quo

See also: quơ and quở

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, UK) IPA^(key): /kwəʊ/
• (US) IPA^(key): /kwoʊ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊ, -oʊ

Etymology 1

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Verb

quo

1. (transitive, obsolete) quoth

Etymology 2

Noun

quo (plural quos)

1. Paired with quid, in reference to the phrase quid pro quo (“this for that”): something given in exchange for something else.
   • 1886 May 19, Report from the Select Committee of the House of Lords on the Electric Lighting Act (1882) Amendment (No. 1) Bill [H.L.]; the Electric Lighting Act (1882) Amendment (No. 2) Bill [H.L.]; Together with the Proceedings of the Committee, Minutes of Evidence, and Appendix, London: […] Henry Hansard and Son, page 208:

     […]; but what is the quo for which they ought to give the quid? you say they ought to give a quid pro quo; what is the quo? […]; the quo there was the taking up of the streets? […]; did not they give you a pretty handsome quid for the quo there?

   • 1993, Richard Edwards, Rights at Work: Employment Relations in the Post-Union Era, Brookings Institution, →ISBN, page 29:

     Quid pro quo benefits are by nature differentially available to individuals, depending upon the quo—upon what promise has been made or performance provided.

   • 2000, Andrew Stark, Conflict of Interest in American Public Life, →ISBN, pages 163–164:

     Indeed, asymmetry precludes the possibility of pointing to any particular quo that is meant to recompense the quid. If an erstwhile case of criminal bribery bleeds into a lesser violation of the prophylactic gift rules as an identifable^[sic] quo moves beyond view, then in similar fashion the quid pro quos we popularly debate descend into tokens of affection and regard as the quos begin to fluctuate wildly in value. If there exists any kind of inequity between quid and quo, then—on this line of argument—the expansive category of “friendship” emerges to account for it, siphoning the situation away from the class of objectionable quid pro quo. The claim officials here make—that for a quid to have a quo there must be some equivalency between the two—draws theoretical sustenance from the objective, exclusionary approach that critics of classical contract law apply to disproportionate exchanges.

   • 2009, George G. Brenkert, Tom L. Beaucham, editors, The Oxford Handbook of Business Ethics, Oxford University Press, page 504:

     Corruption, the Court declared in Buckley v. Valeo, involves a quid pro quo: an officeholder doing something in office in return for money or some other favor provided by another individual or entity (for our purposes, a corporation). The problem, however, is that in principle there can be a quid—the money or favor offered by the business to the official—and a quo—the action taken by the official that benefits the business—without any clear evidence of a pro, that is, that the two are connected. […] The “pro,” the connection between quid and quo, might take place only inside the minds of the official and businessperson concerned. […] What this means is that we cannot use the quo itself as indirect evidence for the pro.

   • 2020, John Yoo, Defender in Chief: Donald Trump’s Fight for Presidential Power, New York, N.Y.: All Points Books, St. Martin’s Publishing Group, →ISBN:

     It is hard to pull off a quid pro quo if the holder of the quo doesn’t know about the quid.

Related terms

• quid pro quo
• quo pro quid
• quo warranto
• status in quo
• status quo ante
• terminus a quo

 

Ido

Etymology

From qua +‎ -o.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kwo/, /kwɔ/

Pronoun

quo (plural qui)

1. (relative pronoun) which

   Esis tre bona kultelo quo me tranchis per. ― It was really good knife which I cut with.

2. (interrogative pronoun) what

   Quo eventis? ― What (thing) happened? (direct question)

   Ka tu povas helpar me decidar quo metar? ― Can you help me to decide what to wear? (indirect question)

Related terms

• qua (“who (person)”)
• qui (“who (plural)”)
• pro quo (“why”)

See also

• ube (“where”)
• kande (“when”)
• quala (“what kind of”)
  • quale (“how”)
• quanta (“how much”)
  • quanto (“quantity”)

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /kʷoː/, [kʷoː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /kwo/, [kwɔː]

Etymology 1

Adverb declined from quī. See also the same meanings in ubī.

Adverb

quō (not comparable)

1. (interrogative) whither, whereto, where

   ex quo ― since when

   Quō vādis, Domine?

   Where are you going, Lord?

   • 27 BCE – 25 BCE, Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita I.35:

     ex quo sui potens fuerit

     as soon as (since when) he was the master of himself

2. (relative / interrogative) To or in which place, whither, where
3. To what end, for what purpose, wherefore, why
4. To the end that, in order that, so that, that

   Multum currit, quō validior fīat.

   He runs a lot to become healthier.

   Quo expeditiore re frumentaria uteretur ― in order that he might make use of the looser supplies of provisions (Caesar, de Bello Gallico, VII, 11)

(This replaces ut when there is a comparative in the subordinate clause of purpose.)

Antonyms

• unde

Derived terms

• quōcumque
• quōminus
• quōquam
• nōn quō
• nē quō
• status quō

Related terms

Latin correlatives ^(edit)

type	demonstrative			anaphoric	identity	interrogative/ relative	indefinite					negative	other
	proximal	medial	distal				relative	indefinite	free choice	universal	negative polarity
basic	hic	iste, istic	ille, illic	is	ipse, īdem	quis/quī	quisquis, quīcumque	quis, quī, quīdam, aliquis, aliquī, quispiam	quīvis, quīlibet	quisque	quisquam, ūllus, °aliquisquam	nēmō, nihil, nūllus	alius
dual						uter	utercumque	alteruter	utervīs, uterlibet	uterque		neuter	alter
place	hīc	istīc	illīc	ibī̆	ibī̆dem	ubī̆	ubiubi, ubī̆cumque	alicubī, uspiam	ubivīs, ubilibet	ubīque	usquam	nusquam, nūllibī	alibī, aliās
source	hinc	istinc	illinc	inde	indidem	unde	undecumque, undeunde	alicunde	°undelibet	undique			aliunde
destination	hūc, °hōrsum	istūc, °istōrsum	illūc, °illōrsum	eō	eōdem	quō, quōrsum	quōquō, quōcumque	aliquō, quōpiam, °aliquōvorsum	quōvīs, quōlibet		quōquam	nusquam, nūllōrsum	aliō, aliōrsum
method, means, path, place	hāc	istāc	illāc	eā	eādem	quā	quāquā, quācumque	aliquā	quāvīs, quālibet	quāque		nēquāquam, haudquāquam	aliā
manner	hōc modō	istō modō	illō modō	ita, sīc, eō modō	item, itidem	ut, quī, quō modō, quōmodo, quemadmodum	utut, utcumque, quōmodocumque	quī, quōdam modō, aliquō modō	quōmodolibet	utīque	ūllō modō	nūllō modō	aliter, aliōquī, alterō/aliō modō
time	num, nunc		ōlim	tum, tunc	simul	quandō, ‡cum	cumque, quandōcumque, quandōque	quondam, aliquandō	quandōlibet	quandōque	umquam	numquam	aliās
quantity				tam	†tamen, †tandem	quam	†quamquam	aliquam	quamvīs, quamlibet
size				tantus	tantusdem	quantus	quantuscumque	aliquantus	quantusvīs, quantuslibet
quality				tālis		quālis	quālis, quāliscumque	aliquālis	quālislibet
number				tot	totidem	quot	quotquot, quotcumque	aliquot	quotlibet
order				totus		quotus	quotuscumque	aliquotus	quotuslibet
repetition				totiēns		quotiēns	quotiēnscumque	aliquotiēns	quotiēnslibet
multiplication				totuplex		quotuplex
† Turned conjunction with original meaning somewhat dissimulated ° Rare ‡only used as a conjunction, not as an interrogative

Etymology 2

Inflection of quī (“who, which”).

Pronoun

quō

1. ablative masculine/neuter singular of quī

Adjective

quō

1. ablative masculine/neuter singular of quī

Etymology 3

Inflection of quis (“who?, what?”).

Pronoun

quō

1. ablative masculine/feminine/neuter singular of quis

References

• “quo”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “quo”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• quo in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • (ambiguous) where are you going: quo tendis?
    
  • (ambiguous) since the time that, since (at the beginning of a sentence): ex quo tempore or simply ex quo
    
  • (ambiguous) Pericles, the greatest man of his day: Pericles, quo nemo tum fuit clarior
    
  • (ambiguous) how are you getting on: quo loco res tuae sunt?
    
  • (ambiguous) from this point of view; similarly: quo in genere
    
  • (ambiguous) by some chance or other: nescio quo casu (with Indic.)
    
  • (ambiguous) to determine the nature and constitution of the subject under discussion: constituere, quid et quale sit, de quo disputetur
    
  • (ambiguous) to bring forward a proof of the immortality of the soul: argumentum afferre, quo animos immortales esse demonstratur
    
  • (ambiguous) it follows from this that..: sequitur (not ex quo seq.) ut
    
  • (ambiguous) it follows from this that..: ex quo, unde, hinc efficitur ut
    
  • (ambiguous) the point at issue: id, de quo agitur or id quod cadit in controversiam
    
  • (ambiguous) to set some one a theme for discussion: ponere alicui, de quo disputet
    
  • (ambiguous) from this it appears, is apparent: ex quo intellegitur or intellegi potest, debet
    
  • (ambiguous) from this it appears, is apparent: ex quo perspicuum est
    

Middle English

Pronoun

quo

1. Alternative form of who (“who”, nominative)

Yola

Verb

quo

1. Alternative form of co
   • 1867, GLOSSARY OF THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY:

     Quo hea; Quo shoo; Quo Ich.

     Saith he; Says she; Say I.

References

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 63