What does cue mean?
A cue is fundamentally a signal — a sign that tells someone it is time to act, speak, or respond. Its most familiar home is the theatre and broadcast studio, where performers wait on cues before delivering lines or making entrances, but the word extends naturally into everyday life: we take our cue from other people's behaviour, follow visual cues when navigating, and respond to social cues in conversation. Separately, cue names the tapered wooden stick used to strike balls in billiards, snooker, and pool. As a verb, to cue means to give such a signal, as when a conductor cues an orchestra section. The word carries a professional, slightly technical flavour in performance contexts but is entirely at home in ordinary speech. Its homophone 'queue' makes spelling errors common, so careful writers distinguish the prompt (cue) from the waiting line (queue).
A signal or prompt telling someone when to speak or act, especially in a performance; a hint or guiding example; also the stick used to strike the ball in billiards and snooker.
"Waiting in the wings, she missed her cue and the scene faltered."
In the figurative phrase 'take your cue from someone', the word means a model or example to follow rather than a timed signal.
To give someone a signal or prompt to act; in audio and broadcasting, to prepare a recording so it is ready to play at the right moment.
"The director cued the lighting change with a sharp hand gesture."
Regular plural; used for signals/prompts and for billiards sticks alike.
"The script margins were crowded with handwritten cues."
The word 'cue' began life as a single letter — 'Q' — written in actors' scripts as shorthand for the Latin quando, meaning 'when'.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of cue
Cue originated as theatrical shorthand: the letter 'Q', an abbreviation of the Latin quando ('when'), was written in play scripts to mark where one actor's line prompted another's. By the early 18th century this abbreviation had been respelled as the full word 'cue' in English. The billiards sense arose separately, first recorded in the late 18th century, apparently from the French 'queue' meaning 'tail', describing the stick's shape — which explains why the two senses share a spelling despite different origins.
Related word forms
How cue is actually used
Both 'cue' and 'cueing' are accepted spellings of the verb form, though 'cueing' helps avoid confusion with 'cuing' being misread; 'cued' is standard for the past tense. In British English, 'cue up' often means to prepare a record, tape, or track for playing.
Easily confused with cue
A queue is a line of people or things waiting, while a cue is a signal prompting action (or the stick used in billiards); both are pronounced identically.
A clue is a piece of evidence helping solve a problem, whereas a cue is a signal telling someone when to act.