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enquiry

UK/ɪnˈkwaɪə.ɹi/
nounB2+Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #13,039 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: enquiries

An enquiry is a question asked, or an official investigation. A general enquiry, a public enquiry, make an enquiry.

Britain tends to use enquiry for a question and inquiry for a formal investigation, though the split is not strict and America uses inquiry for both. Enquiries is also the sign over a desk.

Definitions of enquiry

  1. 1nounenquiryA question asked, or an official investigation.B2+

    “Thank you for your enquiry; we will reply within two working days.”

enquiry is a question.

Also accepted in games: inquiry

Where it comes from

Old French enquerre comes from Latin inquirere, from in plus quaerere, to seek.

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *kʷeh₂- — to acquire

  2. Proto-Italic

    *kʷaizeō

  3. Latin

    inquīrō

  4. Middle English

    enquery

  5. English, today

    enquiry

Built from

  • in- · Latin — in, at, on; into
  • quaerō · Latin — to seek, look for

From Middle English enquery, from the Old French - verb enquerre, from Latin inquīrō, composed of in- (“in, at, on; into”) + quaerō (“to seek, look for”), of uncertain origin, but possibly from Proto-Italic kʷaizeō, from Proto-Indo-European kʷeh₂- (“to acquire”). The alternative form inquiry was subsequently respelled to conform to the original Latin spelling, as opposed to the Old French spelling.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

enquiry in the wild

  • In computer communications, enquiry is a transmission-control character that requests a response from the receiving station with which a connection has been set up.

    Enquiry character

  • The 5-bit ITA2 has an enquiry character, as do the later ASCII and EBCDIC.

    Enquiry character

  • Inquiry-based learning (also spelled as enquiry-based learning in British English) is a form of active learning that starts by posing questions, problems or scenarios.

    Inquiry-based learning

  • An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals (EPM) is the enquiry subsequent to the Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (EHU).

    An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the quaerō family

requestquest

enquiry — used about once every 18,318 pages · #13,039 · point at the bar for the others