qua
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\n \n Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 18, 2024 is:\n \n
\n \n\n qua • \\KWAH\\ • preposition
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Qua is a preposition used in formal speech or writing that means \u201cin the capacity or character of (someone or something).\u201d It is used synonymously with as to indicate that someone or something is being referred to or thought about in a particular way.
\n\n// The artist qua artist is less interesting to me than the artist as a human being.
\n\n\n \n \n\n Examples:
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\u201cHe [Charlie Chaplin] financed his own films; he wrote them; he took music credit; he even choreographed. Most of the cast and crew were on his payroll. He even co-owned his distribution company. The box-office take went straight into his pocket. He was not beholden to anyone, but he was not indispensable, either. Losing the Chaplin studio had a negligible impact on the movie business qua business.\u201d \u2014 Louis Menand, The New Yorker, 13 Nov. 2023
\n \n \n\n Did you know?
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A preposition is a word\u2014and almost always a very small, very common word\u2014that shows direction (to in \u201ca letter to you\u201d), location (at in \u201cat the door\u201d), or time (by in \u201cby noon\u201d), or that introduces an object (of in \u201ca basket of apples\u201d) or a capacity or role (as in \u201cworks as an editor\u201d). As such, prepositions tend not to attract as much attention as other parts of speech (unless there is some foofaraw about whether or not it\u2019s okay to end a sentence with one). Qua, however, though very small is not very common\u2014at least in everyday speech or writing. As one 20th-century usage writer commented, \u201cQua is sometimes thought affected or pretentious, but it does convey meaning economically.\u201d Qua\u2019s meaning is quite specific\u2014it can substitute for the phrase \u201cin the capacity or character of\u201d or the preposition as in the right context, as in \u201cthey wanted to enjoy the wine qua wine, not as a status symbol.\u201d
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