Questionnaire

How to spell questionnaire

13 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce questionnaire

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does questionnaire mean?

1. nounA printed or digital set of questions designed to gather information from the people who answer it.

Questionnaire in a sentence

• Please fill in the questionnaire.

• Could you complete this short questionnaire?

• The questionnaire asked about our shopping habits.

Where does questionnaire come from?

Language of origin: French

This word came into English from French in the 1800s, where questionnaire meant a set of printed questions for collecting information. The French word was built on question, which traces back through Old French to the Latin quaestio, meaning 'an asking' or 'an inquiry', itself from the verb quaerere, 'to seek' or 'to ask'. The same quaerere root sits inside many familiar English words such as 'query', 'inquire', and 'quest', all of which share the idea of seeking something out. The tricky part of the spelling is purely French: the doubled 'n' and the '-aire' ending mirror the French suffix that also gives us 'millionaire' and 'doctrinaire'. Because English writers expect '-naire' to feel foreign, the temptation to write a single 'n' or to end in '-air' is exactly what catches people out.

How the word is built

• question (from quaestio: an asking, inquiry)
• -naire (French noun suffix denoting a thing or person connected with)