different between inquire vs query

English

Alternative forms

• enquire (chiefly British)

Etymology

From Latin inqu?r? (“to seek for”). Displaced Middle English enqueren (from Old French enquerre, of the same source) and native Middle English speir (“ask, inquire”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?n?kwa??/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?n?kwa??/
• Rhymes: -a??(?)
• Hyphenation: in?quire

Verb

inquire (third-person singular simple present inquires, present participle inquiring, simple past and past participle inquired) (transitive, intransitive)

1. (intransitive, US) To ask (about something).

   • "A fine man, that Dunwody, yonder," commented the young captain, as they parted, and as he turned to his prisoner. "We'll see him on in Washington some day. […] A strong man—a strong one; and a heedless." ¶ "Of what party is he?" she inquired, as though casually.

2. (intransitive) To make an inquiry or an investigation.
3. (transitive, obsolete) To call; to name.

Usage notes

• In British English, the spelling enquire is more common, with inquire often reserved for official inquests. In Canada and the US, both spellings are acceptable, though inquire is favored. In Australian English, inquire is preferred in all contexts.

Synonyms

• frain (dialect or obsolete)

Derived terms

• inquire after
• inquire of

Related terms

• inquiry
• query

Translations

See also

• inquest
• inquisition
• inquisitive
• inquisitor

Latin

Verb

inqu?re

1. second-person singular present active imperative of inqu?r?

Portuguese

Verb

inquire

1. third-person singular present indicative of inquirir
2. second-person singular imperative of inquirir

English

Alternative forms

• quæry (archaic)

Etymology

An anglicisation of quere, an obsolete variant form of Latin quaere, second-person singular present active imperative of quaer? (“seek, look for; ask”). Cognate with French quérir, Italian chiedere, Portuguese querer, Romanian cere, and Spanish querer. Compare question.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?kw??.?i/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?kw?.?i/, /?kw?.?i/
• Rhymes: -???i, -??i

Noun

query (plural queries)

1. A question, an inquiry (US), an enquiry (UK).
2. A question mark.
   • 1886, Skeat, Address of the President to the Philological Society of Great Britain:

     His Glossary has 'bouchen, to stop people's mouths,' but this is followed by a query, to show that it was but a guess. I have shown, from the MSS. and other sources, that it should be bonched, i.e. bunched, bumped, knocked, smote.

   • 1973, Oliver Sacks, Awakenings

     She had written in her diary: "I don't think I am in a concentration-camp??????", the queries growing larger and more numerous till they covered the entire page […]

   • 2006, "Pip", Re: Royal Enfield motorbike - why would anyone buy one? (on newsgroup rec.motorcycles)

     I refer you to your line above, where you use a query and a bang together.

3. (computing, databases) A set of instructions passed to a database.

Hyponyms

• subquery

Derived terms

Translations

References

• Query on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Verb

query (third-person singular simple present queries, present participle querying, simple past and past participle queried)

1. (intransitive) To ask a question.
2. (transitive) To ask, inquire.
3. (transitive) To question or call into doubt.
4. (computing, databases) To pass a set of instructions to a database to retrieve information from it.
5. (transitive, Internet) To send a private message to (a user on IRC).
   • 2000, "Phantom", Re: Uhm.. hi... I guess... (on newsgroup alt.support.boy-lovers)

     He parted the channel saying "SHUTUP!"... so I queried him, asking if there was something I could do.. maybe talk...

   • 2000, "Robert Erdec", Re: Help; mIRC32; unable to resolve server arnes.si (on newsgroup alt.irc.mirc)

     if you know someone who is in the channel, you can query them and ask for the key.

6. (intransitive, publishing) To send out a query letter.

Translations

Related terms