Enquery

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An act of asking for information or seeking clarification about something
2. A request for information posed in order to obtain details or understanding
3. The process of questioning or investigating to find out about a particular matter

Etymology: "Enquiry" comes from Latin "inquirere," formed from "in" and "quaerere," meaning "to seek" or "to ask." An enquiry is literally a seeking-into. Old French carried the verb across as "enquerre," which left English with several spellings for the noun, and "enquery" is one of the older-looking variants. The surprising relative is "query," which comes from the same Latin verb but from its imperative form, "quaere," meaning "ask!" Medieval scribes wrote it in the margins of manuscripts to mark a passage as doubtful, and readers came to treat the instruction as a noun meaning a question.