inquire

• enquire (chiefly British)

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

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈkwaɪɹ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈkwaɪə/

• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -aɪə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: in‧quire

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).
   • 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, OCLC 639762314, page 0124:

     "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.
   • Edmund Spenser

     Canute had his portion from the rest, The which he call'd Canutium, for his hire, Now Cantium, which Kent we commonly inquire.

• 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.

• frain (dialect or obsolete)

• inquire after
• inquire of

• inquiry
• query

• inquest
• inquisition
• inquisitive
• inquisitor

inquīre

1. second-person singular present active imperative of inquīrō

inquire

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