French word qui comes from Proto-Indo-European *kʷ-, Proto-Indo-European *kʷís, and later Proto-Italic *kʷis (Who, what (interrogative).)
| Dictionary entry | Language | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| *kʷ- | Proto-Indo-European (ine) | |
| *kʷís | Proto-Indo-European (ine) | Who, what (interrogative). Who, which, that (relative) Which, what. |
| *kʷey | Proto-Indo-European (ine) | |
| *kʷis | Proto-Italic (itc-pro) | Who, what (interrogative). |
| *kʷoi | Proto-Italic (itc-pro) | Who, what (relative, indefinite). |
| quei | Old Latin (itc-ola) | (relative) who, what, that, which (interrogative) who, what, that, which. |
| qui | Latin (lat) | (interrogative) who, what, which (relative) who, that, which. |
| ki | Old French (fro) | |
| qui | Middle French (frm) | Which (when referring to a non-human). Who. |
| qui | French (fr) | (interrogative) who, whom. (relative) who, whom (after a preposition), which, that. |