queer

Etymology

Its origin is uncertain.^[2][3][4] It first appears in Scots,^[5][6][7] and is usually explained as borrowed from Low German queer (“oblique, off-centre”) (Brunswick dialect),^[6][5][8] related to quer (“oblique, perverse, odd”),^[6][5][9] from Middle High German twerch, Old High German twerh (“oblique”).^[10][5] The German word is related to Old English þweorh (“crosswise, perverse”) and thwart,^[10][11][5] and goes back to Proto-Germanic *þwerhaz^[12] and Proto-Indo-European *terkʷ- (“to twist”), the root of torque and torture.^[6][11][10] The OED is against this etymology on grounds of date and sense,^[6] and gives it only as a possibility;^[2] the Oxford Dictionary of English calls the German origin doubtful.^[9] Johnson (1755) did not know its source.^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

Strange, odd or eccentric, and also of doubtful character: ?a1513, in William Dunbar's Flyting,^[2] 1508 in Barnhart.^[14] Etymonline dates it to about 1500,^[6] and Merriam-Webster to 1513.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In 16th-century thieves' cant queer meant bad, worthless or untrustworthy (1567–1865), the opposite of rum, good;^[2][15] the OED gives that cant word a numbered entry of its own, of unknown origin, and says it was identified with this one after the 17th century.^[2] From the cant sense came queer "counterfeit" of coins (1740) and the noun queer, counterfeit money (1819),^[2][16] hence shove the queer, to pass false money (1859).^[6] The sense "out of sorts, unwell, faint" is recorded from 1749;^[2][17] Collins now labels the older senses old-fashioned.^[18] The verb, first "to puzzle, ridicule, cheat" (1778),^[2] came to mean "to spoil" by 1812,^[6][5] as in queer the pitch (1846), first said of interrupting a street performer's act.^[6][2] Queer Street, the imaginary home of people in difficulties, is from 1811.^[6][7] The sense "homosexual" arose in American colloquial use: the OED's first adjective quotation is from 1914,^[2] Barnhart's from 1922,^[5] and the noun is found in a letter of the Marquess of Queensberry in 1894.^[2][3] It was long a derogatory and offensive word,^[2][3] but from about 1990, starting with the leaflet Queers Read This by the activist group Queer Nation, it was taken up by gay and lesbian people themselves,^[2] and it came to describe anyone whose sexual or gender identity does not fit traditional norms.^[2][18] Queer studies as an academic field is attested from 1994,^[6] and the verb in the sense "to reinterpret from the standpoint of queer theory" from 1993.^[2]

Timeline

• ?a1513 – strange, odd; suspicious (Dunbar).^[2]
• 1567 – (cant) bad, worthless.^[2]
• 1740 – of coins, counterfeit.^[2]
• 1749 – unwell, faint.^[2]
• 1778 – verb, to ridicule, cheat.^[2]
• 1811 – Queer Street.^[6]
• 1812 – verb, to spoil.^[6][5]
• 1846 – queer the pitch.^[6][2]
• 1894 – noun, a homosexual man.^[2][3]
• 1914 – adjective, homosexual.^[2]
• 1990 – reclaimed, of sexual or gender identity outside traditional norms.^[2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. (old-fashioned) Strange or odd; differing from what is usual: There was a queer smell in the cellar.
2. (old-fashioned) Of doubtful honesty; suspicious or shady.
3. (dated, chiefly British) Slightly unwell; faint or giddy.
4. Having a sexual or gender identity that does not fit traditional norms; relating to gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender people. Used by many people of themselves, but sometimes offensive.
5. (dated, often offensive) Homosexual.
6. (slang, dated) Of money, counterfeit.

Noun

1. A person whose sexual or gender identity does not fit traditional norms; formerly, an offensive word for a homosexual man.
2. (slang, dated) Counterfeit money.

Verb

1. To spoil or put at risk: The rain queered our plans for a picnic.
2. To examine or reinterpret something from the standpoint of queer theory.

Word family

• queerish
• queerly
• queerness
• Queer Street
• queer theory

Related words

• thwart
• torque
• torture

Usage notes

Merriam-Webster and Collins label the senses meaning "homosexual" as often offensive or disparaging,^[3][18] while the OED records the reclaimed use as self-description.^[2] Because of the potential confusion, the sense "unwell" is now often avoided.^[17] In Irish and Scottish English the variant quare is used as an intensifier ("a quare long time"), recorded from 1865.^[2][19] The English Dialect Dictionary records many regional phrases, such as queer as Dick's hatband for someone very sullen or odd.^[19][6]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
11. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
12. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
15. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
16. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
17. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
18. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
19. ^ a b 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)