different between quick vs mercurial

English

Alternative forms

• kwik (eye dialect)

Etymology

From Middle English quik, quic, from Old English cwic (“alive”), from Proto-West Germanic *kwik(k)w, from Proto-Germanic *kwikwaz, from Proto-Indo-European *g?ih?wós (“alive”), from *g?eyh?- (“to live”), *g?eyh?w- (“to live”).

Cognate with Dutch kwik, kwiek, German keck, Swedish kvick; and (from Indo-European) with Ancient Greek ???? (bíos, “life”), Latin vivus, Lithuanian gývas (“alive”), Latvian dz?vs (“alive”), Russian ?????? (živój), Welsh byw (“alive”), Irish beo (“alive”), biathaigh (“feed”), Northern Kurdish jîn (“to live”), jiyan (“life”), giyan (“soul”), can (“soul”), Sanskrit ??? (j?va, “living”), Albanian nxit (“to urge, stimulate”). Doublet of jiva.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kw?k/, [k?w??k]
• Rhymes: -?k

Adjective

quick (comparative quicker, superlative quickest)

1. Moving with speed, rapidity or swiftness, or capable of doing so; rapid; fast.

2. Occurring in a short time; happening or done rapidly.

3. Lively, fast-thinking, witty, intelligent.

4. Mentally agile, alert, perceptive.

5. Of temper: easily aroused to anger; quick-tempered.
   • 1549, Hugh Latimer, The Sixth Sermon Preached Before King Edward, April 6 1549

     The bishop was somewhat quick with them, and signified that he was much offended.

6. (archaic) Alive, living.
   • 1633, George Herbert, The Temple

     Man is no star, but a quick coal / Of mortal fire.

   • 1874, James Thomson, The City of Dreadful Night, X

     The inmost oratory of my soul,

     Wherein thou ever dwellest quick or dead,

     Is black with grief eternal for thy sake.

7. (now rare, archaic) Pregnant, especially at the stage where the foetus's movements can be felt; figuratively, alive with some emotion or feeling.
   • Section 316, Penal Code (Cap. 224, 2008 Ed.) (Singapore)

     Whoever does any act under such circumstances that if he thereby caused death he would be guilty of culpable homicide, and does by such act cause the death of a quick unborn child, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 10 years, and shall also be liable to fine.

   • 2012, Jerry White, London in the Eighteenth Century, Bodley Head 2017, p. 385:

     When sentenced she sought to avoid hanging by declaring herself with child – ironically, given her favourite deception – but a ‘jury of Matrons’ found her not quick.

8. Of water: flowing.
9. Burning, flammable, fiery.
10. Fresh; bracing; sharp; keen.
11. (mining, of a vein of ore) productive; not "dead" or barren

Synonyms

• (moving with speed): fast, speedy, rapid, swift; see also Thesaurus:speedy
• (occurring in a short time): brief, momentary, short-lived; see also Thesaurus:ephemeral
• (fast-thinking): bright, droll, keen; see also Thesaurus:witty or Thesaurus:intelligent
• (easily aroused to anger): hotheaded, rattish, short-tempered, snippish, snippy
• (alive, living): extant, live, vital; see also Thesaurus:alive
• (pregnant): expecting, gravid, with child; see also Thesaurus:pregnant
• (flowing): fluent, fluminous; see also Thesaurus:flowing

Antonyms

• (moving with speed): slow
• (alive): dead

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Adverb

quick (comparative quicker, superlative quickest)

1. Quickly, in a quick manner.

   • If we consider how very quick the actions of the mind are performed.

Derived terms

• right quick

Translations

Noun

quick (plural quicks)

1. Raw or sensitive flesh, especially that underneath finger and toe nails.
2. Plants used in making a quickset hedge
   • 1641, John Evelyn, diary entry September 1641

     The works […] are curiously hedged with quick.

3. The life; the mortal point; a vital part; a part susceptible to serious injury or keen feeling.
   • 1550, Hugh Latimer, Sermon Preached at Stamford, 9 October 1550

     This test nippeth, […] this toucheth the quick.

   • How feebly and unlike themselves they reason when they come to the quick of the difference!

4. Quitchgrass.
5. (cricket) A fast bowler.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

quick (third-person singular simple present quicks, present participle quicking, simple past and past participle quicked)

1. (transitive) To amalgamate surfaces prior to gilding or silvering by dipping them into a solution of mercury in nitric acid.
2. (transitive, archaic, poetic) To quicken.
   • 1917', Thomas Hardy, At the Word 'Farewell

     I rose as if quicked by a spur I was bound to obey.

References

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

French

Etymology

From English.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kwik/
• Rhymes: -ik

Noun

quick m (plural quicks)

1. quick waltz

See also

• slow

German

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle Low German quick, from Old Saxon quik, from Proto-West Germanic *kwik(k)w, from Proto-Germanic *kwikwaz; also a Central Franconian form. Doublet of keck, which see for more.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kv?k/, [k??k]

Adjective

quick (comparative quicker, superlative am quicksten)

1. (rather rare, dated) lively

Usage notes

• Much more common than the simplex is the pleonastic compound quicklebendig.

Declension

Derived terms

Related terms

Further reading

• “quick” in Duden online
• “quick” in Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm, 16 vols., Leipzig 1854–1961.

English

Etymology

Noun sense 1 (“(obsolete) plant known as mercury”) is from Middle English mercurial, mercuryal (“a plant, probably the goosefoot (Chenopodium); (possibly) dog's mercury (Mercurialis perennis)”), from Anglo-Norman mercurial and Old French mercurial, or directly from their etymon Latin mercuri?lis (“a plant, probably annual mercury (Mercurialis annua)”), from mercuri?lis (“pertaining to the Roman god Mercury”, adjective), from Mercurius (“the Roman god Mercury”) + -?lis (suffix forming adjectives of relationship from nouns).

Later adjective and noun uses may have been directly derived from Latin mercuri?lis (adjective), whence Middle English mercurial, Mercurial (“under the astrological influence of the planet Mercury”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /m???kj??.??.?l/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /m??kj?.?i.?l/, /-?kj?-/
• Hyphenation: mer?cu?ri?al

Noun

mercurial (plural mercurials)

1. (obsolete) Any of the plants known as mercury, especially the annual mercury or French mercury (Mercurialis annua). [13th–17th c.]
2. (astrology) A person born under the influence of the planet Mercury; hence, a person having an animated, lively, quick-witted or volatile character. [from 16th c.]
3. (chemistry) A chemical compound containing mercury.
4. (pharmacology, historical) A preparation of mercury, especially as a treatment for syphilis. [from 17th c.]

Alternative forms

• mercuriall (obsolete)

Translations

Adjective

mercurial (comparative more mercurial, superlative most mercurial)

1. (comparable) Having a lively or volatile character; animated, changeable, quick-witted. [from 17th c.]

   Synonyms: fickle, unpredictable
2. (not comparable, astrology) Pertaining to the astrological influence of the planet Mercury; having the characteristics of a person under such influence (see adjective sense 1). [from 16th c.]
3. (not comparable, astronomy) Pertaining to the planet Mercury. [from 14th c.]
5. (not comparable, chemistry) Of or pertaining to the element mercury or quicksilver; containing mercury. [from 16th c.]
6. (not comparable, medicine) Caused by the action of mercury or a mercury compound.
7. (not comparable, Roman mythology) Pertaining to Mercury, the Roman god of, among other things, commerce, financial gain, communication, and thieves and trickery; hence (comparable), money-making; crafty. [from 15th c.]

Alternative forms

• mercuriall (obsolete)
• (pertaining to the Roman god Mercury or planet Mercury): Mercurial

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Notes

References

Further reading

• Mercurialis (plant) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• mercury (element) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Mercury (mythology) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Mercury (planet) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Interlingua

Adjective

mercurial (not comparable)

1. mercurial, pertaining to mercury (metal)

Middle English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin mercuri?lis, Mercuri?lis (“pertaining to the Roman god Mercury”).

Noun

mercurial (uncountable)

1. (botany) A plant belonging to the genus Chenopodium; a goosefoot.

   Synonym: mercurie

Alternative forms

• mercuriale

Adjective

mercurial

1. (astrology, astronomy) Pertaining to or under the influence of the planet Mercury.

Alternative forms

• Mercurial

Descendants

• English: mercurial

References

• “mercuri?l, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 5 May 2019.
• “Mercuri?l, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 5 May 2019.

Romanian

Etymology

From French mercuriel, from Latin mercurialis.

Adjective

mercurial m or n (feminine singular mercurial?, masculine plural mercuriali, feminine and neuter plural mercuriale)

1. mercurial

Declension

Spanish

Adjective

mercurial (plural mercuriales)

1. mercurial