quest
/kwɛst/noun, verb
quest is spelled Q-U-E-S-T: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 19 times per million words in written English, the 4,521st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, quest means “A journey or effort in pursuit of a goal (often lengthy, ambitious, or fervent); a mission” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of quest is quests.
How many letters and syllables are in quest?
| Letters | 5: Q-U-E-S-T |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 19 times per million words; the 4,521st 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 quest?
Quest appears 19 times per million words in written English, the 4,521st 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 quest?
- /kwɛst/
Quest has one syllable (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-us-quest.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of quest
- quests plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- questing participle, present
- quested participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does quest mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A journey or effort in pursuit of a goal (often lengthy, ambitious, or fervent); a mission.
the hero's quest
- 2
A task that a player may complete in order to gain a reward or advance the story.
- 3
The act of seeking, or looking after anything; attempt to find or obtain; search; pursuit.
to rove in quest of game, of a lost child, of property, etc.
- 4
obsoleteA request; a desire; a solicitation.
- 5
obsoleteA group of people conducting a search or inquiry.
- 6
obsoleteAn inquest; a jury of inquest.
- 7
A short test.
verb
- 1
To seek or pursue a goal; to undertake a mission or job.
- 2
To search for something; to seek.
- 3
To locate and attach to a host animal.
noun
- 1
Acronym of quantized electronic structure.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Quest in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | quête , recherche |
| German | Suche, Queste , Quest |
| Portuguese | busca |
| Spanish | búsqueda, esfuerzo, misión |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does quest come from?
From Middle English quest, queste; partly from Anglo-Norman queste, Old French queste (“acquisition, search, hunt”), and partly from their source, Latin quaesta (“tribute, tax, inquiry, search”), noun use of quaesita, the feminine past participle of quaerō (“to ask, seek”). Doublet of question.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).