Other forms: answers, answered, answering
An answer is what you give back when someone asks you something. Your name when a stranger asks for it, a yes or a no down the phone, the number you write in the little box on a maths test.
Answer is a verb as much as a noun: you answer a question, answer the phone, answer the door, answer an email. It also means the solution to a problem — there is no easy answer to homelessness — and in a test the answer is the correct one, whether or not anybody said it aloud. Two everyday phrases pull it further: answer to someone means they are your boss, and answer for something means you take the blame for it. A child who answers back is being cheeky, not helpful. And to take no for an answer is to accept a refusal, which is why people say she would not take no for an answer.
1nounanswerSomething said, written or done in reply to a question, a letter or a call.~54%
“Her answer was short and left no room for argument.”
2nounsolutionThe solution to a problem or a puzzle.~19%
“The answers are printed upside down at the back of the book.”
synonyms: solution
3verbwriteTo say or write something in reply.~15%
“Nobody answered when he knocked, so he left the parcel by the door.”
4verbpickTo pick up a ringing phone or open a door when someone calls.~10%
“Answer the phone, it has been ringing for a full minute.”
5verbaccountableTo be accountable to a person, or responsible for a thing.~2%
“He answers to the head of finance, and one day he will answer for the missing money.”
Shares are an estimate: a language model read 20 sentences found in the wild and placed 20 of them on a sense — a count of our sample, not a measurement of English.
answer is a reply.
Also accepted in games: reply
Answer started life in court. Old English andswaru joined and-, from an ancient root for the front or forehead, to a word tied to swerian, to swear. The original sense it points to is a sworn statement rebutting a charge — what you said on oath when someone accused you. Middle English wore it down to answere, the oath fell away, and what is left is the word you use to reply to a text.
Proto-Indo-European
*h₂ent-
Middle English
answere
English, today
answer
From Middle English answere. From Middle English answere, andsware, from Old English andswaru (“answer”), from and- + swaru, (from Proto-Indo-European h₂ent- (“front, forehead”) and Old English swerian (“to swear”), from Proto-Indo-European swer-), suggesting an original meaning of "a sworn statement rebutting a charge". The cognates suggest the existence of Proto-Germanic andaswarō (“a reply to a question”). Cognate with Old Frisian ondser (“answer”), Old Saxon andswōr (“answer”), Danish - and Swedish ansvar (“liability, responsibility, answer”), Icelandic andsvar (“answer, response”). Compare also Old English andwyrde (“answer”) (cognate to Dutch antwoord, German Antwort), Old English andcwiss (“reply”), German Schwur (“oath, vow”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA