# queer

> English word · Adjective · IPA /kwɪə/ · frequency rank #10,265

## Definitions
1. Homosexual.
2. Non-heterosexual or non-cisgender: homosexual, bisexual, asexual, transgender, etc.
3. Pertaining to sexual or gender behaviour or identity which does not conform to conventional heterosexual or cisgender norms, assumptions etc.
4. Strange, odd, or different; whimsical.
5. Slightly unwell.
6. Drunk.

## Etymology
Attested since about 1510, at first in Scots. Usually taken to be from Middle Low German (Brunswick dialect) queer (“oblique, off-center”) 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 19th century, see usage notes for more.

## Easily confused with
- **quiet** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/queer-vs-quiet)
- **quest** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/queer-vs-quest)
- **queue** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/queer-vs-queue)
- **query** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/queer-vs-query)
- **quell** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/queer-vs-quell)
- **queues** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/queer-vs-queues)
- **quiver** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/queer-vs-quiver)
- **queued** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/queer-vs-queued)
- **quieter** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/queer-vs-quieter)
- **que** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/que-vs-queer)
- **queen** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/queen-vs-queer)
- **Queens** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/queens-vs-queer)
- **Quebec** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/quebec-vs-queer)
- **Quaker** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/quaker-vs-queer)

## Common misspellings (6)
`qeuer`, `qqueer`, `queerr`, `quer`, `quere`, `uqeer`

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