List of English words containing Q not followed by U

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.

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

• Constrained writing
• English words without vowels

References

Bibliography

For an extended list of English words containing Q not followed by U, see the English words containing Q not followed by U category of words in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.