Enquiries

How to spell enquiries

9 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce enquiries

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does enquiries mean?

1. nounRequests for information, or questions asked in order to learn something.

Enquiries in a sentence

• All enquiries should be directed to the front desk.

• The company received hundreds of enquiries about the new product.

Where does enquiries come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb inquirere, which combined in-, meaning 'into', with quaerere, meaning 'to seek' or 'to ask', so its literal sense was 'to seek into' a matter. It travelled into English through Old French, where the verb appeared as enquerre, and that French route is exactly why the leading vowel is often written as 'e' rather than 'i'. English ended up keeping both spellings, with 'enquiry' favoured in British usage, especially for an ordinary request for information, while 'inquiry' is preferred for a formal investigation and in American writing generally. The same quaerere root sits inside a whole family of familiar words, including 'question', 'quest', 'require' and 'acquire', all carrying that core idea of seeking. Knowing that the heart of the word is 'quir' (seek) helps fix the tricky middle, and remembering the French enquerre explains the initial 'en'.

How the word is built

• en- (variant of in-: into)
• quir (from Latin quaerere: to seek, ask)
• -ies (plural of -y)