English
enquiry
Enquiry comes from Latin inquīrō ‘to seek after, search for, inquire into…’, and goes back to quaerō.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEquaerō1‘to seek, look for’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEinquīrō1‘to seek after, search for, inquire into something’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500enquery1
- Englishtodayenquiry1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English enquiry
Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEquaerōWiktionary, English enquiry‘to seek, look for’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEinquīrōWiktionary, English enquiry‘to seek after, search for, inquire into something’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500enqueryWiktionary, English enquiry
- EnglishtodayenquiryWiktionary, English enquiry
The story
From Middle English enquery, from the Old French verb enquerre, from Latin inquīrō, 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’).uncertain The source flags this step as uncertain. The alternative form inquiry was subsequently respelled to conform to the original Latin spelling, as opposed to the Old French spelling.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *kʷeh₂- ‘to acquire’
conquest, questionnaire, 11 more
through Proto-Italic *kʷaizeō
through Latin quaerō ‘to seek, look for’
quest, acquisition, conquer, exquisite, query, requisite, 12 more
through Latin inquīrō ‘to seek after, search for, inquire into…’
inquisition, inquire, inquisitor
through Middle English enquery
Today it means
noun —
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “enquiry”. 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 / Latin quaerō / enquiry