quasi

See also:quasi-

English

Etymology

Learned borrowingfromLatinquasi(“as if”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):/kwɑːzi/,/kwɑːsi/,/ˈkweɪ.zaɪ/,/ˈkweɪ.saɪ/

• Audio(Southern England):

  (file)

• Audio(Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes:-ɑːzi
• Homophone:quasi-

Adjective

quasi(notcomparable)

1. Resemblingor having alikenessto something.
   • 2000,Henry Martyn Robertwith Sarah Corbin Robert,Robert's Rules of Order,10th revised edition, page522:

     The presiding officer of the assembly does not appoint a chairman of thequasicommittee, but remains in the chair himself throughout its proceedings.

Derived terms

• quasi-

• quasi corporation
• quasi partner

Translations

showing likeness

• Bulgarian:почти(bg)(počti),полу(polu)
• Dutch:quasi-
• Georgian:კვაზი(ḳvazi),თითქოს(titkos),ვაი(vai),თითქმის(titkmis)
• German:quasi(de)
• Greek:οιονεί(el)(oioneí)
• Italian:quasi(it)
• Norwegian:kvasi-(no)
• Spanish:cuasi

Catalan

Etymology

Learned borrowingfromLatinquasi.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):(Central,Balearic,Valencia)[ˈkwa.zi]

Adverb

quasi

1. almost,nearly,quasi

   Synonym:gairebé

Related terms

• quasi-

Further reading

• “quasi”inDiccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició,Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “quasi”,inGran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana,Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana,2024
• “quasi”inDiccionari normatiu valencià,Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “quasi”inDiccionari català-valencià-balear,Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Dutch

Alternative forms

• kwasi(before 1996)

Etymology

Learned borrowingfromLatinquasi(“as if”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):/ˈkʋaːzi/

• Audio:

  (file)

Adverb

quasi

1. quasi

Synonyms

• alsof

French

Etymology

Learned borrowingfromLatinquasi.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):/ka.zi/

• Audio:

  (file)

Adverb

quasi

1. almost,nearly

   Synonym:presque

Further reading

• “quasi”,inTrésor de la langue française informatisé[Digitized Treasury of the French Language],2012.

Anagrams

• quais

German

Etymology

Learned borrowingfromLatinquasi.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):/ˈkvaːzi/,[ˈkʋaːzi]

• Audio(Austria):

  (file)

• Audio:

  (file)

Adverb

quasi

1. as it were,so to speak,effectively,essentially

   Synonyms:gewissermaßen,gleichsam,sozusagen

Further reading

• “quasi”inDudenonline
• “quasi”inDigitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Italian

Etymology

FromLatinquasi.The final-ihints towards the word being borrowed or semi-learned, but it's not uncommon for Italian to shift final-eto-i(cf.avanti,dieci,tardi,etc.).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):/ˈkwa.zi/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes:-azi
• Hyphenation:quà‧si

Adverb

quasi

1. almost,nearly

   Synonyms:circa,poco meno che,pressoché,per poco non

Adjective

quasi(invariable)

1. almost

   ti presento il mioquasimarito

   meet myalmost-husband

Conjunction

quasi

1. (withsubj.)as if

   Synonym:quasiché

   dà continuamente ordiniquasifosse lui il padrone

   he continually gives ordersas ifhe were the boss

Derived terms

• quasiché
• quasimente
• quasi quasi

Latin

Etymology

Univerbationofquam(“how, as”)+‎sī(“if”)withcliticshortening of the first vowel andiambicshortening of the second.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin)IPA^(key):/ˈkʷa.si/,[ˈkʷäs̠ɪ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical)IPA^(key):/ˈkwa.si/,[ˈkwäːs̬i]
• Note: still found with the long final syllable in Lucretius, and again in late Latin poets.

Conjunction

quasi

1. (almost)as if,like

   Synonyms:ceu,(perinde)ac sī,tanquam,velut,ut,sīcut

   quasivērō nesciam!―as ifI don't know!

Descendants

• Old Venetian:asques(Trevignano),squasio
• Old Lombard:quaxe
• Old Occitan:quaisses,cais
• Old Catalan:quaix
• Old Galician-Portuguese:acais
• Sicilian:quasi,squasi
• →Asturian:cuasi
• →Dutch:quasi
• →English:quasi
• →Esperanto:kvazaŭ
• →French:quasi
• →Galician:case
• →German:quasi
• →?Italian:quasi
• →Portuguese:quase
• →Romanian:quasi,Romanian:cvasi
• →Spanish:casi

References

• Walther von Wartburg(1928–2002) “quasi”, inFranzösisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch,volume2: C Q K,page1428

Further reading

• “quasi”,inCharlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879)A Latin Dictionary,Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “quasi”,inCharlton T. Lewis (1891)An Elementary Latin Dictionary,New York: Harper & Brothers
• quasiin Charles du Fresne du Cange’sGlossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis(augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• quasiinGaffiot, Félix (1934)Dictionnaire illustré latin-français,Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894)Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1],London:Macmillan and Co.
  • to obscure the mental vision:mentis quasi luminibus officere(vid.sect. XIII. 6) oranimo caliginem offundere
    
  • to represent a thing dramatically:sic exponere aliquid, quasi agatur res (non quasi narretur)
    
  • to make a cursory mention of a thing; to mention by the way (notobiterorin transcursu):quasi praeteriens, in transitu attingere aliquid
    
  • belief in God is part of every one's nature:omnibus innatum est et in animo quasi insculptum esse deum
    
  • I saiden passant,by the way:dixi quasi praeteriensorin transitu
    

Norman

Etymology

Learned borrowingfromLatinquasi.

Adverb

quasi

1. almost,nearly

Portuguese

Adverb

quasi(notcomparable)

1. Obsoletespelling ofquase.