inquiry
Pluralinquiries
- 1The act of seeking information by asking questions, including a single question or an act of questioning.
A quick inquiry to the help desk cleared up his confusion about the booking.
The committee responded to public inquiries about the new parking policy.
Similarquery, question, request
Note
The asking sense stays closest to the root. Latin inquīrō joins in- ("into") with quaerō ("I seek"), and the word came into English through the Old French verb enquerre as Middle English enquery. So the en- spelling is the older English shape, and in- follows the Latin. As a countable noun it names a single question (an inquiry about prices). Uncountable, it names the activity of asking.
- 2A search for truth or knowledge through the examination of facts or principles; a formal investigation into a matter.
The independent inquiry examined every document related to the building's collapse.
Scientific inquiry advances by testing ideas against careful observation.
Similarinvestigation, probe, examination, review, research
Note
Here the seeking becomes systematic, as in scientific inquiry: patient, methodical examination of facts and principles. Without an article it names a whole way of finding things out. With one, an inquiry is a single investigation with a particular object, usually followed by into. The Latin "seek" behind it is told under the asking sense. The two differ in scale and method, not in their root.
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Origin
This word comes from Middle English enquery, from the Old French verb enquerre, from Latin inquīrō, which combines in- ('in, into') with quaerō ('I seek, look for'). The root quaerō is of uncertain origin, but possibly traces back to Proto-Italic *kʷaizeō and Proto-Indo-European *kʷeh₂- ('to acquire'). It was later respelled to match the original Latin form rather than the Old French one.