overwordExplorer
ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

query.

A question, an inquiry (US), an enquiry (UK).

5 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈkwɪə.ɹi/Received-Pronunciation/ˈkwɪː.ɹi/Received-Pronunciation/ˈkwɪɹ.i/General-American/ˈkwɛɹ.i/General-American
  1. A question, an inquiry (US), an enquiry (UK).

    The teacher answered the student’s query concerning biosynthesis.
  2. A question mark.

  3. A set of instructions passed to a database.

    The database admin switched on query logging for debugging purposes.
  4. Ellipsis of query letter.

    abbreviation · alt-of · ellipsis
Where this word comes from

An anglicisation of quere, an obsolete variant form of Latin quaere, second-person singular present active imperative of quaerō (“seek, look for; ask”); perhaps suffixed with -y (“abstract noun”). Cognate with French quérir, Italian chiedere, Portuguese querer, Romanian cere, and Spanish querer. Compare question.

verb/ˈkwɪə.ɹi/Received-Pronunciation/ˈkwɪː.ɹi/Received-Pronunciation/ˈkwɪɹ.i/General-American/ˈkwɛɹ.i/General-American
  1. To ask a question.

    intransitive
  2. To ask, inquire.

    transitive
  3. To question or call into doubt.

    transitive
  4. To pass a set of instructions to a database to retrieve information from it.

  5. To send a private message to (a user on IRC).

    Internet · transitive
  6. To send out a query letter.

    intransitive
Where this word comes from

An anglicisation of quere, an obsolete variant form of Latin quaere, second-person singular present active imperative of quaerō (“seek, look for; ask”); perhaps suffixed with -y (“abstract noun”). Cognate with French quérir, Italian chiedere, Portuguese querer, Romanian cere, and Spanish querer. Compare question.

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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.