Request

How to spell request

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce request

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does request mean?

1. nounAn act of politely or formally asking for something.
2. verbTo politely or formally ask for something.

Request in a sentence

• noun

  The manager approved her request for a day off.

• verb

  Please request a copy of the contract from the legal team.

• noun

  The radio station played the song at the listener's request.

• verb

  Travellers can request a vegetarian meal when booking online.

Where does request come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word comes from the Latin requaesita, the past participle of requirere, meaning 'to seek again' or 'to ask for', built from re- ('again' or 'back') and quaerere ('to seek, ask, or inquire'). It passed into Old French as requeste, a noun meaning a thing asked for, and English adopted it during the 1300s. The same quaerere root sits inside a whole family of familiar words, including 'question', 'inquire', 'conquest', and 'quest' itself, all of which carry the idea of seeking. Over time the formal legal and courtly sense of a petition softened into the ordinary modern meaning of politely asking for something. The spelling is mercifully regular, with the silent-looking 'que' cluster being the only mild snag for writers.

How the word is built

• re- (again, back)
• quest (to seek, ask)
• (from Latin requaesta)