Conquer

How to spell conquer

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce conquer

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does conquer mean?

1. verbTo take control of a place or people by military force, or to overcome a difficulty or fear by effort.

Conquer in a sentence

• The empire set out to conquer every kingdom along the river.

• With months of training she finally managed to conquer her fear of public speaking.

Where does conquer come from?

Language of origin: French

The word traces back to the Latin conquirere, which combined com- (an intensifying prefix meaning 'thoroughly') with quaerere ('to seek, search for, or acquire'); the literal sense was 'to procure or win something completely'. In Late Latin and the Old French verb conquerre this hardened into the military sense of taking territory or defeating an enemy by force. English adopted it in the 1200s, and the spelling was reshaped over the centuries to echo its Latin parentage, which is exactly why the ending is written -quer rather than the -ker that the ear expects. The same quaerere root, meaning 'to seek', also gives us 'query', 'inquire', 'require', and 'quest', so the family is all about seeking and obtaining. The silent, Latin-flavoured -qu- is the main spelling trap, and remembering the 'seek' root helps fix the unexpected letters in place.

How the word is built

• con- (thoroughly, from Latin com-)
• quer (to seek or acquire, from Latin quaerere)