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PlainSpell

quiver

quiv·er/ˈkwɪvɚ/noun, verb

quiver is spelled Q-U-I-V-E-R: 6 letters and 2 syllables (quiv·er). It appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 35,320th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, quiver means “A container for arrows, crossbow bolts or darts, such as those fired from a bow, crossbow or blowgun” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of quiver is quivers.

How many letters and syllables are in quiver?

Letters6: Q-U-I-V-E-R
Syllables2: quiv·er
In writingabout once in every 1 million words; the 35,320th 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 quiver?

Quiver appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 35,320th 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 quiver?

  • UK /ˈkwɪvə/
  • US /ˈkwɪvɚ/

Quiver has 2 syllables, split quiv·er in writing.

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

What rhymes with quiver?

7 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as quiver from its last stressed vowel (/ɪvəɹ/):

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 quiver

  • quivers plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • more quiver comparative
  • most quiver superlative
  • quivering participle, present
  • quivered participle, past

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

What does quiver mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A container for arrows, crossbow bolts or darts, such as those fired from a bow, crossbow or blowgun.

  2. 2

    A ready storage location for figurative tools or weapons.

    He's got lots of sales pitches in his quiver.

  3. 3

    obsoleteA vulva.

  4. 4

    obsoleteThe collective noun for cobras.

  5. 5

    A multidigraph, especially in the context of representation theory.

  6. 6

    The act of quivering.

verb

  1. 1

    To shake or move with slight and tremulous motion.

adjective

  1. 1

    archaicNimble, active.

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

Quiver in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchcarquois, pharètre (arrow container), tremblement, frisson, frémissement (shaking or moving with a slight trembling motion), frémir (shake or move with slight and tremulous motion)
GermanKöcher (arrow container), flattern, zittern, zucken (shake or move with slight and tremulous motion)
Portuguesealjava, fáretra, carcás (arrow container), tremer, estremecer (shake or move with slight and tremulous motion)
Spanishaljaba, carcaj, goldre, carcaza, carcax (arrow container), temblor (shaking or moving with a slight trembling motion)

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 quiver come from?

From Middle English quiver, from Anglo-Norman quivre, from Old Dutch cocare (source of Dutch koker, and cognate to Old English cocer (“quiver, case”)), from Proto-West Germanic *kokar (“container”), said to be from Hunnic, possibly from Proto-Mongolic *kökexür (“leather vessel for liquids”); see there for more. Replaced early modern cocker, the inherited reflex of that West Germanic word. The mathematical sense originated as German Köcher in a 1972 paper by Pierre Gabriel; it was likely chosen because a quiver contains arrows, while a digraph contains directed edges (also called "arrows").

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

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