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PlainSpell

qualm

/kwɑ(l)m/noun, verb

qualm is spelled Q-U-A-L-M: 5 letters. It appears about once in every 13 million words in written English, the 107,757th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, qualm means “A feeling of apprehension, doubt, fear etc” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of qualm is qualms.

How many letters and syllables are in qualm?

Letters5: Q-U-A-L-M
In writingabout once in every 13 million words; the 107,757th 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 qualm?

Qualm appears about once in every 13 million words in written English, the 107,757th 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 qualm?

  • UK /kwɑːm/
  • UK /kwɔːm/
  • US /kwɑ(l)m/

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-AcpoKrane-qualm.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with qualm?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as qualm from its last stressed vowel (/ɑm/):

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 qualm

  • qualms plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • qualming participle, present
  • qualmed participle, past

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

What does qualm mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A feeling of apprehension, doubt, fear etc.

  2. 2

    A sudden sickly feeling; queasiness.

  3. 3

    A prick of the conscience; a moral scruple, a pang of guilt.

    This lawyer has no qualms about saving people who are on the wrong side of the law.

  4. 4

    UKarchaicMortality; plague; pestilence.

  5. 5

    UKarchaicA calamity or disaster.

verb

  1. 1

    To have a sickly feeling.

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

Qualm in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchappréhension (sudden feeling of apprehension, doubt, fear…), scrupule (prick of the conscience, moral scrupule)
Portugueseapreensão, receio (sudden feeling of apprehension, doubt, fear…), escrúpulo (prick of the conscience, moral scrupule), mal-estar (sickly feeling of being ill at ease; sudden…)
Spanishreparo, renuencia, reaciedad (sudden feeling of apprehension, doubt, fear…)
GermanGewissensbisse (prick of the conscience, moral scrupule)

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 qualm come from?

Perhaps from Middle English qualm, cwalm (“death, sickness, plague”), which is from Old English cwealm (West Saxon: "death, disaster, plague"), ūtcualm (Anglian: "utter destruction"), from Proto-West Germanic *kwalm (“killing, death, destruction”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷelH- (“to stick, pierce; pain, injury, death”), whence also quell.

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

What to look up after qualm