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HOW TO PRONOUNCE

queue

/kju/

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American Pronunciation Guide · 1:13
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One syllable: the sound of “cue.”

It sounds like cue: k, a y-like glide, and the oo of too, all in one syllable.

TRY SAYING
Join the queue.

APG practice sentence · CC BY-SA 4.0

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0

What does queue mean?

noun

  1. 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).
  2. A waiting list or other means of organizing people or objects into a first-come-first-served order.
  3. 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.
More meanings (7)

noun

  1. An animal's tail.
  2. (historical) A men's hairstyle with a braid or ponytail at the back of the head, such as that worn by men in Imperial China.

verb

  1. To put oneself or itself at the end of a waiting line.
  2. To arrange themselves into a physical waiting queue.
  3. To add to a queue data structure.
  4. To fasten the hair into a queue.
  5. To matchmake.

Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0

IPA pronunciation

/kju/

Pronunciation used in the listening tip.

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0

Pronunciation varies by speaker and region. About these dictionary pronunciations.

In the pages of books

See this word in context.

He was a simple soul, small and capable, of a beautiful red-brown, with his hair done up in a tight, short queue.
Stewart Edward WhiteThe Land of FootprintsProject Gutenberg ebook #1378
Smith, by some contortion, got the false queue into my grasp, and I, with the strength of desperation, by that means seized hold upon the lowest rung.
Sax RohmerThe Insidious Dr. Fu ManchuProject Gutenberg ebook #173
More book examples (3)
Her gown was a light cotton print, and from the back of her head a kind of rope could be seen descending to some distance below her waist, like a Chinaman’s queue.
Thomas HardyTess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure WomanProject Gutenberg ebook #110
Why we should so admire “a woman’s crown of hair” and not admire a Chinaman’s queue is hard to explain, except that we are so convinced that the long hair “belongs” to a woman.
Charlotte Perkins GilmanHerlandProject Gutenberg ebook #32
The respect and preservation of the Chinese queue is well known in the present day.
George M. (George Milbrey) Gould; Walter L. (Walter Lytle) PyleAnomalies and Curiosities of MedicineProject Gutenberg ebook #747