different between quantity vs qua

English

Etymology

From Middle English quantite, from Old French quantité, from Latin quantit?s (“quantity”), from quantus (“how much”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?kw?n.t?.ti/
• (General American) enPR: kw?n?(t)?t?, IPA^(key): /?kw?n(t)?ti/, [?k?w?n(?)??i], [?k?w?n(t?)?t?i]
  • Note: This is with a relaxed middle T, and is only used in colloquial contexts by many speakers.
• (Canada) IPA^(key): /?kw?nd?di/, /?kw?n???i/
• (obsolete) IPA^(key): /?kwæn.t?.ti/

Noun

quantity (countable and uncountable, plural quantities)

1. A fundamental, generic term used when referring to the measurement (count, amount) of a scalar, vector, number of items or to some other way of denominating the value of a collection or group of items.

2. An indefinite amount of something.

   Some soap making oils are best as base oils, used in a larger quantity in the soap, while other oils are best added in a small quantity.

3. A specific measured amount.

4. A considerable measure or amount.

5. (metrology) Property of a phenomenon, body, or substance, where the property has a magnitude that can be expressed as number and a reference.
6. (mathematics) Indicates that the entire preceding expression is henceforth considered a single object.
   • 2006, Jerome E. Kaufmann and Karen Schwitters, Elementary and Intermediate Algebra: A Combined Approach, p 89

     For problems 58-67, translate each word phrase into an algebraic expression. […] 65. x plus 9, the quantity squared

   • 2005, R. Mark Sirkin, Statistics For The Social Sciences, p137

     The second, ${\displaystyle (\sum x)^{2}}$, read "summation of x, quantity squared," tells us to first add up all the xs to get ${\displaystyle \sum x}$ and then square ${\displaystyle \sum x}$ to get ${\displaystyle (\sum x)^{2}}$.

   • 1985, Serge Lang, Math!: Encounters with High School Students, p54

     ANN. ${\displaystyle ra}$ quantity cubed.

     SERGE LANG. That's right, ${\displaystyle (ra)^{3}}$.

Usage notes

• In mathematics, used to unambiguously orate mathematical equations; it is extremely rare in print, since there is no need for it there.

Synonyms

• Qty

Derived terms

• unknown quantity

Related terms

Translations

See also

• measure
• unit

Further reading

• quantity in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• quantity in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• quantity at OneLook Dictionary Search

English

Etymology 1

From Latin qu? (“in the capacity of”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kw??/

  Rhymes: -??

• IPA^(key): /kwe?/

  Rhymes: -e?

Preposition

qua

1. as; in the capacity of
   • 1954: Gilbert Ryle, Dilemmas: The Tarner Lectures, 1953, dilemma vii: Perception, page 99 (The Syndics of the Cambridge University Press)

     As anatomy, physiology and, later, psychology have developed into more or less well-organized sciences, they have necessarily and rightly come to incorporate the study of, among other things, the structures, mechanisms, and functionings of animal and human bodies qua percipient.

   • 1962: Norman Malcolm; Dreaming; chapter nine: “Judgments in Sleep”, page 39^{1}; chapter twelve: “The Concept of Dreaming”, page 68^{2} (1977 paperback reprint; Routledge & Kegan Paul; ISBN 0?7100?3836?4 (c), 0?7100?8434?X (p))

     ^{1} For sleep qua sleep has no experiential content: it cannot turn out, as remarked before, that a man was not asleep because he was not having some experience or other.

     ^{2} I am denying that a dream qua dream is a seeming, appearance or ‘semblance of reality’.

   • 2003: Roy Porter, Flesh in the Age of Reason, page 458 (Penguin, 2004)

     It was qua poet that Byron resurrected the exploded and discarded immortal Christian soul by bodying it forth through the notion of soul conceived as poetic imagination.

   • 2005: Ulfelder, Jay.Collective Action and the Breakdown of Authoritarian Regimes. International Political Science Review, 26(3), p318. Retrieved 1615 240810 from http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/30039035.pdf?acceptTC=true.

     "In essence, military regimes are autocracies in which the military qua organization performs many of the functions performed by the ruling party in single-party regimes."

   • 2009: Ken Levy, Killing, Letting Die, and the Case for Mildly Punishing Bad Samaritanism, Georgia Law Review, p. 24.

     Blame qua attitude is the feeling or belief that an individual has committed a wrongdoing, usually a wrongful action and/or harm, and can be reasonably expected not to have committed this wrongdoing. Blame qua practice is the public expression of this attitude – usually by means of censure (written or verbal criticism) or punishment. Generally, the morally worse the wrongdoing, the more severe the censure/punishment.

Translations

Etymology 2

Imitative.

Interjection

qua

1. The cawing sound of a crow.
   • 1909, The Country Gentleman (volume 74, page 266)

     Crows have a language of their own in a wild state that any observant person can learn. […] Then he would straighten his head back and, with the most comical bowing and wagging, say: "Qua qua qua, qua qua qua" for perhaps a minute.

Anagrams

• QAU, UAQ

Classical Nahuatl

Verb

qua

1. Alternative spelling of cua

Danish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kva?/, [k?væ??]
• Rhymes: -a?

Conjunction

qua

1. as, qua (in the capacity of)
2. (as a preposition) by virtue of (because of)

Dutch

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -a?

Preposition

qua

1. regarding, concerning, in terms of

Synonyms

• wat ... betreft

German

Etymology

Latin qu?

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kva?/

Preposition

qua

1. (formal) by

   Synonyms: durch, mittels, kraft

   • 2018, Kevin Rick, Verbraucherpolitik in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Nomos Verlag (?ISBN), page 84:

     Die Regierung von Individuen oder Kollektiven, sei es qua Verordnung oder qua Appell, ist deshalb stets an das „Regieren des Selbst“ gekoppelt, an durch das Subjekt aktiv anzueignende Selbsttechniken bzw. Technologien des Selbst.

Usage notes

Sometimes used with the genitive:

Further reading

• “qua” in Duden online
• “qua” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Ido

Etymology

Borrowed from French qui, que, Italian che, Spanish que, ultimately from Latin qu? / quid.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kwa/

Pronoun

qua (plural qui)

1. (relative pronoun) which

2. (interrogative pronoun) who

   (direct question)

   (indirect question)

Determiner

qua

1. (interrogative determiner) what

Derived terms

• quo (“what (thing)”)
• qui (“who (plural)”)
• pro quo (“why”)

See also

• ube (“where”)
• kande (“when”)
• quala (“what kind of”)
  • quale (“how”)
• quanta (“how much”)
  • quanto (“quantity”)

Italian

Alternative forms

• quà (misspelling)

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin *(ec)cu hac, from Latin eccum + hac. Cognate with Portuguese cá, Spanish acá, French çà.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kwa/
• Rhymes: -a

Adverb

qua

1. here

   Synonym: qui

Usage notes

For differences between qui / qua, see notes at qui.

Derived terms

• quassù
• quaggiù

See also

• là, lì

Latin

Etymology 1

Adverb declined from qu?.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /k?a/, [k?ä]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /kwa/, [kw?]

Adverb

qu? (not comparable)

1. On which side, at or in which place, in what direction, where, by what way (qua...ea...)
2. as; in the capacity or character of
3. In so far as

4. In what way, how, by what method; to what degree or extent

Related terms

Etymology 2

Inflection of qu? (“who, which”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /k?a?/, [k?ä?]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /kwa/, [kw?]

Pronoun

qu?

1. ablative feminine singular of qu?

Etymology 3

Inflection of quis (“anyone, something, anyone, anything”).

Pronoun

qua

1. nominative feminine singular of quis
2. nominative neuter plural of quis
3. accusative neuter plural of quis

Usage notes

• 'qua' is commonly used for 'quae' in the above forms of the indefinite variant of the pronoun 'quis'.

References

• qua in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• qua in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• qua in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
• Carl Meissner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book?^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
• Allen, Joseph Henry; Greenough, James B. (1903) Allen and Greenough's New Latin grammar for schools and colleges: founded on comparative grammar, Boston: Ginn and Company, § 149

Min Nan

Etymology

The suffix has been used since around the 17th and 18th century. Since "hong" (?) merchants were technically officials of the lowest (9th) rank, the suffix qua was added to their names in honour of their positions in the Qing government.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [kuã??]

Suffix

qua (POJ koa?, traditional and simplified ?)

1. Irregular romanization of of koa? (“official”)

Usage notes

• Formerly added to names of hong merchants (i.e. "Powqua," "Chinqua").

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Latin qu?.

Preposition

qua

1. qua; as, in capacity of

References

• “qua” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
• “qua” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Latin qu?.

Preposition

qua

1. qua; as, in capacity of

References

• “qua” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Romansch

Adverb

qua

1. here

Vietnamese

Pronunciation

• (Hà N?i) IPA^(key): [kwa???]
• (Hu?) IPA^(key): [kwa???]
• (H? Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [wa???]

Etymology 1

Sino-Vietnamese word from ? (“pass”). Doublet of quá.

Preposition

qua

1. through, across, by

Adjective

qua

1. last

Verb

qua • (?)

1. (intransitive) To be gone.
2. (intransitive) To cross.

Etymology 2

Non-Sino-Vietnamese reading of Chinese ? (SV: ngã).

Pronoun

qua

1. (archaic, men's speech or Southern Vietnam) I; me

Derived terms

• b?ng qua
• ?i qua

References

• An Chi (17 March 2019). "L?t léo ch? ngh?a: Ngu?n g?c c?a ??i t? QUA". Thanh Niên.