ask.
To request or petition.
Meaning & usage
To request or petition. To request (information, or an answer to a question).
I asked her age.
I didn't know the answer so I asked.
To request or petition. To request or enquire of (a person).
I asked her (for) her age.
I’m going to ask this lady (for) directions.
To request or petition. To request (an item or service) (see also ask for).
to ask for a second helping at dinner
to ask for help with homework
To request or petition. To request (someone to do something).
Emma asked Jim to close his eyes.
To request or petition. To request permission (to do something).
She asked to see the doctor.
Did you ask to use the car?
To put forward (a question) to be answered.
to ask a question
to ask a riddle
To require, demand, claim, or expect, whether by way of remuneration or return, or as a matter of necessity.
What price are you asking for the house?
It’s asking a lot of this old car to make it all the way up to Scotland.
To invite.
Don’t ask them to the wedding.
To indirectly encourage or make more likely (an undesirable outcome).
Walking around with such an expensive watch is asking to be mugged.
To publish in church for marriage; said of both the banns and the persons.
To take (a person's situation) as an example.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂eys- Proto-Indo-European *-sḱéti Proto-Indo-European *h₂isḱéti Proto-Germanic *iskaną Proto-Germanic *aiskaz Proto-West Germanic *aisk Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ti Proto-Germanic *-ōną Proto-West Germanic *-ōn Proto-West Germanic *aiskōn Old English āscian Middle English asken English ask From Middle English asken, axen, from Old English āscian, from Proto-West Germanic *aiskōn, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eys- (“to wish; request”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian aaskje (“to ask, demand, require”), West Frisian easkje (“to ask, demand, require”), Dutch eisen (“to demand, require”), German heischen (“to ask, request, implore”), Russian иска́ть (iskátʹ), Sanskrit इच्छति (iccháti) (whence Hindi ईछना (īchnā).
An act or instance of asking.
Something asked or asked for.
I know this is a big ask, but …
An asking price.
A message sent to a blog on social networking platform Tumblr, which can be publicly posted and replied to by the recipient.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂eys- Proto-Indo-European *-sḱéti Proto-Indo-European *h₂isḱéti Proto-Germanic *iskaną Proto-Germanic *aiskaz Proto-West Germanic *aisk Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ti Proto-Germanic *-ōną Proto-West Germanic *-ōn Proto-West Germanic *aiskōn Old English āscian Middle English asken English ask From Middle English asken, axen, from Old English āscian, from Proto-West Germanic *aiskōn, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eys- (“to wish; request”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian aaskje (“to ask, demand, require”), West Frisian easkje (“to ask, demand, require”), Dutch eisen (“to demand, require”), German heischen (“to ask, request, implore”), Russian иска́ть (iskátʹ), Sanskrit इच्छति (iccháti) (whence Hindi ईछना (īchnā).
An eft; newt.
A lizard.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English aske, arske, ascre, from Old English āþexe (“lizard, newt”), from Proto-West Germanic *agiþahsijā (“lizard”), a compound of *agiz (“snake, lizard”) + *þahsuz (“badger”). Cognate of German Echse (“lizard”).
Try it on your idea.
ask has 3 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.
These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.
Explore the name generatorA word with a source.
Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.