Quorum

How to spell quorum

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce quorum

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does quorum mean?

1. nounThe minimum number of members who must be present for a meeting to conduct valid business.

Quorum in a sentence

• The committee could not vote because it lacked a quorum.

• The bylaws state that a quorum of seven directors must attend.

Where does quorum come from?

Language of origin: Latin

Quorum comes straight from Latin, where it is the genitive plural of the pronoun qui, meaning 'who'; quorum therefore literally means 'of whom'. It entered English in the late medieval period through the wording of official commissions appointing justices of the peace, which named certain people whose presence was essential with a phrase beginning 'quorum vos... unum esse volumus', meaning 'of whom we wish you to be one'. From that legal formula the word came to mean the select members whose presence was required, and by the seventeenth century it had broadened to its modern sense: the minimum number of members who must be present for a meeting to conduct valid business. Because the word is lifted directly from a Latin grammatical form rather than reshaped into English, its spelling stays unusually faithful to the original, which is why the unexpected 'quo-' opening and the single 'r' can trip up writers who expect an English-style spelling.

How the word is built

• quorum (Latin: 'of whom', genitive plural of qui 'who')