enquiry
/ɪnˈkwaɪə.ɹi/noun
enquiry is spelled E-N-Q-U-I-R-Y: 7 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 2.6 times per million words in written English, the 16,896th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, enquiry means “British form of inquiry” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of enquiry is enquiries.
How many letters and syllables are in enquiry?
| Letters | 7: E-N-Q-U-I-R-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 2.6 times per million words; the 16,896th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is enquiry?
Enquiry appears 2.6 times per million words in written English, the 16,896th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce enquiry?
- UK /ɪnˈkwaɪə.ɹi/
- UK /ɛnˈk-/
Enquiry has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-uk-enquiry.ogg, EN-AU_ck1_enquiry.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with enquiry
Also written: inquiry.
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of enquiry
- enquiries plural
- inquiry
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does enquiry mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
BritishBritish form of inquiry.
scientific enquiry
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does enquiry come from?
From Middle English enquery, from the Old French verb enquerre, from Latin inquīrō, composed of in- (“in, at, on; into”) + quaerō (“to seek, look for”), of uncertain origin, but possibly from Proto-Italic *kʷaizeō, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷeh₂- (“to acquire”). The alternative form inquiry was subsequently respelled to conform to the original Latin spelling, as opposed to the Old French spelling.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).