Etymograph

English

quim

Uncertain; perhaps an alteration of queme.

The story

The English Dialect Dictionary has a citation of "quim and cosh" from 1723 which it glosses as "intimate and familiar". Derivation from Welsh cwm (‘hollow’) is sometimes suggested, but the OED notes that this is "unlikely on both semantic and phonological grounds".

Another origin of quim

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʷem-‘to come, go’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kwēmijaz‘convenient, appropriate, pleasing’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*kwāmīreconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150cwēme‘pleasant, pleasing, acceptable, fit’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500queme
  6. Scotsc. 1450–presentqueem‘pleasant, calm, smooth’
  7. Englishtodayquim

Today it means

noun The female genitalia; the vulva.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / quim

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