quisling
/ˈkwɪz.lɪŋ/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.01 in modern English
18
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Alternative letter-case form of quisling.
Example Sentences
- "In many countries, including some where the Jews were neither numerically strong nor in possession of important posts, these envoys of the German Secret Service have been able, solely by the use of anti-Jewish slogans, to create those "national" Fascist movements from which Quislings are bred."
- "If, in the nation about to be attacked, influential persons were discovered who could be bribed or corrupted, German agents made use of these quislings."
- "It is time to clear out the quislings and paid flunkies of city hall and big business."
- "The man she cherishes, the man she butterfly-kisses, the man she sleeps curved around like two spoons in a drawer. It is he who is evil, he who is sworn to destroy her, an emotional quisling of the first water."
- "He sees off an attack from humans, who have as servants certain quisling apes, former followers of Caesar’s traitorous ex-comrade Koba (a motion-capture performance from Toby Kebbell)."
Etymology
Named after Norwegian military officer Vidkun Quisling (1887–1945), who ruled the Nazi collaborationist government of Norway during World War Two. From Quislinus, Latinization of Quislin, based on the Danish place name Kvislemark. This term first appeared in 1940. The surname is seemingly supposed to mean "one who is from Kvislemark", and is equivalent to Kvisle(mark) + -ing (suffix designating a person of a certain origin or with certain qualities). However, the earlier form of the name, Quislinus/Quislin, appears to have been a fanciful coinage based upon Kvisle(mark) + Latin -inus (“suffix indicating a relationship of position, possession, or origin”), and only later on came to be reinterpreted as containing Norwegian -ing (“suffix designating a person of a certain origin or with certain qualities”). Kvislemark is composed of Danish kvissel (“cleft branch”) + mark (compare Danmark). kvissel itself is a derivative of Old Norse kvísl (“fork [as in a 'fork in the road']”), which ultimately comes (by dissimilation) from Proto-Germanic *twīsilō. Cognates include Old English twisla (“confluence, junction, fork of a river or road”) and Old High German zwisila (“forked implement, twig, branch”). Ultimately related to English twistle, twissel, and twizzle. By surface analysis, quisle + -ing.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: kvísl, *twīsilō
Usage
Inflected Forms
Derived Forms
Phrases
quisling-style
fifth column