qua

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin quā (“in so far as; where, by which way”),^[2][3][4][5] the ablative singular feminine of the relative pronoun quī (“who”), used as an adverb.^{[2][6][7][8][9]} In Latin the adverb asked "where? which way?", and figuratively "how? to what extent?";^[3] it comes from Proto-Indo-European *kʷo-, the stem of the relative and interrogative pronouns,^[3][6] the source also of who and which.^[5][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the capacity of, as being: 1647, in N. Ward's The Simple Cobler of Aggawam.^[2][7] Dictionary.com dates the word 1640–50.^[10]

Timeline

• 1647 – in the capacity of, as being.^[2][7]

Meanings

Preposition

1. In the capacity or character of; as being: She judged the novel qua novel, not as a political tract.^{[7][2][11][8]}

Related words

• who
• which
• quaquaversal

Usage notes

It is usually followed by a noun without an article.^[2] Dictionaries class it differently: the OED and Collins as a preposition, the Shorter Oxford and Dictionary.com as an adverb, Klein as a conjunction.^{[2][11][8][10][5]} Both /kweɪ/ and /kwɑː/ are heard in Britain and the United States.^[2][11] Unrelated words of the same spelling were the 17th-century qua for a farthing, shortened from Latin quadrans,^[2] and qua for a European night heron, imitating its call.^[7] Green's Dictionary of Slang records qua as an American underworld word for a prison (1807) and as a short name for the drug methaqualone (1977).^[12]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
10. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
11. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
12. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com