cue

B2 Topic:People & Society

US /ˈkjuː/ See IPA manual

Freq #6139

Meanings

1

noun
A signal or event that tells someone to do something.

His arrival was the cue for everyone to sit down.
2

verb
To give someone a signal to begin or do something.

The director cued the actors to enter the stage.
3

noun
A long, thin stick used to strike the ball in pool or billiards.

He chalked his cue before taking the shot.

Verb forms

Verb forms are not available for this word yet.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

3 noun · a long, thin stick used to... cue stick

Word family

Forms cuedcueingcuescuing

Derived forms autocuecue-to-cuecueablecuebidcueistcuelesscuemancuercuesportcuestickcurlicuemiscue

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

pool cue
a long tapered stick used to strike balls in pool

Noun + noun

Simplified etymology

The billiards cue, recorded from the mid-18th century, takes its name from cue, a spelling of queue used for a pigtail in the 18th and 19th centuries. Queue came through French from Latin cauda, meaning “tail.”

Etymology

From Middle English cu (used for half a farthing, from q as an abbreviation for Latin quadrāns (“quarter of an as”)), from Latin cū, kū. Compare French ku.

cu Middle English quadrāns Latin cū Old English

View etymology graph ->

Topics

People & Society Theater & Performance

External links

# cue

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B2
**Part of speech:** noun, verb
**IPA (US):** /ˈkjuː/
**Frequency rank:** 6139

## Meanings
1. A signal or event that tells someone to do something.
2. To give someone a signal to begin or do something.
3. A long, thin stick used to strike the ball in pool or billiards.

## Examples
- His arrival was the cue for everyone to sit down.
- The director cued the actors to enter the stage.
- He chalked his cue before taking the shot.

## Derived Forms
- autocue
- cue-to-cue
- cueable
- cuebid
- cueist
- cueless
- cueman
- cuer
- cuesport
- cuestick
- curlicue
- miscue

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: cu
- Root: quadrāns
- Root: cū

## Etymology
From Middle English cu (used for half a farthing, from q as an abbreviation for Latin quadrāns (“quarter of an as”)), from Latin cū, kū. Compare French ku.

## AI Etymology
Cue comes from Middle English cu (used for half a farthing, from q as an abbreviation for Latin quadrāns (“quarter of an as”)), from Latin cū, kū. Compare French ku. The historical chain includes cu (Middle English), quadrāns (Latin), and cū (Latin). The surrounding word family includes derived forms such as autocue, cue-to-cue, cueable, and cuebid. In present use it covers a signal or event that tells someone to do something, to give someone a signal to begin or do something, and a long, thin stick used to strike the ball in pool or billiards.

## Topics
- People & Society
- Theater & Performance

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cue