Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

q-ship

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.41 in modern English

Syllables: q--ship
IPA

19

Scrabble Score

5

Letters

3

Syllables

5

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A merchant ship with concealed weaponry, designed to lure submarines into making surface attacks.

Example Sentences

"Q-ships were usually armed with one 4-inch and two 12-pounder guns. These were hidden behind hinged bulwarks, inside false superstructures and false deck cargoes, or under dummy lifeboats."

Etymology

Short for Queenstown (now Cobh) in Ireland, the home port of the British Q-ships, when they were first implemented in World War I.

Inflected Forms

Q-ships (plural)

Synonyms

Q-boat

Questions

What does q-ship mean?: A merchant ship with concealed weaponry, designed to lure submarines into making surface attacks.
Where does q-ship come from?: Short for Queenstown (now Cobh) in Ireland, the home port of the British Q-ships, when they were first implemented in World War I.

How to pronounce q-ship

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “q-ship”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
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Repeat and practice — Say “q-ship” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.