Quality

How to spell quality

7 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce quality

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does quality mean?

1. nounThe general standard or grade of something, especially how good it is.
2. nounA distinctive attribute or feature that someone or something possesses.

Quality in a sentence

• The customer complained about the poor quality of the repair.

• Patience is a quality that every good teacher needs.

• This workshop is known for the high quality of its furniture.

• Honesty was the quality she admired most in her colleagues.

Where does quality come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin qualitas, an abstract noun meaning 'a kind' or 'a nature', which the philosopher Cicero is credited with coining to translate Greek ideas about properties and characteristics. It was built on the Latin question word qualis, meaning literally 'of what sort?' or 'what kind?', so the original idea was quite simply 'the what-kind-ness of a thing'. English took it in during the 1300s through Old French qualite, where it first described the nature or attribute of something rather than its excellence. Over the centuries the everyday sense of 'high standard' grew alongside the neutral sense of 'characteristic'. The same qualis root still surfaces in the verb 'qualify', and the -ity ending here is the standard way English turns an idea into an abstract noun, which is why the spelling keeps the single 'l' and the 'i' before 'ty'.

How the word is built

• qual- (from qualis: of what kind)
• -ity (noun suffix forming an abstract quality)