English
conquire
Conquire comes from Latin conquiro ‘to seek for, hunt up, search out eagerly or…’, and perhaps goes back to Proto-Indo-European *kʷeh₂- ‘to acquire’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kʷeh₂-1‘to acquire’uncertain
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*kʷaizō1uncertain
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEquaerō2‘to seek, look for’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEconquiro3‘to seek for, hunt up, search out eagerly or carefully, go in quest of’
- Englishearliest quotation 1567conquire3
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Latin quaero, which cites LIV
- 2 Wiktionary, Latin conquiro
- 3 Wiktionary, English conquire
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1567, Unknown: “But here is one, of whom ich will conquire,…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kʷeh₂-Wiktionary, Latin quaero, which cites LIV‘to acquire’uncertain
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*kʷaizōWiktionary, Latin quaero, which cites LIVuncertain
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEquaerōWiktionary, Latin conquiro‘to seek, look for’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEconquiroWiktionary, English conquire‘to seek for, hunt up, search out eagerly or carefully, go in quest of’
- Englishearliest quotation 1567conquireWiktionary, English conquire. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1567, Unknown: “But here is one, of whom ich will conquire,…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *kʷeh₂- ‘to acquire’
through Proto-Italic *kʷaizō
through Latin quaerō ‘to seek, look for’
quest, acquisition, inquiry, query, exquisite, inquisition, requisite, enquiry, inquire, inquisitor, 12 more
Today it means
verb —
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “conquire”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin quaero, Latin conquiro. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *kʷeh₂- / conquire