Q 25185 225718973 2008-07-15T01:51:55Z TXiKiBoT 3171782 robot Adding: [[lv:Q]] {{otherusesof}} {{wiktionarypar2|Q|q}} {{Latin alphabet navbox|uc=Q|lc=q}} '''Q''' is the seventeenth letter of the modern [[Latin alphabet]]. Its name in [[English language|English]] is spelled ''cue'' ({{pronEng|kjuː}}).<ref>"Q" ''Oxford English Dictionary,'' 2nd edition (1989); ''Merriam-Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged'' (1993); "que," op. cit.</ref> ==History== {| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse;text-align:center;" |- bgcolor="#EEEEEE" ! Egyptian hieroglyph ''wj'' ! Phoenician Q ! Etruscan Q ! Greek Qoppa |----- |<hiero>V24</hiero> |[[Image:PhoenicianQ-01.png]] |[[Image:EtruscanQ-01.svg|64px]] |[[Image:GreekQ-01.png]] |} The [[Semitic languages|Semitic]] sound value of [[Qoph|Qôp]] (perhaps originally ''qaw'' cord of wool, and possibly based on an [[Egyptian hieroglyph]]) was {{IPA|/q/}} ([[voiceless uvular plosive]]), a sound common to Semitic languages, but not found in English or most Indo-European ones. In [[Greek language|Greek]], this sign as [[Qoppa]] {{Unicode|Ϙ}} probably came to represent several [[labiovelar|labialized velar]] [[plosive]]s, among them {{IPA|/kʷ/}} and {{IPA|/kʷʰ/}}. As a result of later sound shifts, these sounds in Greek changed to {{IPA|/p/}} and {{IPA|/pʰ/}} respectively. Therefore, Qoppa was transformed into two letters: Qoppa, which stood for a number only, and [[Phi (letter)|Phi]] Φ which stood for the aspirated sound {{IPA|/pʰ/}} that came to be pronounced {{IPA|/f/}} in Modern Greek. The [[Etruscans]] used Q only in conjunction with V to represent {{IPA|/kʷ/}}. ==Usage== In most modern western languages written in Latin script, such as in [[Romance language|Romance]] and [[Germanic languages]], Q appears almost exclusively in the digraph QU, though see [[List of English words containing Q not followed by U|Q without U]]. In [[English language|English]] this digraph most often denotes the cluster {{IPA|/kw/}}, except in borrowings from French where it represents {{IPA|/k/}} as in ''plaque''. In Italian qu represents {{IPA|[kw]}} (where {{IPA|[w]}} is an allophone of {{IPA|/u/}}); in German, {{IPA|/kv/}}; and in [[French language|French]], [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]], [[Occitan language|Occitan]], [[Spanish language|Spanish]], and [[Catalan language|Catalan]], {{IPA|/k/}} or {{IPA|/kw/}}. (In Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, Occitan and French, ''qu'' replaces [[c]] for {{IPA|/k/}} before front vowels [[i]] and [[e]], since in those contexts ''c'' is a fricative and letter 'k' is seldom used outside [[loan word]]s.) In the [[Aymara language|Aymara]], [[Greenlandic language|Greenlandic]], [[Uzbek language|Uzbek]], [[Quechua]], and [[Tatar language]]s, as well as [[Romanization of Arabic|romanised]] [[Arabic language|Arabic]], Q is a [[voiceless uvular plosive]]. {{IPA|[q]}} is also used in the [[help:IPA|IPA]] for the voiceless uvular plosive, as well as in most transliteration schemes of [[Semitic languages]] for the "emphatic" ''[[Qoph|qōp]]'' sound. The sound is rendered with letter ﻕ in [[Arabic alphabet|Arabic script]]. In [[Maltese language|Maltese]] and [[Võro language|Võro]], Q denotes the [[glottal stop]]. In [[Albanian language|Albanian]], ''q'' represents the [[voiceless palatal plosive]], {{IPA|/c/}}. In [[Chinese language|Chinese]] [[Hanyu Pinyin]], Q is used to represent the sound {{IPA|[tɕʰ]}}, which is close to English "ch" in "cheese". In [[Fijian language|Fijian]], Q represents the [[Prenasalized consonant|prenasalized]] [[voiced velar plosive]] {{IPA|[ŋɡ]}}. In [[Xhosa language|Xhosa]] and [[Zulu language|Zulu]], Q represents the [[postalveolar click]] {{IPA|[kǃ]}}. Q, which is rarely seen in a word without a U next to it in English, is the second most rarely used letter in the [[English language]]. The Q represents a voiceless velar plosive, contrary to the belief that it represents a labialized voiceless velar plosive. If this was the case, their would be no need for the "U" at the end. The lowercase Q is usually written as a lowercase O with a line below it, with or without a "tail". It is usually typed without due to the major difference between the tails of the lowercase G and lowercase Q. It is usually written with the tail to distinguish from the G. Unlike the written lowercase G, which has a leftward facing tail, the Q's tail faces right. An example of the lowercase Q written from a keyboard is a "q". ==Codes for computing== {{Letter |NATO=Quebec |Morse= – – · – |Character=Q |Braille=⠟ }} In [[Unicode]] the [[majuscule|capital]] Q is codepoint U+0051 and the [[lower case]] q is U+0071. The [[ASCII]] code for capital Q is 81 and for lowercase q is 113; or in [[Binary numeral system|binary]] 01010001 and 01110001, correspondingly. The [[EBCDIC]] code for capital Q is 216 and for lowercase q is 152. The [[numeric character reference]]s in [[HTML]] and [[XML]] are "<tt>&amp;#81;<tt>" and "<tt>&amp;#113;</tt>" for upper and lower case respectively. ==Trivia== {{Trivia|date=September 2007}} * Q is the only English [[letter (alphabet)|letter]] that does not appear in any [[US state]] name * People connected to an [[Internet Relay Chat|IRC]]-network with [[Internet_Relay_Chat#Modes|usermode]] +q are immune to bans, kicks and akicks. * "Q" Added To Stock Ticker Symbol: When a company is involved in bankruptcy proceedings, the letter "Q" is added to the end of the company's stock ticker symbol. When a company emerges from bankruptcy, in most cases the plan of reorganization will cancel the existing equity stock. * Q is never used as the initial letter in the [[call sign]] of any radio or television station, being prohibited from such use by the [[ITU]] anywhere in the world (as of 2007). ==Abbreviations== * 'Q' = Stock symbol for [[Qwest]] Communications International Inc. * 'Q' = Qualified Developmental Disabilities Professional (aka QP or QDDP). * 'Q' = Medical Term for Cardiac Output (Stroke Volume * Heart Rate) ==See also== {{Commons|Q}} * [[List of English words containing Q not followed by U]] {{Latin alphabet}} [[Category:Latin letters]] [[af:Q]] [[als:Q]] [[ar:Q]] [[arc:Q]] [[ast:Q]] [[az:Q]] [[bs:Q]] [[br:Q (lizherenn)]] [[ca:Q]] [[cs:Q]] [[co:Q]] [[cy:Q]] [[da:Q]] [[de:Q]] [[el:Q]] [[es:Q]] [[eo:Q]] [[eu:Q]] [[fa:Q]] [[fr:Q (lettre)]] [[fur:Q]] [[gan:Q]] [[gd:Q]] [[gl:Q]] [[ko:Q]] [[hr:Q]] [[ilo:Q]] [[is:Q]] [[it:Q]] [[he:Q]] [[ka:Q]] [[kw:Q]] [[sw:Q]] [[ht:Q]] [[la:Q]] [[lv:Q]] [[lt:Q]] [[hu:Q]] [[mzn:Q]] [[ms:Q]] [[nah:Q]] [[nl:Q (letter)]] [[ja:Q]] [[no:Q]] [[nn:Q]] [[nrm:Q]] [[uz:Q (harf)]] [[pl:Q]] [[pt:Q]] [[ro:Q]] [[qu:Q]] [[ru:Q (латиница)]] [[scn:Q]] [[simple:Q]] [[sl:Q]] [[sr:Q (слово латинице)]] [[fi:Q]] [[sv:Q]] [[tl:Q]] [[th:Q]] [[vi:Q]] [[tr:Q]] [[uk:Q (латиниця)]] [[vo:Q]] [[yo:Q]] [[zh-yue:Q]] [[bat-smg:Q]] [[zh:Q]]