quo
現状
解説 Definition
現状という意味で、ふつう status quo という形で使われます。quo だけで独立して使うことはまれなので、辞書では status quo の一部として覚えるとよいです。
Quo is rarely used alone in standard English; it is chiefly encountered in the fixed noun phrase status quo, meaning the existing condition or present arrangement of a situation.
覚え方のコツ Memory Tip
quo は単独語として覚えるより、status quo「現状」という固定句で定着させましょう。ラテン語由来の status「状態」と quo「その状態に」の組み合わせを、「今ある状態のまま」と捉えます。keep、maintain、change、challenge the status quo という典型的な動詞との組み合わせで覚えると実用的です。
Learn quo as an inseparable part of status quo rather than as an ordinary independent noun. The phrase refers to the condition that currently exists, so imagine a workplace where everyone wants to keep the present arrangement unchanged. Attach it to common verbs: keep or maintain the status quo means preserve it, while change or challenge the status quo means oppose the existing way of doing things. This phrase-based approach reflects real English usage and prevents the mistaken impression that quo normally means “the present situation” by itself.
例文
Many people wanted to keep the status quo.
多くの人が現状を維持したいと思っていました。
The manager said the status quo was no longer working.
管理者は、現状はもううまくいっていないと言いました。
Changing the status quo can be difficult.
現状を変えるのは難しいことがあります。
quo の類義語・関連語
quo の語源・成り立ち Etymology
quo はラテン語 quō「どこへ、どの状態へ」に由来し、英語では主に status quo という句の中で定着しました。「その状態において」という感覚が残るため、quo だけで「現状」を指す省略にもなります。遠い同語根には who, what があります。
Quo comes from Latin quō, an adverb and relative form meaning “where,” “to which,” or, in the phrase concerned, “in which.” English borrowed it chiefly through the Latin expression in statu quo, “in the state in which,” later shortened to status quo. Its independent use in modern English is rare; its familiar meaning depends on this established phrase. The form belongs to an ancient Indo-European interrogative and relative family also represented distantly by English who and what.
同じレベルの英単語をもっと
外部辞書で調べる
この単語を英単語クイズで覚えよう