quick
Moving fast or doing something in a short time; rapid.
Etymology
From Old English cwic/cwicu meaning "alive, living," from Proto-Germanic *kwikwaz. This traces to PIE *gʷeyh₃- meaning "to live, to be alive." The original meaning was "alive" — the shift to "fast" happened because living things move. "The quick and the dead" preserves the old sense.
The Journey: *gʷeyh₃- → quick
*gʷeyh₃-
*kwikwaz
cwic
quick
Cognates Across Languages
These words in other languages descend from the same PIE root *gʷeyh₃-. They are not borrowings but independent inheritances from a common ancestor.
| Language | Word |
|---|---|
| Greek | bíos (life) |
| Latin | vīvus (alive) |
| Sanskrit | jīvá- (living) |
| Old Irish | beo (alive) |
| Old Norse | kvikr (alive) |
| Lithuanian | gývas (alive) |
Did You Know?
The phrase "the quick and the dead" means "the living and the dead," not "the fast and the dead." The "quick" under your fingernail — the sensitive living flesh — also preserves the original meaning "alive."
This word descends from the Proto-Indo-European root *gʷeyh₃-. See the full root page for descendant trees, sound law references, and scholarly discussion.