quick
/kwɪk/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.98 in modern English
20
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Occurring in a short time; happening or done rapidly.
adj
Lively, fast-thinking, witty, intelligent.
adj
adj
Easily aroused to anger; quick-tempered.
adj
Pregnant, especially at the stage where the foetus's movements can be felt; figuratively, alive with some emotion or feeling.
Archaic
Example Sentences
- "I ran to the station – but I wasn't quick enough."
- "He's a quick runner."
- "The quickest and nimblest were probably the oxycones, throwing themselves through the water like discuses."
- "That was a quick meal."
- "Veronica Ripley, 32, often speaks to friends about the role that video games played in her trans awakening: “I would try to explain it away, saying that I was playing the girl character because she had a smaller hitbox or quicker kill animations,” she said, referring to in-game advantages."
- "The importance of Nowruz is reflected in an elaborate sabzi polo, the herbed rice capped with a crunchy tahdig, the crust formed from lettuce, rice mixed with yogurt or lavash or another thin flatbread. On Wednesday night, I opted for sheveed polo, a simpler and quicker dill rice, but I can’t wait to nail that crunchy tahdig tonight."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *gʷeyh₃- Proto-Indo-European *-wós Proto-Indo-European *gʷih₃wós Proto-Germanic *kwikwaz Proto-West Germanic *kwiku Old English cwic Middle English quyk English quick From Middle English quik, quic (“living, alive, active”), from Old English cwic (“alive”), from Proto-West Germanic *kwiku (“alive, lively quick”), from Proto-Germanic *kwikwaz (“alive, lively, quick”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷih₃wós (“alive”), from *gʷeyh₃- (“to live”), *gʷeyh₃w- (“to live”). For semantic development, compare lively. Cognate with Dutch kwik, kwiek (“lively, quick”), German keck (“sassy, cheeky”), Danish kvik (“lively, quick-witted, quick”), kvæg (“cattle”), Faroese kvikur (“quick”), Icelandic kvikur (“lively, quick”), Norn kvikk, hwikk (“living, swarming, teeming”), Norwegian kvikk (“quick, lively, quick-witted”), Swedish kvick (“quick, witty”), and also (from Indo-European) with Greek βίος (víos, “life”), Latin vivus (“alive”), Lithuanian gývas (“alive”), Latvian dzīvs (“alive”), Russian живо́й (živój, “alive, lively, quick”), Polish żywy (“alive”), Welsh byw (“alive”), Irish beo (“alive”), biathaigh (“to feed”), Northern Kurdish jîn (“to live”), jiyan (“life”), giyan (“soul”), can (“soul”), Sanskrit जीव (jīva, “alive”), Albanian nxit (“to urge, stimulate”). Doublet of jiva.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *gʷeyh₃-, quik, cwic, *kwiku, *kwikwaz, *gʷih₃wós
Usage
Inflected Forms
quicker (comparative)
more quick (comparative)
quickest (superlative)
most quick (superlative)
kwik (alternative, pronunciation spelling)
quicks (plural)
quicks (present, singular)
quicking (participle, present)
quicked (participle, past)
quicked (past)