quorum

See also: Quorum and quórum

English

WOTD – 25 October 2007

Alternative forms

• qorum (1600s)
• qworum, quoram, corum (Scotland, pre-1700)
• qorum (Scotland, 1800s)

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English quorum (c. 1426), from Anglo-Norman quorum, clipped from the Anglo-Latin wording of commissions in which certain persons were specially designated as members of a body by the words quorum vos unum esse volumus ad etc. (“of whom we want you to be one assigned to etc.”). Latin quōrum is the masculine genitive plural of the relative pronoun quī (“who”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkwɔː.ɹəm/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈkwɔːɹəm/
• Rhymes: -ɔːɹəm

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: quo‧rum

Noun

quorum (plural quorums or quora)

1. (historical) A select body of (usually eminent) justices of the peace, every member of which had to be present to constitute a deciding body; a member of this body. Later more generally: all justices collectively. [from 1426]
2. The minimum number of members required for a group to officially conduct business and to cast votes, often but not necessarily a majority or supermajority. [from 1616]

   We can discuss the issue tonight but cannot vote until we have a quorum.

   • 2021 August 19, Dianne Gallagher, “Texas Democrats’ effort to freeze voting bill ends”, in CNN‎^[1]:

     Texas House Democrats’ historic quorum break unexpectedly ended Thursday evening when at least three new Democrats returned to the floor, paving the way for state Republicans to pass restrictive voting legislation.
     The surprise turn of events quickly led to public accusations of betrayal among Democrats, as the House now has the required two-thirds of members necessary for a quorum.

   • 2024 December 7, Zachary B. Wolf, “What will be the signature achievement of Trump 2.0?”, in CNN‎^[2]:

     They may not be using the same sort of hard-charging tactics we saw in the first Trump administration, when they would deny Republicans quorums for votes in committee or those kinds of things, but what we will see is they’re going to ask hard questions and make made-for-TV moments.

3. (now rare) Distinguished or essential members of any body; a select company. [from 1596]
4. (computing, distributed systems) The minimum number of votes that a distributed transaction has to obtain in order to be allowed to perform an operation in a distributed system.

Usage notes

The plural quora is sometimes objected to on the grounds that it is not grammatically correct: in Latin quorum is a plural pronoun, not a singular noun.

Derived terms

• disappearing quorum
• inquorate
• quorate
• quorum-busting
• quorum sensing

Translations

minimum number present for official business

• Arabic: نِصَاب (niṣāb)
• Armenian: քվորում (hy) (kʻvorum)
• Azerbaijani: yetərsay sg
• Bulgarian: кворум (bg) m (kvorum)
• Catalan: quòrum (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 法定人數 / 法定人数 (zh) (fǎdìng rénshù)

• Dutch: quorum (nl)
• Esperanto: kvorumo
• Finnish: päätösvaltaisuus (fi) (päätösvaltainen as an adjective is more common)
• French: quorum (fr) m
• Georgian: კვორუმი (ḳvorumi)
• German: Quorum (de) n
• Greek: απαρτία (el) f (apartía)
• Hebrew: מִנְיָן (he) m (minyán)
• Hungarian: határozatképesség (hu) (more commonly expressed with the adjective határozatképes)
• Indonesian: kuorum (id)
• Irish: córam m
• Japanese: 定数 (ja) (ていすう, teisū), 定足数 (ja) (ていそくすう, teisokusū)
• Malay: korum, cukupbilang
• Persian: حد نصاب (hadd-e nesâb)
• Polish: kworum (pl) n, quorum (pl) n
• Portuguese: quórum (pt) m
• Romanian: cvorum (ro) n
• Russian: кво́рум (ru) m (kvórum)
• Spanish: cuórum (es) m, quórum (es) m
• Swedish: beslutsmässighet (sv) c, kvorum (sv)
• Tagalog: kasapatan
• Thai: องค์ประชุม (ong-bprà-chum), องค์คณะ (ong-ká-ná)
• Turkish: nisap (tr), yeter sayı (tr)
• Urdu: حد نصاب (hadd-e-nisāb)
• Welsh: cworwm m
• Yiddish: קוואָרום m (kvorum)

Basque

Etymology

From Latin quōrum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kwoɾum/ [kwo.ɾũm]
• Rhymes: -oɾum, -um
• Hyphenation: quo‧rum

Noun

quorum inan

1. quorum

Declension

Declension of quorum (inan C-stem)

	indefinite	singular	plural	proximal plural
absolutive	quorum	quoruma	quorumak	quorumok
ergative	quorumek	quorumak	quorumek	quorumok
dative	quorumi	quorumari	quorumei	quorumoi
genitive	quorumen	quorumaren	quorumen	quorumon
comitative	quorumekin	quorumarekin	quorumekin	quorumokin
causative	quorumengatik	quorumarengatik	quorumengatik	quorumongatik
benefactive	quorumentzat	quorumarentzat	quorumentzat	quorumontzat
instrumental	quorumez	quorumaz	quorumez	quorumotaz
innesive	quorumetan	quorumean	quorumetan	quorumotan
locative	quorumetako	quorumeko	quorumetako	quorumotako
allative	quorumetara	quorumera	quorumetara	quorumotara
terminative	quorumetaraino	quorumeraino	quorumetaraino	quorumotaraino
directive	quorumetarantz	quorumerantz	quorumetarantz	quorumotarantz
destinative	quorumetarako	quorumerako	quorumetarako	quorumotarako
ablative	quorumetatik	quorumetik	quorumetatik	quorumotatik
partitive	quorumik	—	—	—
prolative	quorumtzat	—	—	—

Further reading

• “quorum”, in Euskaltzaindiaren Hiztegia [Dictionary of the Basque Academy] (in Basque), Euskaltzaindia [Royal Academy of the Basque Language]

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin quōrum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ.ʁɔm/

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

Noun

quorum m (plural quorums)

1. quorum

Further reading

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

Italian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Latin quōrum, genitive plural form of quī (“who, which”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkwɔ.rum/
• Rhymes: -ɔrum
• Hyphenation: quò‧rum

Noun

quorum m (invariable)

1. quorum (minimum number of members required)

See also

• referendum

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈkʷoː.rũː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈkʷɔː.rum]

Etymology 1

Inherited from Proto-Italic *kʷozom

Pronoun

quōrum

1. (relative) genitive masculine/neuter plural of quī

Determiner

quōrum

1. (interrogative) genitive masculine/neuter plural of quī

Descendants

From the clipping of quōrum vōs, see English quorum:

• → English: quorum
• → French: quorum m
• → Irish: córam
• → Italian: quorum
• → Polish: kworum
• → Portuguese: quórum m
• → Romanian: cvorum n
• → Russian: кворум m (kvorum)
• → Spanish: cuórum m

Etymology 2

Pronoun

quōrum

1. (interrogative) genitive masculine/neuter plural of quis

Polish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Latin quōrum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkfɔ.rum/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔrum
• Syllabification: quo‧rum

Noun

quorum n (indeclinable)

1. alternative spelling of kworum

Further reading

• quorum in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• quorum in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Spanish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Latin quōrum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkwoɾum/ [ˈkwo.ɾũm]
• Rhymes: -oɾum
• Syllabification: quo‧rum

Noun

quorum m

1. alternative form of cuórum

Usage notes

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

Further reading

• “quorum”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024