enquiry
/ɪnˈkwaɪə.ɹi/
enquiry is the british form of inquiry.
Meaning of inquiry
Noun
inquiry (countable and uncountable, plural inquiries)
- The act of inquiring; a seeking of information by asking questions; interrogation; a question or questioning.
- Yet in that February there were still some flutters of song, one of which was, Hey for the Lass wi' a Tocher, written in answer to Thomson's beseeching inquiry if he was never to hear from him again.1901, John Morley, editor, English Men of Letters, volume 30
- A search for truth, information, or knowledge; examination of facts or principles; research; investigation; inquest.
- Scientific inquiry
Forms of enquiry
| plural | enquiries |
|---|---|
| alternative form | inquiry |
Origin of enquiry
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.
Words formed from enquiry
Words that rhyme with enquiry
Questions about enquiry
- What is enquiry the british form of?
- Enquiry is the british form of inquiry.
- How do you pronounce enquiry?
- Enquiry is pronounced /ɪnˈkwaɪə.ɹi/ (UK).
Words near enquiry in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: enquiry (page history and authors); inquiry (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.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-uk-enquiry.ogg, EN-AU ck1 enquiry.ogg.
Cite this entry: “enquiry.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/enquiry. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.