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quality

qual·i·ty/ˈkwɑləti/noun

quality is spelled Q-U-A-L-I-T-Y: 7 letters and 3 syllables (qual·i·ty). It appears 129 times per million words in written English, the 810th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, quality means “The kind, condition, and/or the set of characteristics of something, as opposed to the quantity of something” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of quality is qualities.

How many letters and syllables are in quality?

Letters7: Q-U-A-L-I-T-Y
Syllables3: qual·i·ty
In writing129 times per million words; the 810th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is quality?

Quality appears 129 times per million words in written English, the 810th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce quality?

  • UK /ˈkwɒlɪti/
  • British /ˈkwɔlɪtɪj/
  • US /ˈkwɑləti/

Quality has 3 syllables, split qual·i·ty in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-quality.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with quality?

One word on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as quality from its last stressed vowel (/ɑləti/):

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of quality

  • qualities plural

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does quality mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    The kind, condition, and/or the set of characteristics of something, as opposed to the quantity of something.

    The lattice structure of a steel profoundly changes its qualities.

  2. 2

    A single trait.

    While being impulsive can be great for artists, it is not a desirable quality for engineers.

  3. 3

    Good characteristics in particular; level of excellence; freedom of faults and flaws.

    This school is well-known for having teachers of high quality.

  4. 4

    Good worth, good make.

    For this building project we need to use quality materials that will last for many decades.

  5. 5

    archaicPosition; status; rank.

  6. 6

    archaicHigh social position. (See also the quality.)

    A peasant is not allowed to fall in love with a lady of quality.

  7. 7

    In a two-phase liquid–vapor mixture, the ratio of the mass of vapor present to the total mass of the mixture.

  8. 8

    The third step in OPQRST where the responder investigates what the NOI/MOI feels like.

    To identify quality try asking, "what does it feel like?".

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you abbreviate quality?

Wiktionary records 3 abbreviations of quality: LQ, qlty, qlty..

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Quality in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchqualité (characteristics or the set thereof), de qualité (being of good worth (attributive, adjectival))
GermanQualität, Eigenschaft (characteristics or the set thereof), Qualitäts-, hochklassig, erstklassig (being of good worth (attributive, adjectival))
Portuguesequalidade (characteristics or the set thereof), de qualidade (being of good worth (attributive, adjectival)), alta classe (archaic: social position)
Spanishcualidad (characteristics or the set thereof), de calidad, polenta (being of good worth (attributive, adjectival)), calidad, estofa (level of excellence)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does quality come from?

From Middle English qualite, from Old French qualité, from Latin quālitās, quālitātem, from quālis (“of what kind”), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷo- (“who, how”). Cicero coined qualitas as a calque to translate the Ancient Greek word ποιότης (poiótēs, “quality”), coined by Plato from ποῖος (poîos, “of what nature, of what kind”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after quality