queer

Meaning

Adj

1. (dated) Strange, odd, or different; whimsical.
2. (British, dated, informal) Slightly unwell.
3. (British, dated, slang) Drunk.
4. (colloquial, derogatory, sometimes) Homosexual.
5. (colloquial, derogatory, sometimes) Non-heterosexual or non-cisgender: homosexual, bisexual, asexual, transgender, etc.
6. (broadly) Pertaining to sexual or gender behaviour or identity which does not conform to conventional heterosexual or cisgender norms, assumptions etc.

Noun

1. (colloquial, derogatory, sometimes) A person who is or appears homosexual, or who has homosexual qualities.
2. (colloquial, derogatory, sometimes) A person of any non-heterosexual sexuality or sexual identity.
3. (colloquial, derogatory, sometimes) A person of any genderqueer identity.
4. (archaic, informal, with-definite-article) Counterfeit money.

Verb

1. (dated, transitive) To render an endeavor or agreement ineffective or null.
2. (UK, dated, dialectal) To puzzle.
3. (dated, slang) To ridicule; to banter; to rally.
4. (dated, slang) To spoil the effect or success of, as by ridicule; to throw a wet blanket on; to spoil.
5. To reevaluate or reinterpret (a work) with an eye to sexual orientation and/or to gender, as by applying queer theory.
6. (neologism, slang) To make a work more appealing or attractive to LGBT people, such as by not having strict genders for playable characters.

Adv

1. (not-comparable, usually) Queerly.
2. (Ireland, not-comparable, usually) Very, extremely.

Synonyms

strange

odd

weird

peculiar

eccentric

bizarre

curious

fairy

🧚

gay

quaint

unusual

fag

faggot

funny

😄

homosexual

poof

fagot

abnormal

pansy

uncommon

queen

👸

fantastic

homo

poofter

cross

extraordinary

rum

thwart

spoil

bilk

suspicious

be strange

frustrate

baffle

foil

grotesque

scotch

pederast

outlandish

nancy boy

unconventional

singular

raver

pleasure

peril

particular

nancy

expose

comical

poove

Translations

strano

sonderbar

raro

vreemd

seltsam

estranho

bizarre

extraño

étrange

wunderlich

estrany

👽

wonderlijk

singular

eigenaardig

finocchio

Pronounced as (IPA)

/kwɪɹ/

Etymology

Cognate with German: quer

Cognate with Latin: torqueō

In summary

Attested since about 1510, at first in Scots. Usually taken to be from Middle Low German (Brunswick dialect) queer (“oblique, off-center”) or the related German quer (“diagonal”), from Old Saxon thwerh, from Proto-West Germanic *þwerh, from Proto-Germanic *þwerhaz, from Proto-Indo-European *terkʷ- (“to turn, twist, wind”); compare Latin torqueō, and see more at thwart. The OED argues against this due to the semantic differences and the date at which the word appears in Scots.
Began to be used to describe gay people in the late 1800s, see usage notes for more.