qualm

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A feeling of doubt or worry about whether something is right to do

   She had no qualms about telling him exactly what she thought.

2. 2
   noun

   A sudden feeling of sickness or nausea

   A wave of qualms hit him as the boat rocked harder.

Perhaps from Middle English qualm, cwalm (“death, sickness, plague”), which is from Old English cwealm (West Saxon: "death, disaster, plague"), ūtcualm (Anglian: "utter destruction"), from Proto-West Germanic *kwalm (“killing, death, destruction”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷelH- (“to stick, pierce; pain, injury, death”), whence also quell. Although the sense development is possible, this has the problem that there are no attestations in intermediate senses before the appearance of "pang of apprehension, etc." in the 16th century. The alternative etymology is from Dutch kwalm or German Qualm…

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