overwordExplorer
ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

inquire.

To ask (about something).

7 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/ɪnˈkwaɪə/Received-Pronunciation/ɪŋˈkwaɪə/Received-Pronunciation/ɪnˈkwaɪɹ/General-American/ɪŋˈkwaɪɹ/General-American
  1. To ask (about something).

    Australia · Canada · US · ambitransitive · intransitive
    May I inquire to whom I have the honor of speaking?
  2. To make an inquiry or an investigation.

    ambitransitive · intransitive
    Police are already inquiring into the incident.
  3. To call; to name.

    ambitransitive · obsolete · transitive
Where this word comes from

From Latin inquīrō (“to seek for”), 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”). Displaced Middle English enqueren (from Old French enquerre, of the same source) and native Middle English speir (“ask, inquire”).

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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.