Q is the 17th letter of the alphabet used for the modern English language. It is also used in a number of other languages, including French, German, and Spanish. See Alphabet .
In English, the sound of Q is spelled with QU, and it sounds like KW, as in the words quick and sequel. Q can also represent a K sound, as in unique. This pronunciation is found with words of French origin. In English, Q only occurs without U in a few words. Nearly all of those words are of Arabic origin, and many are proper names, such as Qatar and Iraq.
Scholars believe the letter Q evolved from an Egyptian hieroglyph (pictorial symbol) that represented a baboon. Hieroglyphs were adapted to be used for a Semitic language by around 1500 B.C. The alphabet for this Semitic language—the earliest known alphabet—is called Proto-Sinaitic. By 1100 B.C., an alphabet for another Semitic language, Phoenician, had evolved from Proto-Sinaitic. See Semitic languages .
The Phoenician letter that can be traced to the Egyptian baboon hieroglyph is the 19th letter of the Phoenician alphabet, qop, which was the Phoenician word for monkey. The Phoenicians used the letter to represent the beginning sound of qop, a sound something like a K. However, this sound was made farther back in the mouth than an English K, with the back of the tongue touching the uvula. (The uvula is a piece of flesh that hangs from the back of the roof of the mouth.) Around 800 B.C., when the Greeks adapted the Phoenician alphabet, they did not have such a sound, but they kept qop for a time and called it qoppa, using it for the K sound.
The Etruscans adopted the Greek alphabet about 700 B.C. They used three letters for the K sound—C, K, and Q (when before U). When the Romans adopted the alphabet from the Etruscans by around 650 B.C., they used QU for the sound KW.
