Words With Q but No U

Why Q usually comes with U

Old English didn't use Q much at all. The sound we now spell qu was written cw, so queen was cwen and quick was cwic. After the Norman Conquest in 1066, scribes trained in French and Latin started writing that sound the way those languages did – with qu – and the habit stuck.

That's why nearly every English word with a Q has a U right after it. The exceptions are mostly newer arrivals: words borrowed from languages such as Arabic, Hebrew, Persian and Albanian, where Q stands for a different sound, often a K-like sound made further back in the throat.

Q-without-U words and what they mean

• qat – a shrub from East Africa and Arabia whose leaves are chewed as a mild stimulant. Also spelled khat.
• qaid – a local leader or official in parts of North Africa. Also spelled caid.
• qanat – an underground tunnel that carries water from hills down to fields, used for centuries in dry regions.
• qoph – a letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Also spelled koph.
• faqir – another spelling of fakir, a holy person who lives simply, often on what others give.
• qindar and qintar – small coins of Albania, each worth one hundredth of a lek. Qindarka is a plural.
• sheqel – another spelling of shekel, the currency of Israel. Sheqalim is a plural.
• tranq – an informal short form of tranquilizer.
• qwerty – the standard keyboard layout, named after the first six letters on its top row of letters.

Most of these also have plural forms that keep the Q without a U, such as qats, qanats and qophs.

Using Q-without-U words in word games

Drawing a Q with no U in sight is one of the most frustrating moments in a letter tile game. These words are the way out – qat needs just two other letters, and qaid, qoph and tranq aren't much harder.

Every game uses its own word list, so check yours before you play. You may also know qi, the word for life energy in Chinese philosophy. It's accepted in some newer game word lists but isn't in the public-domain word list we use, so it doesn't appear here.

Holding a Q and a few other letters? The word unscrambler shows every word you can make, and the board game word finder ranks them by points.

Fun facts about Q

• Q is one of the least-used letters in English, which is why it's usually worth a lot of points in word games.
• Even with a U, Q words are rare: only a small share of words in our dictionary contain qu at all.
• Very few English words end in Q. Tranq is one of the handful in our list.