The Quair Water is a tributary of the River Tweed in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland. Its name is related to Traquair.
The name Quair has a Brittonic etymology.[1] It may be derived from the element *wejr (<*wẹ:drā)[1] meaning "a bend, something curved or twisted" (c.f. Middle Welsh gweir, Welsh gwair, gwŷr; in compounds).[1] The name could also descend from *wẹ:Σ- or *wiΣ, both forms of the root *wei which has a basic sense of "flowing",[1] with the suffix –urā-.[1]
Quair may share an etymology with the rivers Wear and Wyre in Northern England,[1] as well as the river-names preserved in place-names like Troqueer in Kirkcudbrightshire.[1]