Other forms: inquiries
An inquiry is an official investigation. A public inquiry, an inquiry was set up, the inquiry reported.
In Britain a public inquiry is a formal process with legal powers, and the big ones run for years. The other sense is simply a question or request for information: an inquiry about the job, general inquiries. Note the spelling: British English uses inquiry for the official investigation and enquiry for the question, though the distinction is not observed consistently; American English uses inquiry for both.
1nouninquiryAn official investigation.
“The government set up an inquiry into the causes of the fire.”
2nounquestionA question or request for information.
“There were about two hundred inquiries in the first week.”
inquiry is an investigation or question.
Latin inquirere means to search into — in- plus quaerere, to seek. Query, question, quest and require all come from quaerere, so an inquiry is a formal seeking.
Proto-Indo-European
*kʷeh₂- — to acquire
Proto-Italic
*kʷaizeō
Latin
inquīrō
Middle English
enquery
English, today
inquiry
Built from
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”). Later respelled to conform to the original Latin spelling, as opposed to the Old French spelling.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA