# quick

> English word · Adjective · IPA /kwɪk/ · frequency rank #1,127

## Definitions
1. Moving with speed, rapidity or swiftness, or capable of doing so; rapid; fast.
2. Occurring in a short time; happening or done rapidly.
3. Lively, fast-thinking, witty, intelligent.
4. Mentally agile, alert, perceptive.
5. Easily aroused to anger; quick-tempered.
6. Alive, living.
7. At the stage where it can be felt to move in the uterus.
8. Pregnant, especially at the stage where the foetus's movements can be felt; figuratively, alive with some emotion or feeling.
9. Flowing, not stagnant.
10. Burning, flammable, fiery.
11. Fresh; bracing; sharp; keen.
12. productive; not "dead" or barren
13. Not cryptic.
14. Being a distinctively sensitive kind of glaciomarine clay that may behave like a watery fluid under stress.

## Etymology
From Middle English quik, quic (“living, alive, active”), from Old English cwic (“alive”), from Proto-West Germanic *kwiku (“alive, lively quick”), from Proto-Germanic *kwikwaz (“alive, lively, quick”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷih₃wós (“alive”), from *gʷeyh₃- (“to live”), *gʷeyh₃w- (“to live”). For semantic development, compare lively.
Cognate with Dutch kwik, kwiek (“lively, quick”), German keck (“sassy, cheeky”), Danish kvik (“lively, quick-witted, quick”), kvæg (“cattle”), Faroese kvikur (“quick”), Icelandic kvikur (“lively, quick”), Norn kvikk, hwikk (“living, swarming, teeming”), Norwegian kvikk (“quick, lively, quick-witted”), Swedish kvick (“quick, witty”), and also (from Indo-European) with Greek βίος (víos, “life”), Latin vivus (“alive”), Lithuanian gývas (“alive”), Latvian dzīvs (“alive”), Russian живо́й (živój, “alive, lively, quick”), Polish żywy (“alive”), Welsh byw (“alive”), Irish beo (“alive”), biathaigh (“to feed”), Northern Kurdish jîn (“to live”), jiyan (“life”), giyan (“soul”), can (“soul”), Sanskrit जीव (jīva, “alive”), Albanian nxit (“to urge, stimulate”). Doublet of jiva.

## Easily confused with
- **quit** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/quick-vs-quit)
- **quiz** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/quick-vs-quiz)
- **quid** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/quick-vs-quid)
- **quip** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/quick-vs-quip)
- **quite** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/quick-vs-quite)
- **quiet** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/quick-vs-quiet)
- **Quinn** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/quick-vs-quinn)
- **quits** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/quick-vs-quits)
- **quilt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/quick-vs-quilt)
- **quirk** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/quick-vs-quirk)
- **quill** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/quick-vs-quill)
- **Quito** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/quick-vs-quito)
- **quint** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/quick-vs-quint)
- **quirky** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/quick-vs-quirky)
- **Quincy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/quick-vs-quincy)
- **quince** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/quick-vs-quince)
- **quickly** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/quick-vs-quickly)
- **quicker** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/quick-vs-quicker)
- **quicken** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/quick-vs-quicken)
- **quickie** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/quick-vs-quickie)

## Common misspellings (7)
`qiuck`, `qquick`, `qucik`, `quicck`, `quickk`, `quikc`, `uqick`

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