Word.ws English Dictionary

enquire

Syllables: en·qui·re/ɛnˈkwaɪə/US/ɛnˈkwaɪɹ/

enquire is the british English form of inquire.

Meaning of inquire

Verb

inquire (third-person singular simple present inquires, present participle inquiring, simple past and past participle inquired)

  1. (Australia, Canada, US, ambitransitive, intransitive) To ask (about something).
    • May I inquire to whom I have the honor of speaking?
  2. (ambitransitive, intransitive) To make an inquiry or an investigation.
    • Police are already inquiring into the incident.
  3. (ambitransitive, obsolete, transitive) To call; to name.
    • Canute had his portion from the rest, The which he cald Canutium, for his hyre, Now Cantium, which Kent we commenly inquire.1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 12

Forms of enquire

third-person singular presentenquires
present participleenquiring
past participleenquired
pastenquired

Origin of enquire

From Old French enquerre, from en- + querre (“to search, to look for”), from Latin quaerere, of uncertain origin, but possibly from Proto-Italic *kʷaizeō, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷeh₂- (“to acquire”).

Words formed from enquire

Words that rhyme with enquire

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about enquire

What is enquire the british English form of?
Enquire is the british English form of inquire.
How do you pronounce enquire?
Enquire is pronounced /ɛnˈkwaɪə/ (UK).

Words near enquire in the dictionary

  1. enquicken
  2. enquickened
  3. enquickening
  4. enquickens
  5. enquirable
  6. enquire
  7. enquire after
  8. enquired
  9. enquired after
  10. enquiree
  11. enquirer

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: enquire (page history and authors); inquire (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-enquire.wav.

Cite this entry: “enquire.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/enquire. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.