Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Qua
Qua
,c
onj.
[L., abl. of
qui
who.] In so far as; in the capacity or character of; as.
It is with Shelley’s biographers
qua
biographers that we have to deal. London Spectator.
Definition 2024
qua
qua
English
Adverb
qua (not comparable)
- As [a/an]; in the capacity of.
- 1954: Gilbert Ryle, Dilemmas: The Tarner Lectures, 1953, dilemma vii: Perception, page 99 (The Syndics of the Cambridge University Press)
- As anatomy, physiology and, later, psychology have developed into more or less well-organized sciences, they have necessarily and rightly come to incorporate the study of, among other things, the structures, mechanisms, and functionings of animal and human bodies qua percipient.
- 1962: Norman Malcolm; Dreaming; chapter nine: “Judgments in Sleep”, page 39{1}; chapter twelve: “The Concept of Dreaming”, page 68{2} (1977 paperback reprint; Routledge & Kegan Paul; ISBN 0‒7100‒3836‒4 (c), 0‒7100‒8434‒X (p))
- {1} For sleep qua sleep has no experiential content: it cannot turn out, as remarked before, that a man was not asleep because he was not having some experience or other.
- {2} I am denying that a dream qua dream is a seeming, appearance or ‘semblance of reality’.
- 2003: Roy Porter, Flesh in the Age of Reason, page 458 (Penguin, 2004)
- It was qua poet that Byron resurrected the exploded and discarded immortal Christian soul by bodying it forth through the notion of soul conceived as poetic imagination.
- 2005: Ulfelder, Jay.Collective Action and the Breakdown of Authoritarian Regimes. International Political Science Review, 26(3), p318. Retrieved 1615 240810 from http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy1.library.usyd.edu.au/stable/pdfplus/30039035.pdf?acceptTC=true.
- "In essence, military regimes are autocracies in which the military qua organization performs many of the functions performed by the ruling party in single-party regimes."
- 2009: Ken Levy, Killing, Letting Die, and the Case for Mildly Punishing Bad Samaritanism, Georgia Law Review, p. 24.
- Blame qua attitude is the feeling or belief that an individual has committed a wrongdoing, usually a wrongful action and/or harm, and can be reasonably expected not to have committed this wrongdoing. Blame qua practice is the public expression of this attitude – usually by means of censure (written or verbal criticism) or punishment. Generally, the morally worse the wrongdoing, the more severe the censure/punishment.
- 1954: Gilbert Ryle, Dilemmas: The Tarner Lectures, 1953, dilemma vii: Perception, page 99 (The Syndics of the Cambridge University Press)
Translations
in the capacity of
Preposition
qua
- in the capacity of
Anagrams
Danish
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /kvaː/, [kʰvæːˀ]
Conjunction
qua
- as, qua (in the capacity of)
- (as a preposition) by virtue of (because of)
Dutch
Pronunciation
- Rhymes: -aː
Adverb
qua
- regarding, concerning, in terms of
- Qua gezondheid ben ik helemaal in orde.
- In terms of health, I'm perfectly fine.
- Qua gezondheid ben ik helemaal in orde.
Synonyms
- wat ... betreft
Ido
Etymology
Borrowing from French qui, que, Italian che, Spanish que, ultimately from Latin quī / quid.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /kwa/
Pronoun
qua (plural qui)
- (relative pronoun) which
- Esis tre jentila homo qua helpis ni. ― It was a nice man who helped us.
- (interrogative pronoun) who
- Qua esas ita kerlo? ― Who is that guy? (direct question)
- Me ne konocas qua ita esas. ― I don't know who that is. (indirect question)
Determiner
qua
- (interrogative determiner) what
- Qua kamizo vu portos? ― What shirt are you going to wear?
Derived terms
See also
- ube (“where”)
- kande (“when”)
- quala (“what kind of”)
- quale (“how”)
- quanta (“how much”)
- quanto (“quantity”)
Italian
Etymology
From Vulgar Latin *(ec)cu hac, from Latin eccum + hac.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /kwa/
- Rhymes: -a
Adverb
qua
- here (relatively close to the speaker)
See also
Latin
Etymology 1
Adverb declined from quī.
Pronunciation
- (Classical) IPA(key): /kʷa/
Adverb
quā (not comparable)
- On which side, at or in which place, in what direction, where, by what way (qua...ea...)
- as; in the capacity or character of
- In so far as
- ens qua ens ("being as being")
- In what way, how, by what method; to what degree or extent
Etymology 2
Inflection of quī (“who, which”).
Pronoun
quā
- ablative feminine singular of quī
Etymology 3
Inflection of quis (“who?, what?”).
Pronoun
quā
- ablative feminine singular of quis
References
- qua in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- qua in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- Félix Gaffiot (1934), “qua”, in Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Paris: Hachette.
- Meissner, Carl; Auden, Henry William (1894) Latin Phrase-Book, London: Macmillan and Co.
-
(ambiguous) how old are you: qua aetate es?
-
(ambiguous) moral science; ethics: philosophia, in qua de bonis rebus et malis, deque hominum vita et moribus disputatur
-
(ambiguous) the connection of thought: ratio, qua sententiae inter se excipiunt.
-
(ambiguous) to let those present fix any subject they like for discussion: ponere iubere, qua de re quis audire velit (Fin. 2. 1. 1)
-
(ambiguous) the question at issue: res, de qua nunc quaerimus, quaeritur
-
(ambiguous) how old are you: qua aetate es?
Min Nan
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [kuã˥˥]
Etymology
The suffix has been used since around the 17th and 18th century. It is most likely an early attempt at Romanizing the Min Nan for 官 (POJ: koaⁿ) official. Since "hong" (行) merchants were technically officials of the lowest (9th) rank, the suffix "qua" was added to their names in honour of their positions in the Qing government.
Suffix
qua (poj koaⁿ, traditional and simplified 官)
Usage notes
- Formerly added to names of hong merchants (i.e. "Powqua," "Chinqua").
See also
Vietnamese
Etymology
Sino-Vietnamese word from 過 (“pass”)
Pronunciation
- (Hà Nội) IPA(key): [kwaː˧˧]
- (Huế) IPA(key): [kwaː˧˧]
- (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA(key): [waː˧˥]
Preposition
qua
Adjective
qua
Verb
qua
Derived terms
- băng qua
- đi qua