Query

How to spell query

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce query

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does query mean?

1. nounA question, especially one raised to clear up a doubt or check a detail.
2. verbTo ask about something, or to express doubt about its accuracy.

Query in a sentence

• noun

  The customer sent a query about the missing invoice.

• verb

  She rang the bank to query a charge she did not recognise.

• noun

  If you have a query about your bill, the support team can help.

• verb

  The analyst will query the database for last month's figures.

Where does query come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin quaere, which is the imperative form of the verb quaerere, meaning 'to seek, to ask, or to inquire'. In the seventeenth century English writers used quaere as a literal instruction in the margins of texts, a note telling the reader to 'ask' or 'question this point'. The spelling was gradually anglicised to 'query', with the ending reshaped to match related English words such as 'inquiry' and 'enquiry', which descend from the same quaerere root. The same Latin source also gives us 'question', 'quest', 'require' and 'acquire', so the cluster of seeking and asking words all share one ancestor. Because the unstressed second syllable is a faint 'ree', writers sometimes hesitate over the -y ending, but remembering the link to 'inquiry' keeps the spelling steady.

How the word is built

• quer- (from Latin quaerere: to seek, ask)
• -y (noun/verb ending)