queer

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[edit] English

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[edit] Etymology

From Scots, perhaps from Low German (Brunswick dialect) queer "oblique, off-center", related to German quer (“oblique, perverse, odd”), from Old High German twerh (“oblique”), from Proto-Indo-European *twerk- (“to turn, twist, wind”). Related to thwart.

[edit] Pronunciation

  • enPR: kwîr, IPA: /kwir/, SAMPA: /kwir/ (for both noun and adjective; but see usage note on pronunciation)
  • Audio (US)
    		(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɪə(r)

[edit] Adjective

queer (comparative queerer, superlative queerest)

  1. (somewhat old-fashioned) weird, odd or different.
    • 1865, Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
      “I wish I hadn’t cried so much!” said Alice, as she swam about, trying to find her way out. “I shall be punished for it now, I suppose, by being drowned in my own tears! That will be a queer thing, to be sure! However, everything is queer to-day.”
  2. (somewhat old-fashioned) slightly unwell (mainly in to feel queer).
  3. (slang) homosexual.
  4. (slang) having to do with homosexuality, bisexuality, transgenderism etc.

[edit] Synonyms

[edit] Derived terms

[edit] Translations

weird, odd, different
slightly unwell
slang: homosexual
slang: having to do with homosexuality, etc.

[edit] Noun

queer (plural queers)

  1. (colloquial) A person who is or appears homosexual, or who has homosexual qualities.
  2. (colloquial) A person of atypical sexuality or sexual identity.
  3. (colloquial, vulgar, derogatory) General term of abuse, casting aspersions on target's sexuality; compare gay.
  4. (definite, the queer, informal, dated or obsolete) Counterfeit money.

[edit] Usage notes

  • The use of this word to mean "homosexual" was formerly, and is often still, considered pejorative. However, in the way that all language is dynamic and pliable, the word is also sometimes now used (primarily as adjective) as a neutral or even positive descriptive term, including by some (primarily younger) homosexuals. In its pejorative use, it is applied almost solely to males. In its modern neutral use, it can be applied to all genders.
Some GLBT individuals (primarily younger) now use the term as an "all-inclusive" term for the GLBTIQ (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgendered, Intersex, Queer) etc. community. This may include people who consider themselves to be politically (or otherwise sociologically) GLBTIQ without necessarily displaying, or even being inclined towards behavior that is not heteronormative.
'Queer' is also used as a positive term for people, some of whom reject mainstream-gay values and culture. People who identify with this version of queer distance themselves from the commercialisation and (relatively) conformist values of the gay mainstream and embrace fluid and unconstrained definitions of sexuality and gender. There is some common ground between this definition of queer and the punk and DIY scenes. See also "genderqueer".
  • In the English dialect of the southern United States, the two senses of the adjective queer (homosexual and weird, odd, different, or unwell) are sometimes distinguished by pronunciation. Queer (homosexual) is pronounced (kwîr), queer (weird, odd, different, or unwell) is pronounced (kwär). This is generally considered old-fashioned and is only used when the word is emphasized, as in the phrase "that's awful queer" (pronounced THăts ôr'fəl kwär). The distinction is dying out as that latter sense of the word dies out.

[edit] Derived terms

[edit] Translations

slang: homosexual
slang: person of atypical sexuality or sexual identity
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked

[edit] Verb

queer (third-person singular simple present queers, present participle queering, simple past and past participle queered) (transitive)

  1. To render an endeavor or agreement ineffective or null.
  2. To reevaluate or reinterpret a work with an eye to sexual orientation and/or to gender, as by applying queer theory.

[edit] Synonyms

[edit] Translations

[edit] Adverb

queer (comparative more queer, superlative most queer)

  1. queerly

[edit] Translations

queerly — see queerly
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