# quality

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈkwɒl.ɪ.ti/ · frequency rank #816

## Definitions
1. Level of excellence.
2. Something that differentiates a thing or person.
3. Position; status; rank.
4. High social position. (See also the quality.)
5. The degree to which a man-made object or system is free from faults and flaws, as opposed to scope of functions or quantity of items.
6. In a two-phase liquid–vapor mixture, the ratio of the mass of vapor present to the total mass of the mixture.
7. The third step in OPQRST where the responder investigates what the NOI/MOI feels like.
8. A newspaper with relatively serious, high-quality content.

## Etymology
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”).

## Easily confused with
- **quantity** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/quality-vs-quantity)
- **qualify** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/qualify-vs-quality)

## Common misspellings (10)
`qaulity`, `qquality`, `quailty`, `qualitty`, `qualityy`, `qualiyt`, `quallity`, `qualtiy`, `qulaity`, `uqality`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/quality