Etymograph

English

cue

Cue comes from Latin cum ‘with, along with’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱóm1‘next to, at, with, along’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*kom1‘with, along, at’reconstructed
  3. Old Latinc. 700–75 BCEcom1
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcum2as cū‘with, along with’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500cu2
  6. Englishearliest quotation 2008cue2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin cum
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English cue
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2008, John Clark Pratt, Vietnam Voices: Perspectives on the War Years: “My name is Quinn," said Quinn. "Cue-you-eye-en-en.”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱómWiktionary, Latin cum‘next to, at, with, along’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*komWiktionary, Latin cum‘with, along, at’reconstructed
  3. Old Latinc. 700–75 BCEcomWiktionary, Latin cum
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcumWiktionary, English cueas cū‘with, along with’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500cuWiktionary, English cue
  6. Englishearliest quotation 2008cueWiktionary, English cue. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2008, John Clark Pratt, Vietnam Voices: Perspectives on the War Years: “My name is Quinn," said Quinn. "Cue-you-eye-en-en.”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm ‘next to, at, with, along’

among, gain, consideration, comply, hind, likeness, kata, limbed, 31 more

through Proto-Italic *kom ‘with, along, at’

conference, consider, competition, counter, consistent, concrete, con, commodity, compulsory, contra, compel, concierge, connotation, condiment, condescend, 15 more

through Latin cum ‘with, along with’

cum, 1 more

Another origin of cue

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEquandō‘when’
  2. Englishtodaycue

Another origin of cue

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*keh₂u-d-eh₂‘cleaved, separate’uncertain
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*kaudā‘tail’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcauda‘tail’
  4. Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CEcōdavariant of cauda
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400cue
  6. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600queu
  7. Frenchc. 1600–presentqueue‘tail’
  8. Englishtodaycue

Today it means

noun The name of the Latin script letter Q/q.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “cue”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin cum. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm / cue

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