Other forms: requested, requests, requesting
A request is a polite asking for something. Make a request, at his request, request permission.
It is softer than a demand and firmer than a hint, and the politeness is part of the definition. On request means when asked for. In computing, a request is a message asking a server for something, which is the basis of how the web works. Note require, from the same Latin.
1nounrequestA polite asking for something.
“The hotel staff were happy to meet our request for a quiet room.”
2verbaskTo ask for something politely.
“Passengers are requested to keep their bags with them at all times.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
request is an asking.
Old French requeste comes from Latin requirere, to ask or seek. Require, quest and question come from the same seeking.
Proto-Indo-European
*kʷeh₂- — to acquire
Proto-Italic
*kʷaizeō
Latin
requīsīta
Vulgar Latin
*requaesita
Old French
requeste
Middle English
request
English, today
request
Built from
From Middle English request, from Old French requeste (French requête), from Vulgar Latin requaesita, from Latin requīsīta, feminine of requīsītus (“requested, demanded”), past participle of requīrō (“require, ask”), composed of re- + quaerō (“to seek, look for”), of uncertain origin, but possibly from Proto-Italic kʷaizeō, from Proto-Indo-European kʷeh₂- (“to acquire”). Compare to French requérir.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA