What it Means. MQ is an Italian abbreviation that stands for metro quadrato, and translates as square meter. It is used to denote measurements of area. Similarly, the unit symbol cmq is square centimeters and kmq is square kilometers.ince then, it has seen many changes, and has been widely adopted as the standard system of measure by most of the developed world. Since the system is used in many countries and languages, occasionally non-standard symbols are used. MQ is such a symbol.