quasi

See also: quasi-

English

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin quasi (“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 (not comparable)

1. Resembling or having a likeness to something.
   • 2000, Henry Martyn Robert with Sarah Corbin Robert, Robert's Rules of Order, 10th revised edition, page 522:

     The presiding officer of the assembly does not appoint a chairman of the quasi committee, 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-
• Esperanto: kvazaŭ (eo)
• 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 borrowing from Latin quasi.

Pronunciation

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

Adverb

quasi

1. almost, nearly, quasi

   Synonym: gairebé

Related terms

• quasi-

Further reading

• “quasi” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “quasi”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
• “quasi” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “quasi” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Dutch

Alternative forms

• kwasi (before 1996)

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin quasi (“as if”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkʋaːzi/

• Audio:

  (file)

Adverb

quasi

1. quasi

Synonyms

• alsof

French

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin quasi.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ka.zi/

• Audio:

  (file)

Adverb

quasi

1. almost, nearly

   Synonym: presque

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• quais

German

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin quasi, initially officialese, later spreading into more colloquial registers.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkvaːzi/, [ˈkʋaːzi]

• Audio (Austria):

  (file)

• Audio:

  (file)

Adverb

quasi

1. as it were, so to speak, effectively, essentially; used to mark a description as figurative, simplified or otherwise not to be taken as absolute, but illustrative of an important point

   Synonyms: gewissermaßen, gleichsam, sozusagen

2. as good as, basically, virtually, more or less; used to describe a process or change of state that has not been technically completed, but the remainder is considered minor or a mere formality

   Synonyms: so gut wie, im Prinzip, mehr oder weniger

   Ich bin mit dem Studium quasi fertig.

   I'm as good as done with my degree.

Further reading

• “quasi” in Duden online
• “quasi” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Italian

Etymology

From Latin quasi. The final -i hints towards the word being borrowed or semi-learned, but it's not uncommon for Italian to shift final -e to -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 mio quasi marito

   meet my almost-husband

Conjunction

quasi

1. (with subj.) as if

   Synonym: quasiché

   dà continuamente ordini quasi fosse lui il padrone

   he continually gives orders as if he were the boss

Derived terms

• quasiché
• quasimente
• quasi quasi

Latin

Etymology

Univerbation of quam (“how, as”) +‎ sī (“if”) with clitic shortening of the first vowel and iambic shortening 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

   quasi vērō nesciam! ― as if I don't know!

Descendants

• Old Venetan: 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”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, volume 2: C Q K, page 1428

Further reading

• “quasi”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “quasi”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• quasi in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• quasi in Gaffiot, 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) or animo 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 (not obiter or in 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 said en passant, by the way: dixi quasi praeteriens or in transitu
    

Norman

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin quasi.

Adverb

quasi

1. almost, nearly

Portuguese

Adverb

quasi (not comparable)

1. Pre-reform spelling (used until 1943 in Brazil and 1911 in Portugal) of quase.