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PlainSpell

queer

/kwɪɹ/adjective, noun, verb, adverb

queer is spelled Q-U-E-E-R: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 5.8 times per million words in written English, the 10,196th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a derogatory adjective, queer means “Homosexual” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in queer?

Letters5: Q-U-E-E-R
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing5.8 times per million words; the 10,196th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; 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 queer?

Queer appears 5.8 times per million words in written English, the 10,196th 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 queer?

  • UK /kwɪə/
  • US /kwɪɹ/
  • /kwiə̯/

Queer has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

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

What rhymes with queer?

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

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 queer

  • queerer comparative
  • queerest superlative
  • qwer
  • queers plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • queering participle, present
  • queered participle, past
  • more queer comparative
  • most queer superlative

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

What does queer mean?

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

adjective

  1. 1

    colloquialderogatoryHomosexual.

  2. 2

    colloquialderogatoryNon-heterosexual or non-cisgender: homosexual, bisexual, asexual, transgender, etc.

  3. 3

    Pertaining to sexual or gender behaviour or identity which does not conform to conventional heterosexual or cisgender norms, assumptions etc.

    the queer community

  4. 4

    datedStrange, odd, or different; whimsical.

  5. 5

    UKdatedinformalSlightly unwell.

    I felt queer after eating those shrimp.

  6. 6

    UKdatedslangDrunk.

noun

  1. 1

    colloquialderogatoryA person who is or appears homosexual, or who has homosexual qualities.

  2. 2

    colloquialderogatoryA person of any non-heterosexual sexuality or sexual identity.

  3. 3

    colloquialderogatoryA person of any genderqueer identity.

  4. 4

    archaicinformalCounterfeit money.

verb

  1. 1

    datedTo render an endeavor or agreement ineffective or null.

    I was a lot more apt to queer it than help it.

  2. 2

    UKdatedTo puzzle.

    "Where do you come from?" Stanley queered.

  3. 3

    datedslangTo ridicule; to banter; to rally.

  4. 4

    datedslangTo spoil the effect or success of, as by ridicule; to throw a wet blanket on; to spoil.

  5. 5

    To reevaluate or reinterpret (a work) with an eye to sexual orientation and/or to gender, as by applying queer theory.

  6. 6

    slangTo make a work more appealing or attractive to LGBT people, such as by not having strict genders for playable characters.

adverb

  1. 1

    Queerly.

  2. 2

    IrelandVery, extremely.

    Twas a queer bachram in the pub that night!

adjective

as Queer
  1. 1

    USOf or relating to the culture surrounding queer people.

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

Queer in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchgay, pédé (slang: of sexual or gender minorities), queer (pertaining to non-normative sexuality), trop, diablement (slang: very)
Germanschwul, lesbisch, homo, queer (slang: of sexual or gender minorities), Queers (slang: person of atypical sexuality or sexual…)
Portuguesebicha, viado, rabeta, paneleiro, panilas, rabicho (slang: of sexual or gender minorities)
Spanishmarica, maricón, trucha, julay, soplanucas, muerdealmohadas (slang: of sexual or gender minorities)

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 queer come from?

Attested since about 1510, at first in Scots. Usually taken to be from Middle Low German (Brunswick dialect) queer (“oblique, off-centre”) or the related German quer (“diagonal”), from Old Saxon thwerh, from Proto-West Germanic *þwerh, from Proto-Germanic *þwerhaz, from Proto-Indo-European *terkʷ- (“to turn, twist, wind”); compare Latin torqueō, and see more at thwart. The OED argues against this due to the semantic differences and the date at which the word appears in Scots. Began to be used to describe gay people in the late 1800s; see usage notes for more.

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

What to look up after queer