qui

English Online Dictionary. What means qui‎? What does qui mean?

Aragonese

Etymology

From Latin quī.

Pronoun

qui

1. (interrogative) who? whom?

Asturian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈki/ [ˈki]

Pronoun

qui

1. (Cabrales) Alternative form of que

Catalan

Etymology

Inherited from Latin quī.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈki]
• Rhymes: -i

Pronoun

qui

1. (interrogative) who, whom
2. whoever

Related terms

• què
• que
• quin

Further reading

• “qui” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “qui”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
• “qui” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “qui” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French qui, from Old French qui, from Latin quī.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ki/

Pronoun

qui

1. (interrogative) who, whom

2. (relative) who, whom (after a preposition), which, that

Usage notes

After a preposition, qui can only refer to people; things (including animals, objects, ideas, etc.) require the pronoun lequel. After the prepositions entre (“between”) and parmi (“among”), lesquels/lesquelles (the plural forms of lequel, the singulars being — logically — much less common) must be used whether referring to a person or a thing.

Derived terms

Conjunction

qui

1. (Louisiana, Cajun) if

Further reading

• “qui”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Ido

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kwi/

Pronoun

qui

1. plural of qua
2. (relative pronoun) which (plural)

   Esis tre jentila homi qui helpis ni. ― It was very nice men who helped us.

3. (interrogative pronoun) who (plural)

   Qui esas ita kerli? ― Who are these guys? (direct question)

   Me ne konocas qui iti esas. ― I don't know who these are. (indirect question)

Pronoun

qui

1. plural of quo
2. (relative pronoun) which (plural)

   Esis tre bona kulteli qui me tranchis per. ― They were really good knives with which I cut.

3. (interrogative pronoun) what (plural)

   Qui eventis? ― What (thing) happened? (indicating that several things happened) (direct question)

   Ka tu povas helpar me decidar qui metar? ― Can you help me to decide what to wear? (indicating that several things are to be worn) (indirect question)

Related terms

• qua (“who (person)”)
• quo (“what (thing)”)
• qui (“who (plural)”)
• pro quo (“why”)

See also

• ube (“where”)
• kande (“when”)
• quala (“what kind of”)
  • quale (“how”)
• quanta (“how much”)
  • quanto (“quantity”)

Interlingua

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ki/

Pronoun

qui

1. (interrogative) who
2. (relative) who; whom

Usage notes

• As a relative, qui is used in the nominative and after prepositions.

• In the oblique, que is used instead.

Italian

Alternative forms

• quì (misspelling or obsolete)

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin *eccum hīc (with apocope), from Latin eccum + hīc.

The original geminated -cc-, though lost in the standard language, is still found in most regional Italian varieties.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkwi/^*
• (regional) IPA^(key): ^*/ˈkwi/^*
• Rhymes: -i

Adverb

qui

1. here

   Synonym: qua

Usage notes

• While qui and qua are mostly interchangeable, qui has a more punctual meaning whereas qua is more vague, similar to the pair lì and là.

See also

• lì, là
• ci

Further reading

• qui in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)
• qui in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Latin

See also

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈkʷiː/, [ˈkʷiː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈkwi/, [ˈkwiː]

Etymology 1

From earlier quei, from Proto-Italic *kʷoi, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷís, *kʷos.

Alternative forms

• quei (standard Republican spelling, later especially to distinguish the plural)
• quoi, qoi (Old Latin)

Pronoun

quī (feminine quae, neuter quod); relative/interrogative determiner

1. (relative) who, that, which, what

Usage notes

• See quis for the interrogative pronoun ("who?") or indefinite pronoun ("any(one)"), which share most but not all forms with the relative pronoun.

Declension

Irregular. Relative pronoun.

¹In Republican Latin or earlier, alternative spellings could be found for the following forms of quī/quis and its compounds: the masculine nominative singular or plural quī (old spelling quei), the genitive singular cuius (old spelling quoius), the dative singular cui (old spelling quoi or quoiei), the dative/ablative plural quīs (old spelling queis).

• An archaic ablative singular form (possibly originally deriving from a locative or instrumental formation; see adverb below) is quī, whence quīcum (“with whom”).

Determiner

quī or quis (feminine quae or qua, neuter quod); relative/interrogative determiner

1. (interrogative) who, what, which
2. (indefinite, after si, nisi, num, ne) anyone, any

Declension

Relative/interrogative determiner.

¹In Republican Latin or earlier, alternative spellings could be found for the following forms of quī/quis and its compounds: the masculine nominative singular or plural quī (old spelling quei), the genitive singular cuius (old spelling quoius), the dative singular cui (old spelling quoi or quoiei), the dative/ablative plural quīs (old spelling queis).
²When used as an indefinite word (pronoun or adjective), the feminine nominative singular and neuter nominative/accusative plural is usually qua (with short ă) instead of quae. Indefinite quă is generally only found directly after sī, nisi, num, or nē and may be considered to be either enclitic to the preceding word or (in Priscian's view) forming a compound with it; accordingly, sīqua, numqua, and nēqua are sometimes written together (as also are the masculines sīquis, numquis, and nēquis). The form quă is never used for the feminine plural, nor for any form of the relative pronoun or of the interrogative pronoun or adjective.

Derived terms

Related terms

• cuius
• cum
• quis
• quam
• ut

Descendants

References

• “qui¹”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• Allen, Joseph Henry, Greenough, James B. (1903) Allen and Greenough's New Latin grammar for schools and colleges: founded on comparative grammar, Boston: Ginn and Company, § 147 (relative pronoun)
• Allen, Joseph Henry, Greenough, James B. (1903) Allen and Greenough's New Latin grammar for schools and colleges: founded on comparative grammar, Boston: Ginn and Company, § 149 (indefinite adjective)

Etymology 2

Old instrumental case of quis, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷey. Cognate with English why.

Adverb

quī (not comparable)

1. (interrogative) In what way? how? whereby? by what means? why?
2. (relative) wherewith, whereby, wherefrom, how; that, in order that
3. (indefinite, with hercle, edepol, at, quippe, ut) somehow, surely

Synonyms

• (how?): ut

Derived terms

• aliōquī, aliōquīn
• atquī
• quīn

References

• “qui²”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “qui”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• qui in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[2], London: Macmillan and Co.

Etymology 3

Inflection of quis.

Pronoun

quī m pl

1. nominative masculine plural of quis

Macanese

Alternative forms

• (as a determiner) quê

Etymology

From a merger of Portuguese que, quer, and quão.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ki/

Conjunction

qui

1. that

2. (by extension) until, to the point of

   comê quí ravirâ ― to stuff oneself (literally, “to eat to the point of turning (around)”)

   rí qui istripâ ― to laugh one's head off (literally, “to laugh to the point of disembowelment”)

3. than

   pió qui ― worse than

Determiner

qui

1. (relative) what, which

   Synonym: qualunga

   qui cuza? ― what is that? (literally, “which thing?”)

   qui laia? ― how? (literally, “(in) what way?”)

   qui-foi? ― why? (literally, “what was?”)

2. what a (preceding nouns) (indicates surprise, delight, or other strong feelings)

   Qui vegónha! ― What a shame!

   Qui boniteza! ― How beautiful! (literally, “What beauty!”)

Derived terms

• qui sabe (“who knows!, how should I know!”)
• qui-di (“where”)

Adverb

qui

1. how, so (preceding adjectives) (indicates surprise, delight, or other strong feelings)

   Qui vida-fêde! ― How annoying!

   Qui afogoso! ― So rushed!

2. placed between two of the same adjective to amplify the degree of said adjective

   fáci qui fáci ― very easy

   mucho qui mucho ― already very withered

Pronoun

qui

1. (interrogative) what thing

   Qui nova? ― What's new?

Conjunction

qui … qui

1. either … or

   qui aqui, qui alí ― either here or there

Usage notes

• qui is often used to connect a noun with an adjective even without the sense of "that" or "so", for example:

  Árvre qui encorpado ― a sturdy tree (literally, “tree so sturdy / tree that sturdy”)

References

• https://www.macaneselibrary.org/pub/english/uipatua.htm

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French qui, from Latin quī.

Pronoun

qui

1. who
2. which (when referring to a non-human)

Descendants

• French: qui

Old French

Alternative forms

• ki, cui

Etymology

From Latin quī.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ki/

Pronoun

qui

1. who

Descendants

• Middle French: qui
  • French: qui
• Norman: tchi

Old Occitan

Pronoun

qui

1. Alternative form of cui

Old Spanish

Etymology

From Latin quī.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈki/

Pronoun

qui

1. (interrogative) who, whom
2. (relative) who, whom (after a preposition), which, that

Further reading

• “qui”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -i

Etymology 1

Noun

qui m (plural quis)

1. chi (name of the Greek letter Χ)

Etymology 2

Pronoun

qui

1. Eye dialect spelling of que, representing Brazil Portuguese.

Spanish

Etymology

Inherited from Latin quī.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈki/ [ˈki]
• Rhymes: -i
• Syllabification: qui

Pronoun

qui

1. (relative, obsolete) who, whom

Further reading

• “qui”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10

Vietnamese

Noun

qui

1. Alternative spelling of quy.

Verb

qui

1. Alternative spelling of quy.