LingoflyQ q — qi
«qi» is a consonant of the Uzbek script, read as “a deep k from the throat”. A k made further back: tongue tip down, the back of the tongue closes against the soft palate — a k said from the throat. For example, in the word “qozon” — cauldron. The Uzbek alphabet has 29 letters in total. It tells words apart: qozon is "cauldron", koza is already something else. Ordinary k carries its own share of words — but where q is written, that is the one you hear.
In short
| Character | Q q |
| Name | qi |
| Sound | a deep k from the throat |
| What it is | a consonant |
In our course the character comes 16th of 30: the order here is not alphabetical but from familiar to unfamiliar, its neighbours in the course are p and r, appears in roughly every fifth word on this site.
How it sounds
A k made further back: tongue tip down, the back of the tongue closes against the soft palate — a k said from the throat.
The character in a word
A lone character is hard to remember: memory holds on to meaning, and a letter has none. The word it stands in provides that anchor.
- cauldron
The character in the “q, x, h, j — consonants with a sound of their own” group
Four sounds whose Latin letters do not mean what you expect. q is a k made deeper in the throat. x is the kh of "Bach". h is pure breath, an h with no rasp. j is always the j of "jam". They tell words apart and must not be swapped. qosh is "eyebrow", xosh is nothing. jon is "soul", zhon is not the word.
Words with this character
How to remember this character
A single letter is the hardest thing to remember: memory has nothing to hold on to — a character has no meaning. A three-step loop works: see the character, try to recall the sound (for «qi» it is “a deep k from the throat”, as in the word “qozon”), see the right answer.
And come back to it the next day, not in an hour: a check a day or two later beats a check the same day. Nobody holds the whole alphabet — 29 letters — at once.
- It is better to test yourself the next day than at the end of the same session. That is why a word comes back to you tomorrow.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · g = 0.82 when tested a day or two later, against 0.56 on the same day.
- Studying a little every day gets more into your head than spending the same total time in one sitting.checked many timesDonovan & Radosevich, 1999, Journal of Applied Psychology 84(5) · 63 studies compared, difference d = 0.46 — a sizeable figure for a learning effect.
Frequently asked
How does the Uzbek character q read?
As “a deep k from the throat” — it is a consonant of the Uzbek script. A k made further back: tongue tip down, the back of the tongue closes against the soft palate — a k said from the throat. For example, in the word “qozon” — cauldron.
What is the letter q called?
Qi. A character's name and its sound are different things in the Uzbek script: it is called “qi” and reads as “a deep k from the throat”. Learn the second one: the name only helps when the alphabet is recited aloud.