mind one's ps and qs
mind one's ps and qs verb: to be very careful to behave correctly.
Verb
mind one's ps and qs (third-person singular simple present minds one's ps and qs, present participle minding one's ps and qs, simple past and past participle minded one's ps and qs)
Forms of mind one's ps and qs
| third-person singular present | minds one's ps and qs |
|---|---|
| present participle | minding one's ps and qs |
| past participle | minded one's ps and qs |
| past | minded one's ps and qs |
| alternative form | mind one's pees and cues |
| alternative form | be on one's pees and cues |
| alternative form | mind one's peas and cues |
| alternative form | be on one's peas and cues |
| alternative form | mind one's pees and kews |
| alternative form | be on one's pees and kews |
| alternative form | mind one's pees and ques |
| alternative form | be on one's pees and ques |
| alternative form | mind one's P's and Q's |
| alternative form | be on one's P's and Q's |
| alternative form | mind one's p's and q's |
| alternative form | be on one's p's and q's |
| alternative form | mind one's Ps and Qs |
| alternative form | be on one's Ps and Qs |
Origin of mind one's ps and qs
Uncertain; OED (3rd edition 2007) says that the origin of the phrase is unknown and states that a common suggestion is that the phrase originates with the distinction of the minuscule letters p and q in either the school-room or the printing-office, but goes on to say that the chronology of the senses argues against this since no such connotation is evident in the earliest quotations. In the early 17th century, however, there is the expression pee and kew in the sense of “highest quality, best possible”. Also recorded as in thy Pee and Kue in 1602. Alternatively folk etymology claims that it comes from the sense that Ps and Qs mean 'Pints and Quarts' which were listed as 'Ps and Qs' before payment. The phrase would then come from minding your alcohol consumption as a result
Questions about mind one's ps and qs
- What does mind one's ps and qs mean?
- Mind one's ps and qs means to be very careful to behave correctly.
- What part of speech is mind one's ps and qs?
- Mind one's ps and qs is a verb.
- What is the past tense of mind one's ps and qs?
- The past tense of mind one's ps and qs is minded one's ps and qs.
Words near mind one's ps and qs in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: mind one's ps and qs (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-mind_one's_p's_and_q's.ogg.
Cite this entry: “mind one's ps and qs.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/mind_one%27s_ps_and_qs. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.