Learn Vocabulary: The Dictionary Was WRONG!

I found an error in the dictionary and  not just one dictionary, every dictionary.

Dictionary.com

Collins Dictionary

The Cambridge Dictionary and so on.

Everyone is giving the wrong pronunciation  of this simple and common word.

Americans have changed their habit and  we’re going to explore this and use it  

as an excuse to learn 7 interesting  vocabulary words that starts with Qu.

So you stay there, let’s do this!

Qu. Most common pronunciation is this:

[kw]

Kw consonant cluster

Quick

Quilt

Quiz

[kw]

Wait, I can’t mention quilt without  showing you this. My great grandma.

That’s my mom’s mom’s mom made it over  a hundred years ago. Isn’t it wonderful?

And “quarter” used to be pronounced this  way too but not anymore in the US. Why?

Why did Americans drop the W  sound? We don’t say kw, quarter.

We say “Quarter”. [k]. Or  just like this word “Core”.

Quarter

Quarterly

I don’t know how or why this habit shifted over  time but 99 percent of the time, we say quarter  

in American English. Quarter. Listen.

So we have the K consonant not  a KW cluster at the beginning.  

Then we have a flap T. This follows the rule a T  is a flap T if it comes after an R before a vowel.

[flap]

Quar, [də, də, də], Quarter. A flap of the tongue.

Quarter

Quarter, quarter, quarter. Let me go back and  give you the full sentence for those examples.

But all these dictionaries have the Kw  pronunciation as the only pronunciation.

Kudos to Meriam-Webster who put the  most common pronunciation as an option.

Kudos means good job, congratulations.  

You’re going to learn new vocabulary today. Kudos  to you for dedicating yourself to your studies.

Most Qu words in American  English do start with a Kw  

cluster, quarter is an exception. We also  have this word with just the K sound.

[ki], also you can say [kei] and  some people do pronounce this  

[kwei] but [ki] is the most common  pronunciation. Do you know the word “quay”?

It’s a platform along the water for  loading or unloading ships. When I was  

researching this video, I kind of went down  a rabbit hole of words that begin with Qu.

Go down a rabbit hole. This is an idiom  

and it means to get sucked into  something that takes a lot of time  

more than expected as you learn one thing that  leads to another and you just keep going with it.

In this case, I stated  looking for Qu pronunciations  

and I found all these great vocabulary  words, I just kept going with it.

So now we’ll go over 7 advanced  vocabulary words that begin with “Qu”.

First, “Quasi”.

This has a couple of different  pronunciations all with that Kw cluster.

In American English, [‘kwa zaɪ] and [‘kwa  zi] are the two most common pronunciations.

It means something that is similar to something.  Kind of like something but not something all the  

way. Sort of confusing, this will be more clear  as we look at some examples. Let’s go to Youglish.

Quasi-religious.

Not fully religious but a structure  or setup that’s like a religion.

A quasi-grain. So it’s not categorized  

fully as a grain but has similar  properties. It’s kind of like a grain.

Quasi-real-time. Not exactly in real-time, not  at the exact same time but close to it. Similar,  

almost real-time, quasi-real-time.

You have to be quasi-masochistic. A little  masochistic to be a writer. Masochistic means  

you kind of like doing things that are painful,  tedious, or generally unpleasant to do.

So being a writer has some very  challenging parts to it. Therefore,  

you have to be a little masochistic to  want to be a writer or to be a writer.

Quasi. Make up a sample sentence now  and put it in the comments below.

Quash

Do you know this one? It means to stop  something, suppress it, make it go away.

Quash the level of Vitriol.

Stop it, make it go away. We want no  

more vitriol. What is vitriol? Another great  vocabulary word. It means cruel, harsh criticism.

To quash the revolution. To stop it  immediately, make it completely go away.

Quash his dreams. Stop dreaming of being in  politics, completely put that desire away,  

destroy the dream, quash it.

Quack

You probably know that the literal meaning of  this word. It’s the sound we use in American  

English for the sound of a duck. But  do you know how we use it as an idiom?

It means someone with authority who  actually doesn’t know what they are doing,  

doesn’t do a good job. We use it most  commonly with doctors. A bad doctor  

doesn’t know what he’s doing, maybe even  giving harmful advice, he’s a quack.

Thought he was a quack. He was talking to  his doctor; the doctor gave him some advice  

he had never heard of before. He wasn’t sure,  he thought, “Maybe this guy is just a quack.”

Who is this quack?

Who is this guy who thinks he’s  something that I don’t trust at all.

That quack dentist. Didn’t know what he  was talking about, not a good dentist.

Quasi

Quash

Quack

What word is next?

Qualm

This is a feeling of being  uneasy, apprehensive, not sure.

We often use it in the phrase,  “I have no qualms about that.”

No qualms, that means I’m very sure.  I’m 100% sure that this is right.

This word has a couple of different pronunciations  and can be pronounced with a dark L or without.

[kwam] or [kwalm]

We annihilate them without a qualm. No uneasiness.

We annihilate them without ever  wondering if it’s a problem.

Annihilate means to destroy completely,  similar to quash. We destroy these things  

completely with no second thoughts, feeling  completely sure about it without a qualm.

That’s my only qualm with  it. That’s the only thing I  

don’t like. The only thing that makes  me unsure about recommending it.

The most obvious qualm. Uneasiness with  capitalism. The thing he was not comfortable with.

Quip

This is a clever of witty remark  or comment. Sometimes you’ll hear  

it read as a verb. He quipped instead  of he said, if what he said was witty.

Quip. A funny thing he said. If you want a  friend, buy a dog. Because in Washington,  

in the government, there are no friends.

A quip. A joke, something funny and witty.

She often quips. She often makes  this joke, this witty comment.

Next: Quintessential

I love this word, it’s the best example of  something, the perfect pure example of something.

The quintessential assignment. When you think of a  National Geographic assignment for a photographer,  

this is what you would think of. The  most pure example of what a National  

Geographic assignment would  be. Go to base camp at Everest.

Quintessential. That’s so National Geographic.

This man is talking about Abraham  Lincoln being the quintessential  

American. The best example of what an American is.

The most quintessential experience. What  you think of when think of Los Angeles?

I guess for her, she thinks, “Hm, when I think  about Los Angeles, I think about driving.

Quasi

Quash

Quack

Qualm

Quip

Quintessential

Quaint

All of these words have the kw pronunciation.

Something that’s quaint is charming, picturesque,  maybe a little old-fashioned, pleasing.  

Like a painting a sweet farmhouse on a cute little  farm, that might be quaint. Here, this picture,  

a quaint little church in the fall. You know  what this is? This is quintessential New England.  

It’s a picture that comes to mind when  I think of New England. Such a common,  

pure New England experience, quintessential.

But let’s get back to quaint with some examples.

Quaint village atmosphere? That sounds nice.

Quaint. A small coastal community. That  means a small town on the coast, quaint.

Kind of quaint now. Here it means old-fashioned.  The idea of a phone booth. Everybody has  

cellphones now. And most phone booths  and public phones have been taken down.

Well that’s our quota for Ku words.

Quota, that means the required amount.

I said I was going to teach 7 new vocabulary  words with Qu and I did, so I met my quota.

Thank you so much for joining me here, please  like this video and subscribe with notifications  

and keep your learning going now with this  video, I love being your English teacher.

That’s it and thanks so much for using  Rachel’s English.