Q No QU

This post ref­er­ences Q No QU (22).  This list includes all accept­able Scrabble words that con­tain a Q, but no a QU com­bi­na­tion.  For exam­ple, the word QIVIUT is included on the list because it includes a Q, and although it also includes a U, the U does imme­di­ately fol­low the Q.  The same is true for SUQ, UMIAQ, BUQSHA.

Although the addi­tion of the word QI in the OSPD4 made play­ing the Q eas­ier (and get­ting stuck with the Q in you rack at the end of the game less likely), know­ing these unusual Q words is still valuable.

Although there are 22 words on the list, there are tech­ni­cally 42 words that con­tain a Q but no QU com­bi­na­tion if you include plu­rals (20 of the 22 words on the list take an S – the excep­tions are QINDARKA and SHEQALIM, which are plural forms of QINDAR and SHEQEL, respec­tively).  Note that QINDAR takes either an S (QINDARS) or an KA (QINDARKA) in its plural form, and SHEQEL takes either an S (SHEQELS) or an IM (SHEQELIM) in its plural form.  This can be par­tic­u­larly handy if QINDAR or SHEQEL is played by your oppo­nent and you hap­pen to have KA or IM on your rack.

A good per­cent­age of these words have mul­ti­ple spellings: QAT/KAT, SUQ/SOUK/SOOK, etc.  QADI and QAID are prac­ti­cally vari­ants of each other (a Muslim judge ver­sus a Muslim leader) and both can be spelled with a C (CADI, CAID). QADI and also be spelled with a K (KADI), although QAID can’t.  Here is a list of vari­ants (which may or may not be complete:

QAT — KAT
SUQ — SOOK, SOUK, SUK
QADI — CADI, KADI
QAID — CAID
QOPH — KOPH
BURQA — BURKA
FAQIR — FAKIR
TRANQ — TRANK
UMIAQ — UMIAK
QABALA — CABALA, KABALA, QABALAH
QINDAR — QINTAR
SHEQEL — SHEKEL

Other vari­ants, any­one (this is why this is a blog)?

Note that none of these words take any front hooks.

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