Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The vulva.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun vulgar, slang The female genitalia; the vulva.
  • adjective Ulster affectedly nice, prim
  • adjective Ulster moving with ease and precision

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Perhaps akin to Scots quim (in quim and cosh, on intimate terms), variant of queem, snug, fitting exactly, from Middle English queme, pleasing, from Old English gecwēme; see gwā- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Origin uncertain; perhaps an alteration of queem. Compare also quaint, cunt. Derivation from Welsh cwm ("hollow") is sometimes suggested, but the OED notes that this is "unlikely on both semantic and phonological grounds".

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Scots queem.

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Examples

Comments

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  • "Archie here cannot tell ass from quim." --the duke of Argyle, in "Rob Roy" (the movie)

    October 17, 2007

  • When I was a kid, I thought the Dylan song went "Quim the Eskimo," rather than "Quinn". Oops.

    Oh, that belongs on Misunderstood Lyrics.

    October 17, 2007

  • Wow! That changes the whole song, doesn't it?! *sniggers*

    Ooh, don't forget the earworm page. Since you mentioned that song...

    October 17, 2007

  • Eek!!!!

    October 18, 2007

  • Love playing this word in Scrabble...took a Scotsman to know it was a vulgarity. Bless him, I love him :)

    June 28, 2008

  • Spoken, uncensored, in the 2012 movie The Avengers, causing the English and Anglophiles in the audience at our viewing to question the film’s MPAA rating.

    March 2, 2013