Quick

Quick is a common English adjective and adverb describing speed, immediacy, or liveliness. In contemporary usage, quick most often means moving or happening with little delay: a quick response, a quick tour, a quick decision. It can also describe someone who is alert or mentally agile, as in quick reflexes or quick-witted. In informal speech, quick is frequently used as an adverb (go quick), although in formal writing quickly is preferred. The word also appears in phrases that emphasize vitality or intensity, such as quick thinking or a quick rise to fame. In older or religious contexts, quick can mean alive or living, as in the expression “the quick and the dead.”

Etymology and development: Quick derives from Old English cwic, meaning alive or living, which itself comes from Proto-Germanic roots. The sense related to life and vitality gradually broadened to include speed and promptness in Early Modern English. The archaic sense survives in fixed expressions and in certain compounds, such as quicksilver (mercury, literally “living silver”) and quickening (the act of becoming alive or increasing in pace).

Usage notes and related terms: Quick is more common in everyday language and informal contexts; in formal writing, quickly or rapidly is often preferred for adverbs. As a verb, quicken means to make alive or to hasten, and appears in phrases like quicken the pace or quicken one’s memory. Related terms include quick-witted, quicksand (from the notion of a substance that seems to move like something alive), and the traditional idiom the quick and the dead. The word remains versatile in both literal and figurative uses.