queue

The story

1. Latin · derived fromcauda
2. Vulgar Latin · derived fromcōda
3. Old French · derived fromcöe
4. Anglo-Norman · derived fromqueue
5. Middle English · inherited fromqueue
6. English todayqueue

From Middle English queue, quew, qwew, couwe, from Anglo-Norman queue, keu and Old French cöe, cue, coe (“tail”), from Vulgar Latin cōda, from Latin cauda. See also Middle French queu, cueue. Doublet of coda and cola.

Words from the same roots

First known use, by meaning

• from 19th c. A line of people, vehicles or other objects, usually one to be dealt with in sequence (i.e., the one at the front end is dealt with first, the one behind is dealt with next, and so on), and which newcomers join at the opposite end (the back).
• from 20th c. A data structure in which objects are added to one end, called the tail, and removed from the other, called the head (in the case of a FIFO queue). The term can also refer to a LIFO queue or stack where these ends coincide.
• from 16th c. An animal's tail.
• from 18th c. A men's hairstyle with a braid or ponytail at the back of the head, such as that worn by men in Imperial China.