Wiktionary

quid

English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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Borrowed from Latin quid (“what, something”), neuter singular of quis (“who”).

Noun

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quid (plural quids)

  1. The inherent nature of something.
  2. (US, historical) A member of a section of the Democratic-Republican Party between 1805 and 1811, following John Randolph of Roanoke. (From tertium quid.)
    Synonym: Quiddist
  3. Paired with quo, in reference to the phrase quid pro quo (“this for that”): something offered in exchange for something else.
    • 1886 May 19, Report from the Select Committee of the House of Lords on the Electric Lighting Act (1882) Amendment (No. 1) Bill [H.L.]; the Electric Lighting Act (1882) Amendment (No. 2) Bill [H.L.]; Together with the Proceedings of the Committee, Minutes of Evidence, and Appendix, London: […] Henry Hansard and Son, page 208:
      […]; but what is the quo for which they ought to give the quid? you say they ought to give a quid pro quo; what is the quo? […]; did not they give you a pretty handsome quid for the quo there?
    • 2000, Andrew Stark, Conflict of Interest in American Public Life, →ISBN, pages 163–164:
      Indeed, asymmetry precludes the possibility of pointing to any particular quo that is meant to recompense the quid. […] If there exists any kind of inequity between quid and quo, then—on this line of argument—the expansive category of “friendship” emerges to account for it, siphoning the situation away from the class of objectionable quid pro quo. The claim officials here make—that for a quid to have a quo there must be some equivalency between the two—draws theoretical sustenance from the objective, exclusionary approach that critics of classical contract law apply to disproportionate exchanges.
    • 2009, George G. Brenkert, Tom L. Beaucham, editors, The Oxford Handbook of Business Ethics, Oxford University Press, page 504:
      Corruption, the Court declared in Buckley v. Valeo, involves a quid pro quo: an officeholder doing something in office in return for money or some other favor provided by another individual or entity (for our purposes, a corporation). The problem, however, is that in principle there can be a quid—the money or favor offered by the business to the official—and a quo—the action taken by the official that benefits the business—without any clear evidence of a pro, that is, that the two are connected. […] The “pro,” the connection between quid and quo, might take place only inside the minds of the official and businessperson concerned.
    • 2020, John Yoo, Defender in Chief: Donald Trump’s Fight for Presidential Power, New York, N.Y.: All Points Books, St. Martin’s Publishing Group, →ISBN:
      It is hard to pull off a quid pro quo if the holder of the quo doesn’t know about the quid.

Etymology 2

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Likely derives from the phrase quid pro quo (“this for that”), referring to the exchange of goods/services for money.

Noun

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quid (plural quid or (rare) quids)

  1. (historical) A sovereign or guinea, that is, a certain coin or amount of money.
    • 1870, Charles Reade, Put Yourself in His Place:
      They invited him to come to-morrow, […] and bring half a quid with him.
  2. (UK, colloquial) Pound sterling. (usually only used with a whole number of pounds)
    Synonyms: pound, (slang) nicker, (slang) sov
    Seven quid for a toastie? You're joking aren't you?!
  3. (Ireland, Commonwealth, colloquial, historical) Various national currencies typically known by the name "pound".
  4. (Ireland, colloquial, by extension) Euro.
  5. (Commonwealth, colloquial, by extension, rare) Dollar, dollars.
Derived terms
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Etymology 3

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From Middle English quide, quede, from Old English cwidu, cwudu (“that which is chewed, cud”). Doublet of cud.

Noun

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quid (plural quids)

  1. A piece of material for chewing, especially chewing tobacco.
    • 1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, “Israel Hands”, in Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC, part V (My Sea Adventure), page 210:
      Then he lay quiet for a little, and then, pulling out a stick of tobacco, begged me to cut him a quid.
    • 1901, W. W. Jacobs, chapter 1, in Light Freights, page 1:
      He broke off to open a small brass tobacco-box and place a little quid of tobacco tenderly into a pouch in his left cheek, […]
  2. (US, colloquial) The act of chewing such tobacco.

Verb

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quid (third-person singular simple present quids, present participle quidding, simple past and past participle quidded)

  1. To chew tobacco.
  2. (of a horse) To let food drop from the mouth whilst chewing.

See also

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Anagrams

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Catalan

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Etymology

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Learned borrowing from Latin quid. Doublet of que.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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quid m (plural quids)

  1. crux, gist, core
    Synonyms: nus, viu
    • 1980, Enric Valor, Sense la terra promesa, I:
      Totes les lucubracions, interpretacions, acumulacions, que s'havien fet al seu propòsit en llarga corrua de segles de cristianisme, més que aclarar-li la grandesa i profunditat d'aquelles vides, li les enterbolia. Ell maldava per despullar-ho tot d'aquella inútil fullaraca i trobar-ne el quid simplicíssim. Maria havia vingut a donar exemple d'humilitat; Jesucrist, a predicar justícia.
      All the meditations, interpretations, accumulations which had been made on this proposition in the long course of centuries of Christianity, rather than clarifying for him the greatness and profundity of these lives, had clouded them. He made an effort to clear away all the rubbish and find in it the very simple gist. Mary had come to give an example of humility; Jesus Christ, to preach justice.

Further reading

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French

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Latin quid.

Pronunciation

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Pronoun

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quid

  1. (informal, originally humorous, learned) what about
    Synonyms: quoi, qu’en est-il de
    Quid de la transparence du programme ?
    What about the program's transparency?

Further reading

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Italian

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Noun

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quid m (invariable)

  1. a certain something (that is somehow undefinable)

Latin

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Etymology

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From Proto-Indo-European *kʷid; compare *kʷis.

The sense “why” is an adverbial accusative; compare Ancient Greek τί (tí).

Pronunciation

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Pronoun

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quid

  1. neuter nominative/accusative singular of quis
    Quid dīcam?
    What can I say?
  2. (internal accusative) what, how?
    • Aeneid 12.872 by Vergil
      Quid nunc tē tua, Turne, potest germāna iuvāre?
      How will your sister help you now, Turnus?

Derived terms

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Adverb

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quid (not comparable)

  1. why? what for?

Interjection

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quid

  1. well, why, what?
    Quid, an nescīs
    What, you mean you don't know?
    • Pompeius, Commentum in Artis Donati partem tertiam Keil, GL V, p. 287/14 = Zago (2017), p. 16/7:
      (discussing moetacism) Plērumque enim aut suspēnsiōne prōnuntiātur aut exclūsiōne […] Nōs quid sequī dēbēmus? Quid, per suspēnsiōnem tantum modo. Quā ratiōne? Quia si […]
      It's mostly pronounced either by pausing or by leaving it out […] Which solution should we adopt? Why, only by pausing. What is the reason? Because if […]

Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • Balkan Romance:
    • Aromanian: tsi
    • Megleno-Romanian: tse
    • Romanian: ce
  • Italo-Romance:
  • Padanian:
  • Gallo-Romance:
  • Ibero-Romance:

References

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  • “quid”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • “quid”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • quid in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
  • Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
    • (ambiguous) if anything should happen to me; if I die: si quid (humanitus) mihi accidat or acciderit
    • (ambiguous) what will become of him: quid illo fiet?
    • (ambiguous) what am I to do with this fellow: quid huic homini (also hoc homine) faciam?
    • (ambiguous) how came it that...: quid causae fuit cur...?
    • (ambiguous) what is the use of: quid attinet? with Infin.
    • (ambiguous) give me your opinion: dic quid sentias
    • (ambiguous) I am undecided..: incertus sum, quid consilii capiam
    • (ambiguous) what do you mean to do: quid tibi vis?
    • (ambiguous) what is the meaning of this: quid hoc sibi vult?
    • (ambiguous) what is the meaning of this: quid hoc rei est?
    • (ambiguous) to determine the nature and constitution of the subject under discussion: constituere, quid et quale sit, de quo disputetur
    • (ambiguous) what is the meaning, the original sense of this word: quid significat, sonat haec vox?
    • (ambiguous) what do we mean by 'virtue': quid est virtus?
    • (ambiguous) what sort of humour are you in: quid tibi animi est?
    • (ambiguous) what will become of me: quid (de) me fiet? (Ter. Heaut. 4. 3. 37)
    • (ambiguous) how are you: quid agis?
    • (ambiguous) what is going on? how are you getting on: quid agitur? quid fit?
    • (ambiguous) let the consuls take measures for the protection of the state: videant or dent operam consules, ne quid res publica detrimenti capiat (Catil. 1. 2. 4)
    • (ambiguous) what is your opinion: quid censes? quid tibi videtur?
    • (ambiguous) what is your opinion: quid de ea re fieri placet?
    • (ambiguous) to say the least..: ne (quid) gravius dicam
    • (ambiguous) in short; to be brief: ne multa, quid plura? sed quid opus est plura?
    • (ambiguous) no wonder: nec mirum, minime mirum (id quidem), quid mirum?

Spanish

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Noun

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quid m (plural quids or quid)

  1. gist; point; crux

Further reading

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