quiet

See also: qui et

English

Etymology

(deprecated template usage)

From Middle English, borrowed from Old French, from Latin quietus, past participle of quiescere (“to keep quiet, rest”). Doublet of coy and quietus.

Pronunciation

• enPR: kwī'ĭt, IPA^(key): /ˈkwaɪ.ɪt/
• (weak vowel merger) enPR: kwī'ət, IPA^(key): /ˈkwaɪ.ət/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪət

Adjective

quiet (comparative quieter or more quiet, superlative quietest or most quiet)

1. With little or no sound; free of disturbing noise.

   I can't hear the music; it is too quiet.

2. Having little motion or activity; calm.

   the sea was quiet

   a quiet night at home

   all quiet on the Western front

3. Not busy, of low quantity.
   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 8, in The China Governess‎^[1]:

     It was a casual sneer, obviously one of a long line. There was hatred behind it, but of a quiet, chronic type, nothing new or unduly virulent, and he was taken aback by the flicker of amazed incredulity that passed over the younger man's ravaged face.

   The traffic was quiet for a Monday morning.

   Business was quiet for the season.

4. Not talking much or not talking loudly; reserved.

   He's a very quiet man usually, but is very chatty after a few beers.

5. Not showy; undemonstrative.

   a quiet dress

   quiet colours

   a quiet movement

6. (software) Requiring little or no interaction.

   a quiet install

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:quiet.

Synonyms

• (with little sound): See also Thesaurus:silent
• (having little motion): See also Thesaurus:calm
• (not busy): slow, unbusy
• (not talking): See also Thesaurus:taciturn
• (not showy): modest, plain, simple

Antonyms

• loud
• sounded
• vocal

Translations

with little sound

• Afrikaans: stil
• Albanian: i qetë (sq)
• Amharic: please add this translation if you can
• Arabic: صَامِت (ṣāmit), هَادِئ (hādiʔ)

  Egyptian Arabic: هادي (hādi)

• Aragonese: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian: հանգիստ (hy) (hangist)
• Aromanian: please add this translation if you can
• Asturian: quietu, silenciosu
• Azerbaijani: səssiz (az)
• Bashkir: шым (şım), тыныс (tınıs)
• Basque: please add this translation if you can
• Belarusian: ці́хі (cíxi)
• Bengali: শান্ত (śanto)
• Breton: please add this translation if you can
• Bulgarian: тих (bg) (tih)
• Burmese: ဆိတ် (my) (hcit)
• Catalan: silenciós (ca), tranquil (ca)
• Chamicuro: chkesi
• Cherokee: ᎡᎷᏪᎢ (eluwei)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 安靜／安静 (zh) (ānjìng), 安静 (zh) (ānjìng), 寧靜／宁静 (zh) (níngjìng), 宁静 (zh) (níngjìng)

• Czech: tichý (cs)
• Danish: stille (da), tyst
• Dutch: stil (nl), rustig (nl), vredig (nl), geruisloos (nl), geluidloos (nl)
• Esperanto: mallaŭta
• Estonian: vaikne
• Finnish: hiljainen (fi), äänetön (fi)
• French: calme (fr), silencieux (fr)
• Friulian: cuiet, cujet
• Galician: silencioso, silandeiro, calmo
• Georgian: ხმადაბალი (xmadabali), ჩუმი (čumi), წყნარი (ka) (c̣q̇nari)
• German: still (de), ruhig (de), leise (de)
• Greek: ήρεμος (el) (íremos), σιγανός (el) (siganós), σιωπηλός (el) (siopilós)
• Gujarati: please add this translation if you can
• Hausa: please add this translation if you can
• Hebrew: שֶׁקֶט (he) (shakét)
• Hindi: ख़ामोश (xāmoś)
• Hungarian: csendes (hu), halk (hu)
• Icelandic: hljóður (is)
• Ido: quieta (io)
• Interlingua: quiete
• Irish: ciúin
• Italian: quieto (it), silenzioso (it)
• Japanese: 静かな (ja) (しずかな, shizuka na)
• Kannada: please add this translation if you can
• Kazakh: тыныш (kk) (tynyş)
• Khmer: ស្ងាត់ (km) (sngat)
• Korean: 조용하다 (ko) (joyonghada)
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: ,

• Kyrgyz: тынч (ky) (tınc)
• Laboya: kawannara, karadda, kaʼdanna
• Lao: ງຽບ (ngīap), ຈ້ອຽ (chǭi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Latin: tacitus, silens (la)
• Latvian: kluss
• Lithuanian: tylus
• Luxembourgish: roueg, stëll, lues
• Macedonian: ти́вок (tívok), тих (tih)
• Malay: diam, senyap

  Jawi: ديام, سڽڤ

• Malayalam: please add this translation if you can
• Maltese: please add this translation if you can
• Maori: māika, hū
• Marathi: शांत (śānta)
• Mirandese: please add this translation if you can
• Mongolian: тайван (mn) (tajvan), тогтуун (mn) (togtuun)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: stille (no)

  Nynorsk: stille

• Occitan: silenciós (oc)
• Oriya: please add this translation if you can
• Pashto: please add this translation if you can
• Persian: خاموش (fa) (xâmuš), آرام (fa) (ârâm), کم صدا (kam sedâ)
• Polish: cichy (pl) m
• Portuguese: quieto (pt), silencioso (pt)
• Punjabi: ਚੁੱਪ-ਚਾਪ (chupp-chap)
• Rajasthani: please add this translation if you can
• Romanian: încet (ro), liniștit (ro), silențios (ro)
• Russian: ти́хий (ru) (tíxij)
• Sardinian: please add this translation if you can
• Scottish Gaelic: sèimh, sàmhach, socair, ciùin
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: тих

  Roman: tih (sh),

• Sicilian: cuetu (scn), quetu (scn)
• Sinhalese: නිශ්ශබ්ද (niśśabda)
• Slovak: tichý
• Slovene: tih (sl)
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: śichy

• Spanish: quieto (es), silencioso (es), tranquilo (es), calmo (es), pacífico (es), silente (es), callado (es) m
• Swedish: tyst (sv), stilla (sv)
• Tajik: паст (tg) (past)
• Tamil: please add this translation if you can
• Telugu: నిశ్శబ్దం (te) (niśśabdaṁ)
• Thai: เงียบ (th) (ngîiap), นิ่ง (th) (nîng), สงบ (th) (sà-ngòp)
• Turkish: sessiz (tr)
• Turkmen: ýuwaş, sessiz
• Ukrainian: ти́хий (týxyj)
• Urdu: خاموش (xāmoś)
• Uzbek: tinch (uz)
• Venetian: chieto, chiet, cet (vec), poxado, cucio
• Vietnamese: yên tĩnh (vi) (安靜), im lặng (vi) (of a person)
• Volapük: stilik (vo)
• Walloon: påjhire (wa) m or f, påjhûle (wa) m or f
• Yiddish: שטיל (shtil)

having little motion

• Bashkir: тыныс (tınıs)
• Catalan: quiet (ca), tranquil (ca)
• Czech: klidný (cs)
• Dutch: rustig (nl), kalm (nl)
• Esperanto: trankvila (eo)
• Finnish: hiljainen (fi), rauhallinen (fi)
• French: tranquille (fr), calme (fr), paisible (fr)
• Galician: quieto (gl)
• Georgian: წყნარი (ka) (c̣q̇nari), მშვიდი (mšvidi)
• German: still (de)
• Greek: ήσυχος (el) (ísychos)
• Italian: calmo (it)
• Kurdish:

  Sorani:

• Latin: tranquillus
• Maori: maho
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Norwegian: rolig (no)
• Persian: آرام (fa) (ârâm)
• Polish: spokojny (pl) m
• Portuguese: quieto (pt)
• Romanian: liniștit (ro), calm (ro)
• Russian: споко́йный (ru) (spokójnyj)
• Serbo-Croatian: miran (sh), spokojan (sh)
• Sinhalese: නිශ්චල (niścala)
• Spanish: tranquilo (es), detenido (es), quieto (es), calmo (es)
• Swedish: lugn (sv)
• Telugu: ప్రశాంతం (te) (praśāntaṁ)
• Ukrainian: спокі́йний (spokíjnyj)
• Walloon: påjhire (wa) m or f, påjhûle (wa)
• Westrobothnian:

not busy

• Catalan: poc (ca), mica (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 闲散 (zh) (xiánsǎn), 閒散／闲散 (zh) (xiánsǎn)

• Danish: rolig (da), stille (da)
• Dutch: rustig (nl)
• Finnish: hiljainen (fi)
• French: calme (fr)
• Georgian: წყნარი (ka) (c̣q̇nari)
• Greek: ήσυχος (el) (ísychos)
• Japanese: 閑散たる (ja) (kansan taru)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Kurdish:

  Sorani:

• Latvian: lēns
• Norwegian: rolig (no)
• Persian: آرام (fa) (ârâm)
• Portuguese: calmo (pt), tranqüilo (pt)
• Russian: ти́хий (ru) (tíxij)
• Spanish: poco (es)
• Swedish: lugn (sv)
• Ukrainian: ти́хий (týxyj)

not talking

• Asturian: calláu, quietu
• Bashkir: шым (şım), тыныс (tınıs)
• Catalan: silenciós (ca)
• Czech: tichý (cs)
• Danish: stille (da)
• Dutch: zwijgzaam (nl), stil (nl), rustig (nl)
• Estonian: vaikne, tasane
• Finnish: hiljainen (fi), vaisu (fi)
• French: silencieux (fr), discret (fr)
• Georgian: ჩუმი (čumi)
• German: ruhig (de), still (de)
• Greek: ήρεμος (el) (íremos)
• Italian: quieto (it), taciturno (it)
• Kurdish:

  Sorani:

• Latin: tacitus
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Latvian: kluss
• Maori: māika, whakatakupe
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: stille (no)

  Nynorsk: stille

• Persian: آرام (fa) (ārām), کم گوی (kam guy)
• Portuguese: calado (pt), silencioso (pt)
• Romanian: tăcut (ro), silențios (ro)
• Russian: споко́йный (ru) (spokójnyj), ти́хий (ru) (tíxij)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Roman: ^{(please verify)} šutljiv (sh)

• Sinhalese: නිශ්ශබ්ද (niśśabda)
• Spanish: reservado (es), callado (es), silencioso (es)
• Swedish: tyst (sv)
• Telugu: మౌనం (te) (maunaṁ)
• Turkish: suskun (tr)
• Walloon: sins brut (wa)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Lithuanian: ^{(please verify)} ramus (lt) m, ^{(please verify)} tykus m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Tuvaluan: ^{(please verify)} filemu

Verb

quiet (third-person singular simple present quiets, present participle quieting, simple past and past participle quieted)

1. To become quiet, silent, still, tranquil, calm.

   When you quiet, we can start talking.

2. To cause someone to become quiet.

   Can you quiet your child? He's making lots of noise.

   The umpire quieted the crowd, so the game could continue in peace.

Synonyms

• (become quiet): quiet down, quieten
• (cause to become quiet): quiet down, quieten

Translations

to become quiet

• Dutch: kalmeren (nl), rustig worden
• Finnish: hiljentyä (fi), rauhoittua (fi)
• French: s'apaiser (fr), se calmer (fr), se taire (fr), se tranquilliser (fr)
• Georgian: გაჩუმება (gačumeba)
• Persian: ساکت شدن (fa) (sāket šodan), آرام شدن (ārām šodan)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Polish: (exclusively for sound) uciszyć się (pl), zamilknąć, (sound/motion) uspokajać się (pl) impf, uspokoić się (pl) pf
• Quechua: upallay
• Russian: успока́иваться (ru) impf (uspokáivatʹsja), успоко́иться (ru) pf (uspokóitʹsja)
• Spanish: callar (es)
• Swedish: tystna (sv)

to cause someone to become quiet

• Catalan: calmar (ca)
• Dutch: kalmeren (nl)
• Finnish: hiljentää (fi), rauhoittaa (fi)
• French: apaiser (fr), calmer (fr)
• Friulian: cuietâ
• Georgian: გაჩუმება (gačumeba)
• German: ruhen (de)
• Italian: calmare (it), placare (it)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Latin: pācō (la)
• Maori: whakamūmū
• Polish: (sound) uciszać impf, uciszyć (pl) pf, (sound/motion) uspokajać (pl) impf, uspokoić (pl) pf
• Portuguese: silenciar (pt), tranquilizar (pt), acalmar (pt)
• Russian: успока́ивать (ru) impf (uspokáivatʹ), успоко́ить (ru) pf (uspokóitʹ)
• Spanish: calmar (es), callar (es)
• Swedish: tysta (sv)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Kurdish: ,
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Norwegian: ^{(please verify)} tystne, ^{(please verify)} stilne (no)

Noun

quiet (plural quiets)

1. The absence of sound; quietness.

   There was a strange quiet in the normally very lively plaza.

   We need a bit of quiet before we can start the show.

2. the absence of movement; stillness, tranquility

Translations

absence of sound

• Armenian: լռություն (hy) (lṙutʻyun)
• Czech: ticho (cs) n
• Danish: stilhed (da) c, ro (da) c
• Egyptian: (sgr)
• Esperanto: kvieto
• Finnish: hiljaisuus (fi)
• Georgian: სიჩუმე (sičume), სიწყნარე (sic̣q̇nare)
• Greek: ησυχία (el) f (isychía)

  Ancient: σιγή f (sigḗ), σιωπή f (siōpḗ)

• Hindi: ख़ामोशी f (xāmośī)
• Irish: ciúnas (ga) m
• Italian: silenzio (it) m
• Japanese: 沈黙 (chinmoku), 静寂 (ja) (seijaku)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: ,

• Latvian: klusums m
• Portuguese: calada (pt) f, silêncio (pt) m
• Punjabi: ਚੁੱਪੀ f (chuppi)
• Russian: тишина́ (ru) f (tišiná)
• Scottish Gaelic: sàmhchair f, tosd m
• Spanish: silencio (es) m
• Swedish: tystnad (sv) c
• Telugu: నిశ్శబ్దం (te) (niśśabdaṁ)
• Urdu: خاموشی (xāmośī)

absence of movement

• Armenian: հանգիստ (hy) (hangist)
• Danish: ro (da) c
• Finnish: hiljaisuus (fi)
• Georgian: სიწყნარე (sic̣q̇nare)
• Greek: ησυχία (el) f (isychía)

  Ancient: ἡσυχία f (hēsukhía)

• Italian: pace (it) f, tranquillità (it) f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: 平静 (ja) (heisei)
• Kurdish:

  Sorani:

• Latin: quiēs f
• Portuguese: quietude (pt) f
• Russian: споко́йствие (ru) n (spokójstvije), поко́й (ru) m (pokój)
• Spanish: calma (es) f, tranquilidad (es) f
• Swedish: lugn (sv) n

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Georgian: ^{(please verify)} სიმშვიდე (simšvide), ^{(please verify)} სიჩუმე (sičume)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

Interjection

quiet

1. Be quiet.

   Quiet! The children are sleeping.

Related terms

• acquiesce
• acquiet
• disquiet
• have a quiet word
• inquietude
• keep quiet
• on the quiet
• peace and quiet
• quiesce
• quiescent
• quietage
• quiet as a mouse
• quiet coach
• quiet down
• quiet down
• quieten
• quiet enjoyment
• quietism
• quietist
• quiet lung
• quietly
• quietness
• quiet period
• quietsom
• quietude
• requiem
• so quiet
• so quiet one can hear a pin drop
• ultraquiet
• unquiet

 

Further reading

• “quiet”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “quiet”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “quiet”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “quiet”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Anagrams

• quite

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Catalan

Etymology

First attested 1490. From Latin quietus, in this form probably a borrowing or a semi-learned term; cf. also the Old Catalan form quet, queda, which was likely inherited.

Adjective

quiet (feminine quieta, masculine plural quiets, feminine plural quietes)

1. calm, stopped
2. quiet

Synonyms

• aturat
• detingut

Related terms

• quedar

---

Copallén

Noun

quiet

1. water

References

• Willem F. H. Adelaar, The Languages of the Andes

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French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin quiētus, from quiēs (“rest”). Doublet of coi, which was inherited, and quitte, another borrowing.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kjɛ/

Adjective

quiet (feminine quiète, masculine plural quiets, feminine plural quiètes)

1. (rare, literary, of a person) calm, quiet, peaceful, at ease

Usage notes

Its antonym inquiet is much more common.

Further reading

• “quiet”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

---

Occitan

Etymology

From Latin quietus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈkjet]

Adjective

quiet m (feminine singular quieta, masculine plural quiets, feminine plural quietas)

1. calm, stopped
2. quiet

Synonyms

• suau
• tranquil