Etymologically
Log in

cue

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 22 October 2026 at 21:49. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

English has two nouns spelled cue with different origins: a signal to an actor, which may come from the letter Q, and the billiard stick, a variant of queue.[1][2][3][4]

Pronunciation

cue1 signal

Etymology

Its origin is uncertain.[1][2][4][6] In the 16th and 17th centuries it was often written Q or q, and writers of the time explained it as an abbreviation of a Latin word, Latin quandō (“when”) or quālis (“of what kind”), marked in actors' copies of plays where they were to begin;[1][2][3][7][8] the OED notes that no evidence confirming this has been found.[1] Merriam-Webster and the AHD accept the derivation as probable,[9][10] and Etymonline traces the Latin adverb to Proto-Indo-European *kʷo-, the stem of relative and interrogative pronouns.[2][10] Another proposal takes it from French queue (“tail”), as the tail end of the preceding speech,[1][11] but the OED objects that French never used queue in this way, the cue being called réplique there.[1] Shakespeare's printed texts have both Q and cue.[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The last words of a speech in a play, which signal another actor to enter or speak: 1553, written q;[1][3][9] spelled out as quew in 1565.[3]

Semantic evolution

Already in 1565 the word was used figuratively for a hint or signal to speak or act,[1][2] and in 1567 it first meant a person's mood or frame of mind,[1] a sense that lived on in northern English and Scots dialect ("in fine cue").[12] From 1581 it meant the part assigned to someone, the proper course to take.[1] Johnson (1755) defined it as the last words of a speech that the next player catches, and as a hint or intimation.[13] It was transferred to music in 1880, for a direction that helps a player come in after a long rest,[1][2] and to film and broadcasting by 1932.[1] Psychology took it in 1931 for a signal to perception or response.[1] The verb, to give someone a cue, is recorded from 1928,[1][2][3] and the television cue card by 1948.[2]

Timeline

  • 1553 – an actor's signal, written q.[1][3]
  • 1565 – a hint or signal to act; spelled quew.[1][3]
  • 1567 – mood, humour.[1]
  • 1880 – (music) a direction to come in.[1][2]
  • 1928 – verb, to give a cue.[1][2]
  • 1931 – (psychology) a stimulus to response.[1]
  • 1948 – cue card.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A word, line or action in a performance that is the signal for an actor, musician or technician to do something: The drummer missed his cue.
  2. A hint or signal that tells someone what to do or when; on cue, at just the right moment.
  3. (psychology) A feature of something perceived that triggers a particular response.

Verb

  1. To give a cue to; to prompt.
  2. To set a recording or a piece of equipment to play from a chosen point; cue up.

Word family

  • cue card

cue2 stick

Etymology

It is a variant spelling of queue,[1][2][3][4][6] borrowed from French queue (“tail”), inherited from Old French cue, also coe,[1][9][8] inherited from Latin cōda, a variant of cauda (“tail”).[2][8][11][14] The billiard cue was perhaps named after its narrow, leather-tipped end, the tail.[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

A long plait of hair worn hanging down behind, a pigtail: 1731, in an epilogue by Colley Cibber.[1][3][2]

Semantic evolution

The sense of the long tapering rod used to strike the ball in billiards is first recorded in 1749,[1][3][2] and cue-ball by 1881.[2] The verb meaning to twist hair into a cue is from 1774.[1] Johnson (1755) gave as the first sense the tail or end of anything, "as the long curl of a wig".[13] The humorous use for an animal's tail dates from 1862, in Lowell.[1] The pigtail sense is now usually spelled queue, which also took the meaning of a line of people waiting.[1][2]

Timeline

  • 1731 – a pigtail.[1][3]
  • 1749 – a billiard cue.[1][3]
  • 1774 – verb, to twist hair into a cue.[1]
  • 1862 – (humorous) an animal's tail.[1]
  • 1881 – cue-ball.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A long, tapering, leather-tipped rod used to strike the ball in billiards, snooker and pool.
  2. (dated) A queue or pigtail.

Verb

  1. To strike a ball with a cue.

Word family

  • cue ball

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  6. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  9. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  10. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  11. ^ a b Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
  12. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  13. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  14. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House