quer

Uncertain. Possibly from Proto-Basque *karri (“rock”) (compare Basque harri), or from Proto-Celtic *karr- (“rock”) (compare Welsh craig, Irish creag, Manx creg, Armenian քար (kʻar)).

• IPA^(key): (Central) [ˈkɛr]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) unknown
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈker]

quer m (plural quers)

1. (archaic) rock

   Synonym: penya

• Cadaqués
• Queralbs
• Queralt

• “quer” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.
• “quer”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026

From Old Galician-Portuguese quer, third-person singular present indicative of querer: "he/she/it wants".

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɛɾ/

quer

1. third-person singular present indicative of querer; alternative form of quere

quer … quer

1. whether … or
   • 1350, K. M. Parker (ed.), Historia Troyana. Santiago: Instituto "Padre Sarmiento", page 95:

     Et quando se asañaua, nõ gardaria cousa que nõdisese, quer fose vergonçosa quer maa quer bõa, todo o diria.

     And when he was angry he would not keep a thing that he didn't say, whether embarrassing or mean or good, everything he would say

2. either … or
   • 1301, X. Ferro Couselo, editor, A vida e a fala dos devanceiros, Vigo: Galaxia, page 52:

     quer millo quer çenteo

     either millet or barley

• calquera
• sequera
• se Deus quer

• Seoane, Ernesto Xosé González; Granja, María Álvarez de la; Agrelo, Ana Isabel Boullón (2006–2022), “quer”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval [Dictionary of dictionaries of Medieval Galician] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Barreiro, Xavier Varela; Guinovart, Xavier Gómez (2006–2018), “quer”, in Corpus Xelmírez: corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval [Corpus Xelmírez: linguistic corpus of Medieval Galicia] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “quer”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “quer”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega

quer

1. (reintegrationist norm) inflection of querer:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

• queer, zwerch

From Middle High German twer, dwer, quer, from Old High German twerh (“oblique”), from Proto-West Germanic *þwerh. Doublet of queer.

• IPA^(key): /kveːɐ̯/
• Rhymes: -eːɐ̯

• Audio (Austria):

  (file)

• Audio:

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quer (strong nominative masculine singular querer, not comparable)

1. crosswise, cross

quer

1. crosswise, across

   Das Blut transportiert die Nährstoffe quer durch den Körper.

   The blood transports nutrients throughout the body.

• “quer” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “Adjective” in Duden online
• “Adverb” in Duden online

• IPA^(key): /ˈkwer/
• Rhymes: -er
• Hyphenation: qù‧er

quer m sg

1. (Romanesco) alternative form of quel (rhotacism)

Borrowed from Old French cuer, from Latin chorus, from Ancient Greek χορός (khorós). First attested in c. 1300.

The raising of /eː/ to /iː/ in the form quyre is paralleled by forms of brere and frere.

• queer, queere, quere, quier, qwer, qwere
• querre (East Anglia); queor, quyre (Southern, West Midland)
• qweire, qwhere, wher, where (Northern); queire, quehyr, queyr, queyre, qweyr, qweyre (Early Scots)

• IPA^(key): /kweːr/, /kwiːr/
• IPA^(key): /kwøːr/ (Southern, West Midland)

quer (plural queres)

1. A choir (singers who musically accompany a liturgy)
2. The chancel or quire (space surrounding the altar in a church or temple)
3. (Christianity) A grouping or company of angels.
4. (rare) A chapter (individuals responsible for a ecclesiastical institution)
5. (rare) Singing or dancing.
6. (rare) Any grouping or company of individuals.

• English: choir; quire
• Middle Scots: queir, quere
  • Scots: queir, queer

• “quẹ̄r, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
• “choir, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
• “quer(e, queir, quear, quier, n.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, reproduced from William A[lexander] Craigie, A[dam] J[ack] Aitken [et al.], editors, A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue: […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1931–2002, →OCLC.

quer

1. alternative form of quayer

quer m (plural quers)

1. alternative form of cuer

From Latin quare.

quer

1. as, since, because, for

   ...quer le sens de li e la vertu creissoit chescun jour de mieux en mieux.

   Because his discernment and his virtue grew better from day to day.

2. (interrogative) why, wherefore

   chevalier, cher vus purpensez?

   knights, why are you still thinking?

• French: car

quer oblique singular, m (oblique plural quers, nominative singular quers, nominative plural quer)

1. (typically Anglo-Norman) alternative form of cuer
   • c. 1250, Marie de France, Equitan:

     m'est une anguisse el quer ferue, ki tut le cors me fet trembler

     Such a pain has pierced my heart, that makes my whole body quiver

quer oblique singular, m (oblique plural quers, nominative singular quers, nominative plural quer)

1. (Old Northern French) alternative form of chier

• Audio (Portugal (Porto)):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: quer

quer

1. inflection of querer:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. (Brazilian Portuguese spelling) second-person singular imperative

• (second-person singular affirmative imperative of querer): quere

quer … quer or quer … ou

1. whether … or

   Iremos, quer chova ou não. / Iremos, quer chova, quer não.

   We shall go, whether it rains or not.

• qualquer

• “quer”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “quer”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026