Q

The Latin alphabet
	Aa	Bb	Cc	Dd
Ee	Ff	Gg	Hh	Ii	Jj
Kk	Ll	Mm	Nn	Oo	Pp
Qq	Rr	Ss	Tt	Uu	Vv
	Ww	Xx	Yy	Zz

Q is the seventeenth (number 17) letter in the English alphabet. It is always followed by a silent letter U. Q makes a kw sound as in quick or a k sound as in unique.

Some people say that the letter Q is not needed, because the sound it makes can be made with K or C and W instead. The same thing is said about the letter X.

Below are some ancient ways of writing Q:

Egyptian hieroglyph Q	Phoenician Q	Etruscan Q	Greek Qoppa

Meanings for Q

• In chess, Q is used to mean the queen piece.
• In English, Q can be a short letter for 'question'.
• In a deck of playing cards, Q is used to mark each of the queens.
• In science fiction, Q is a character in several Star Trek television shows.
• Q is also the name of a character in the James Bond film series, who was played by Desmond Llewelyn (and John Cleese after Desmond Llewelyn died).
• In Internet slang, "q" is used for the Spanish word "que", which means "that", "which", or "what".
• In physics, q is used to mean charge

Q Media

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  Proto-semitic Koph, a theological invention.

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  Phoenician letter qoph

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  Phoenician Qoph

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  Capital Greek letter qoppa

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  Latin capital letter Q in the style of the Roman Capitalis monumentalis, using the font Trajan Pro

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  The five most common typographic presentations of the capital letter Q.

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  A long-tailed Q as drawn by French typographer Geoffroy Tory in his 1529 book Champfleury

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  The printed long-tailed Q was inspired by ancient Roman square capitals: this long-tailed Q, used here in the Latin word "POPVLVSQVE", was carved into Trajan's column c. AD 113.

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  A short trilingual text showing the proper use of the long- and short-tailed Q. The short-tailed Q is only used when the word is shorter than the tail; the long-tailed Q is even used in all-capitals text.