quid

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kwɪd/, [kʰw̥ɪd̥]

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪd

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Latin quid (“what, something”), neuter singular of quis (“who”).

Noun

quid (plural quids)

1. The inherent nature of something.
2. (US, historical) A member of a section of the Democratic-Republican Party between 1805 and 1811, following John Randolph of Roanoke. (From tertium quid.)

   Synonym: Quiddist

3. Paired with quo, in reference to the phrase quid pro quo (“this for that”): something offered in exchange for something else.
   • 1886 May 19, Report from the Select Committee of the House of Lords on the Electric Lighting Act (1882) Amendment (No. 1) Bill [H.L.]; the Electric Lighting Act (1882) Amendment (No. 2) Bill [H.L.]; Together with the Proceedings of the Committee, Minutes of Evidence, and Appendix, London: […] Henry Hansard and Son, page 208:

     […]; but what is the quo for which they ought to give the quid? you say they ought to give a quid pro quo; what is the quo? […]; did not they give you a pretty handsome quid for the quo there?

   • 2000, Andrew Stark, Conflict of Interest in American Public Life, →ISBN, pages 163–164:

     Indeed, asymmetry precludes the possibility of pointing to any particular quo that is meant to recompense the quid. […] If there exists any kind of inequity between quid and quo, then—on this line of argument—the expansive category of “friendship” emerges to account for it, siphoning the situation away from the class of objectionable quid pro quo. The claim officials here make—that for a quid to have a quo there must be some equivalency between the two—draws theoretical sustenance from the objective, exclusionary approach that critics of classical contract law apply to disproportionate exchanges.

   • 2009, George G. Brenkert, Tom L. Beaucham, editors, The Oxford Handbook of Business Ethics, Oxford University Press, page 504:

     Corruption, the Court declared in Buckley v. Valeo, involves a quid pro quo: an officeholder doing something in office in return for money or some other favor provided by another individual or entity (for our purposes, a corporation). The problem, however, is that in principle there can be a quid—the money or favor offered by the business to the official—and a quo—the action taken by the official that benefits the business—without any clear evidence of a pro, that is, that the two are connected. […] The “pro,” the connection between quid and quo, might take place only inside the minds of the official and businessperson concerned.

   • 2020, John Yoo, Defender in Chief: Donald Trump’s Fight for Presidential Power, New York, N.Y.: All Points Books, St. Martin’s Publishing Group, →ISBN:

     It is hard to pull off a quid pro quo if the holder of the quo doesn’t know about the quid.

Etymology 2

Likely derives from the phrase quid pro quo (“this for that”), referring to the exchange of goods/services for money.

Noun

quid (plural quid or (rare) quids)

1. (historical) A sovereign or guinea, that is, a certain coin or amount of money.
   • 1870, Charles Reade, Put Yourself in His Place:

     They invited him to come to-morrow, […] and bring half a quid with him.

2. (UK, colloquial) Pound sterling. (usually only used with a whole number of pounds)

   Synonyms: pound, (slang) nicker, (slang) sov

   Seven quid for a toastie? You're joking aren't you?!

   • 1994 [1993], Irvine Welsh, Trainspotting, London: Minerva, →ISBN, page 114:

     Forty quid a fuckin ticket. No shy they British Rail cunts, ah kin fuckin tell ye.

   • 1995, Nick Hornby, High Fidelity, London: Victor Gollancz, →ISBN, pages 71–72:

     The ride costs exactly fifteen quid, but that doesn't include the tip, and bitter is two pounds a pint.

3. (Ireland, Commonwealth, colloquial, historical) Various national currencies typically known by the name "pound".
4. (Ireland, colloquial, by extension) Euro.
5. (Commonwealth, colloquial, by extension, rare) Dollar, dollars.

Derived terms

• quids in
• the full quid

Etymology 3

From Middle English quide, quede, from Old English cwidu, cwudu (“that which is chewed, cud”). Doublet of cud.

Noun

quid (plural quids)

1. A piece of material for chewing, especially chewing tobacco.
   • 1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, “Israel Hands”, in Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC, part V (My Sea Adventure), page 210:

     Then he lay quiet for a little, and then, pulling out a stick of tobacco, begged me to cut him a quid.

   • 1901, W. W. Jacobs, chapter 1, in Light Freights, page 1:

     He broke off to open a small brass tobacco-box and place a little quid of tobacco tenderly into a pouch in his left cheek, […]

2. (US, colloquial) The act of chewing such tobacco.

Verb

quid (third-person singular simple present quids, present participle quidding, simple past and past participle quidded)

1. To chew tobacco.
   • 1902, John Masefield, A Ballad of John Silver:

     Ah! the pig-tailed, quidding pirates and the pretty pranks we played

2. (of a horse) To let food drop from the mouth whilst chewing.

See also

• a quid for a quod
• bob
• buck
• dime
• nickel
• quarter
• Quidditch
• quo pro quid
• secundum quid
• trey
• zac

 

Anagrams

• Qidu

Catalan

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin quid. Doublet of que.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈkit]

Noun

quid m (plural quids)

1. crux, gist, core

   Synonyms: nus, viu

   • 1980, Enric Valor, Sense la terra promesa, I:

     Totes les lucubracions, interpretacions, acumulacions, que s'havien fet al seu propòsit en llarga corrua de segles de cristianisme, més que aclarar-li la grandesa i profunditat d'aquelles vides, li les enterbolia. Ell maldava per despullar-ho tot d'aquella inútil fullaraca i trobar-ne el quid simplicíssim. Maria havia vingut a donar exemple d'humilitat; Jesucrist, a predicar justícia.

     All the meditations, interpretations, accumulations which had been made on this proposition in the long course of centuries of Christianity, rather than clarifying for him the greatness and profundity of these lives, had clouded them. He made an effort to clear away all the rubbish and find in it the very simple gist. Mary had come to give an example of humility; Jesus Christ, to preach justice.

Further reading

• “quid” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin quid.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kwid/, /kɥid/

Pronoun

quid

1. (informal, originally humorous, learned) what about

   Synonyms: quoi, qu’en est-il de

   Quid de la transparence du programme ?

   What about the program's transparency?

Further reading

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

Italian

Noun

quid m (invariable)

1. a certain something (that is somehow undefinable)

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *kʷid; compare *kʷis.

The sense “why” is an adverbial accusative; compare Ancient Greek τί (tí).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /kʷid/, [kʷɪd̪]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /kwid/, [kwid̪]

Pronoun

quid

1. neuter nominative/accusative singular of quis

   Quid dīcam?

   What can I say?

2. (internal accusative) what, how?
   • Aeneid 12.872 by Vergil

     Quid nunc tē tua, Turne, potest germāna iuvāre?

     How will your sister help you now, Turnus?

Derived terms

• quid tibi nomen est?
• quid nomen tibi est?
• quid si? (what if?)

  Quid si illud addimus.

• quid tum? (what then? how then?)
• quid ergo (ironically)
• quid agis?
• quid ais?

Adverb

quid (not comparable)

1. why? what for?
   • 27 BCE – 25 BCE, Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita I.47:

     quid frustraris civitatem?

     why do you cheat the citizens?

   • Gesta Danorum (“deeds of the Danes”) by Saxo Grammaticus (in Latin caput 8, liber 1, translation in English chapter 8, book 1)

     Quid gladiō pugnās incurvō?

     Why do you fight with a bent sword?

Interjection

quid

1. well, why, what?

   Quid, an nescīs

   What, you mean you don't know?

   • Pompeius, Commentum in Artis Donati partem tertiam Keil, GL V, p. 287/14 = Zago (2017), p. 16/7:

     (discussing moetacism) Plērumque enim aut suspēnsiōne prōnuntiātur aut exclūsiōne […] Nōs quid sequī dēbēmus? Quid, per suspēnsiōnem tantum modo. Quā ratiōne? Quia si […]

     It's mostly pronounced either by pausing or by leaving it out […] Which solution should we adopt? Why, only by pausing. What is the reason? Because if […]

Derived terms

• quid nī, quidnī
• quid ita

Related terms

• quod
• quis

Descendants

• Balkan Romance:
  • Aromanian: tsi
  • Megleno-Romanian: tse
  • Romanian: ce
• Italo-Romance:
  • Italian: che
  • Neapolitan: che
  • Sicilian: chi
• Padanian:
  • Friulian: ce
  • Piedmontese: quei, que
  • Romansch: tge
  • Venetan: ché
• Gallo-Romance:
  • Catalan: què
  • Franco-Provençal: quei, que
  • French: que, quoi
  • Norman: quei, qui, que
  • Picard: quoé
  • Occitan: qué
• Ibero-Romance:
  • Aragonese: que
  • Asturian: que
  • Mozarabic: כי (ky), כ (k)
  • Old Galician-Portuguese: que, q̃, q̇ (abbreviation, in manuscripts)
    • Fala: que
    • Galician: que
    • Portuguese: que
      • Indo-Portuguese: que
  • Spanish: que

References

• “quid”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “quid”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• quid in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • (ambiguous) if anything should happen to me; if I die: si quid (humanitus) mihi accidat or acciderit
    
  • (ambiguous) what will become of him: quid illo fiet?
    
  • (ambiguous) what am I to do with this fellow: quid huic homini (also hoc homine) faciam?
    
  • (ambiguous) how came it that...: quid causae fuit cur...?
    
  • (ambiguous) what is the use of: quid attinet? with Infin.
    
  • (ambiguous) give me your opinion: dic quid sentias
    
  • (ambiguous) I am undecided..: incertus sum, quid consilii capiam
    
  • (ambiguous) what do you mean to do: quid tibi vis?
    
  • (ambiguous) what is the meaning of this: quid hoc sibi vult?
    
  • (ambiguous) what is the meaning of this: quid hoc rei est?
    
  • (ambiguous) to determine the nature and constitution of the subject under discussion: constituere, quid et quale sit, de quo disputetur
    
  • (ambiguous) what is the meaning, the original sense of this word: quid significat, sonat haec vox?
    
  • (ambiguous) what do we mean by 'virtue': quid est virtus?
    
  • (ambiguous) what sort of humour are you in: quid tibi animi est?
    
  • (ambiguous) what will become of me: quid (de) me fiet? (Ter. Heaut. 4. 3. 37)
    
  • (ambiguous) how are you: quid agis?
    
  • (ambiguous) what is going on? how are you getting on: quid agitur? quid fit?
    
  • (ambiguous) let the consuls take measures for the protection of the state: videant or dent operam consules, ne quid res publica detrimenti capiat (Catil. 1. 2. 4)
    
  • (ambiguous) what is your opinion: quid censes? quid tibi videtur?
    
  • (ambiguous) what is your opinion: quid de ea re fieri placet?
    
  • (ambiguous) to say the least..: ne (quid) gravius dicam
    
  • (ambiguous) in short; to be brief: ne multa, quid plura? sed quid opus est plura?
    
  • (ambiguous) no wonder: nec mirum, minime mirum (id quidem), quid mirum?
    

Spanish

Noun

quid m (plural quids or quid)

1. gist; point; crux

Further reading

• “quid”, 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