q represents [ŋɡ]
|}

Uses in Scrabble

In many word games, most famously in Scrabble

Scrabble

Scrabble is a word game in which two to four players score points by forming words from individual lettered tiles on a game board marked with a 15-by-15 grid. The words are formed across and down in crossword fashion and must appear in a standard dictionary. Official reference works provide a list...

, 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 set of words from selected dictionaries which may not contain all the words listed here.

In Scrabble in North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

, the number of accepted words changes when the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary is updated every five years. Qi was added to the official North American word list in 2006. Qi is the most commonly played word in Scrabble tournaments.

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.

Words

Uses in Scrabble

Further reading