quality

A2 Topic:Describing Qualities

Also spelled quailties

US /ˈkwɑ.lə.ti/ UK /ˈkwɒl.ɪ.ti/ See IPA manual

Freq #2798

Meanings

1

noun
How good or bad something is.

This school is known for its high quality of teaching.
2

noun
A feature or characteristic of a person or thing.

Patience is one of her best qualities.
3

adj
Of a high standard; very good.

They only use quality ingredients in their dishes.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · how good or bad something is. caliber calibre

2 noun · a feature or characteristic... character

Word family

Forms qualities

Derived forms draft-qualityhigh-qualityletter-qualitylow-qualitymedium-qualitynonqualitypoor-qualitypotato-qualitypreview-qualityqualify qualitativequalitied

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

low quality
a standard that is poor compared with what is expected

Adjective + noun

Proverbs (1)

See all

Buy the best and you only cry once
Matching variant: If you buy quality, you only cry once

Simplified etymology

Quality comes from Latin qualis “of what kind” or “of such a kind.” Its early English senses were “character or disposition” and “a particular property or feature”; qualify, from the same root, originally meant “describe in a particular way.”

Etymology

From Middle English qualite, from Old French qualité, from Latin quālitās, quālitātem, from quālis (“of what kind”), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷo- (“who, how”). Cicero coined qualitas as a calque to translate the Ancient Greek word ποιότης (poiótēs, “quality”), coined by Plato from ποῖος (poîos, “of what nature, of what kind”).

*kʷ- Proto-Indo-European qualite Middle English qualité Old French quālitās Latin *kʷo- Proto-Indo-European

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities

External links

# quality

**Type:** Word
**Level:** A2
**Part of speech:** noun, adj
**IPA (US):** /ˈkwɑ.lə.ti/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈkwɒl.ɪ.ti/
**Frequency rank:** 2798

## Meanings
1. How good or bad something is.
2. A feature or characteristic of a person or thing.
3. Of a high standard; very good.

## Examples
- This school is known for its high quality of teaching.
- Patience is one of her best qualities.
- They only use quality ingredients in their dishes.

## Derived Forms
- draft-quality
- high-quality
- letter-quality
- low-quality
- medium-quality
- nonquality
- poor-quality
- potato-quality
- preview-quality
- qualify
- qualitative
- qualitied

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *kʷ-
- Root: qualite
- Root: qualité
- Root: quālitās
- Root: *kʷo-

## Etymology
From Middle English qualite, from Old French qualité, from Latin quālitās, quālitātem, from quālis (“of what kind”), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷo- (“who, how”). Cicero coined qualitas as a calque to translate the Ancient Greek word ποιότης (poiótēs, “quality”), coined by Plato from ποῖος (poîos, “of what nature, of what kind”).

## AI Etymology
Quality comes from Middle English qualite, from Old French qualité, from Latin quālitās, quālitātem, from quālis (“of what kind”), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷo- (“who, how”). Cicero coined qualitas as a calque to translate the Ancient Greek word ποιότης (poiótēs, “quality”), coined by Plato from ποῖος (poîos, “of what nature, of what kind”). In present-day English it covers how good or bad something is, a feature or characteristic of a person or thing, and of a high standard; very good. The wider family includes derived forms such as draft-quality, high-quality, letter-quality, low-quality, medium-quality.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities

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