sine qua non

English

WOTD – 17 October 2012    

Alternative forms

• sine quâ non [18^th C–present]

Etymology

Latin sine qua non, “without which [cause] not”

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA: /ˈsi.ne kwa noːn/
• (US) IPA: /ˈsaɪni kwɑ ˈnɒn/, /ˈsaɪni kweɪ ˈnɒn/, /ˈsɪneɪ kwɑ ˈnɒn/, /ˈsɪneɪ kweɪ ˈnɒn/

Noun

sine qua non (plural sine qua nons or sine quibus non)

1. An essential or indispensable element, condition, or ingredient.
   • 2000, A. Przeworski, M. Alvarez, J. Cheibub, F. Limongi, Democracy and Development (Cambridge University Press), page 34:

     […] whereas some degree of political freedom is a sine qua non condition for contestation, democracy cannot be sufficiently defined in terms of "liberties" […]

Synonyms

• (essential or element): prerequisite

Translations

prerequisite

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 必要條件 (cmn), 必要条件 (cmn) (bìyào tiáojiàn)

• Danish: absolut nødvendighed (da)
• Finnish: edellytys (fi), kynnyskysymys (fi)
• German: absolute Notwendigkeit (de) f, notwendige Bedingung (de) f, unerlässliche Voraussetzung (de) f, conditio sine qua non (de), sine qua non (de)
• Greek: εκ των ων ουκ άνευ (el) (ek ton on ouk ánef)

• Japanese: 必須条件 (ja) (ひっすじょうけん, hissujōken)
• Korean: 불가결 (ko) (bulgagyeol), 필수조건 (ko) (pilsujogeon), 없어서는 안 될 것 (ko) (eopseoseoneun an doel geot)
• Polish: warunek sine qua non (pl) m, warunek niezbędny (pl) m
• Portuguese: sine qua non (pt)
• Russian: обязательное условие (objazátelʹnoje uslóvije) n, (соверше́нно) необходимое условие (neobxodímoje uslóvije) n
• Spanish: condición sine qua non (es) f