You must have noticed tat all words satarting with Q have its second letter u. why
2007-01-13 14:46:38 · 17 answers · asked by aakash v 1 in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
It all started long before English even existed. The Phoenicians had two symbols in their alphabet for k, for the very best of reasons — in their language, as in other Semitic languages such as Hebrew and Arabic, there are two distinct k sounds, only one of which exists in English. The one we don’t have — a guttural sound at the back of the mouth — the Phoenicians represented by a symbol that they called qop (their word for a monkey). This was used in particular before vowels that are also sounded at the back of the mouth, especially o and u.
2007-01-13 14:59:07 · answer #1 · answered by Tony C 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In English, the letter Q is always followed by the letter U. It is pronounced like KW. In French, the Q is pronounced like a K.
When Arabic is written using the Roman alphabet, the letter Q is used in place of Al Quaf, which looks like a circle with two dots over it. Al Quaf is pronounced something like K, but further back in the throat.
2007-01-13 14:56:02 · answer #2 · answered by iraqisax 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There are many words that start with Q not Qu, see below :-)
qabala qabalah
qabalistic Qabbala Qabbalah
Qaddafi Qadhafi qadi
Qaeda Qandahar qat Qatar Qatari
Qatari dirham Qatari monetary unit Qatari riyal
Qatar Peninsula QCD QED
qepiq qi Qiang
Qiangic Qibla qindarka
Qing Qing dynasty qintar
qoph
2007-01-13 15:02:41 · answer #3 · answered by brisbane b 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Quaf Scrabble
2016-12-10 14:25:52 · answer #4 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
That is because the letter "Q" has no "value" without the letter "U" for example check out these words and pick sense out of none sense "quality, quantity, question, quite. Now try saying those words without the letter "U".
2007-01-13 14:58:26 · answer #5 · answered by Lala 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Federal law, passed in 1781. The Tories wanted to stop using Q altogether because it was too confusing. But the Federalists said: "Hey, F U Tory! Or maybe Q U, you whiny buttholes!"
2007-01-13 14:54:19 · answer #6 · answered by lucyanddesi 5 · 0⤊ 2⤋
I dont keep in mind any observe different than OWL... all different are NOUN or Arabic words :( ............... like one hundred Qindarka equivalent a million lek in Albania OR Qible... ordinarily are Arabic in nature.!
2016-12-16 04:08:36 · answer #7 · answered by binford 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
According to my first grade teacher: "Q is too shy to stand by himself so his friend U usually stands next to him."
According to common sense: It's usually really weird to try to say q without u.
2007-01-13 14:53:54 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
They did it in Latin, too - this site has an interesting explanation of why we use qu instead of cw to spell the sound "kw".
2007-01-15 00:58:33 · answer #9 · answered by Jeannie 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm convinced that Wikipedia knows absolutely everything.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_words_containing_Q_not_followed_by_U
2007-01-13 14:50:08 · answer #10 · answered by . 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋