Q Words Without U

More About Q Words Without U

There you are, coming up on the end of your Scrabble® game. Only a few letters remain in the tile bag. You’ve got a Q tile burning a hole in your letter rack and no U to go with it. What can you do? The good news is that you can indeed play Q words without U. The bad news is that they’re probably not part of your everyday vocabulary.

The Power of QI

Let’s start with the easiest and most popular option. Is QI a Scrabble® word? Absolutely! It’s worth a cool 11 points. More importantly, since QI is just two letters long, it’s one of the shortest words with Q and no U that you can play. 

You may have seen the same word written as chi, referring to the vital circulating life force on which Chinese philosophy and medicine are largely based. Of course, chi isn’t quite as useful as qi when you need Q words without U.

Short Words With Q and No U

Other short Q words without U to keep in mind are QAT, QIS and LOQ. 

• QAT, an alternative spelling of khat, refers to the leaves of the Catha edulis shrub. People chew them like tobacco or brew them like tea for a euphoric effect. It’s illegal in China.

• QIS is simply the plural form of QI. 

• LOQ is short for the Latin term loquitur, meaning “he/she speaks” as a stage direction

While you don’t need to know their definitions to play these Q words without U, it helps to know what they mean when playing the regular board game. If your opponent challenges you, you can explain with confidence that you know their meaning. 

If you’re playing Words With Friends®, the more lenient in-game dictionary allows for more 3 letter words with Q and no U. These include SEQ and ESQ, among others.

The Wonderful World of Q Words Without U

Sure, it might not seem that hard to come up with a quick quotation or colloquialism where you’ve got both Q and U, but finding Q words without U can prove much more challenging. That’s because most entries in this word list are borrowed from other languages. Thus, when exploring words containing Q not followed by U, it’s important to broaden your horizons and cross borders, both figuratively and literally.

Take QAID, for example. It’s an alternative spelling for the word caid, which is in turn a shorter form of the word alcaide. That’s a local governor, especially in North Africa. From certain Islamic countries, we get words like QADI (a civil judge) and NIQAB (a traditional veil worn by Muslim women). 

And then you’ve got QOPH, the 19th letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Similarly, there’s SHEQEL, an alternate spelling of SHEKEL, referring to the basic monetary unit of ancient and modern Israel. Colloquially, it’s money in general. You can pluralize most of these words too, forming words like NIQABS and QOPHS. 

Long Q Words and Bingo Bonuses

Dare to go even longer? If you have the opportunity to build on a letter that’s already on your game board, you can indeed play 8 letter words with Q and no U. This is truly rarified air. MBAQANGA is the most lucrative of the bunch at 26 points in Words With Friends® and 22 points in Scrabble®. 

Combine the bingo bonus—35 points in Words With Friends® and 50 points in Scrabble®—with a bonus square or two, and you’ll certainly want to celebrate with this popular South African dance music. Talk about busting a move! QINDARKA and SHEQALIM are right on the money for some rich Q words without U too.