inquiry
n. countablen. a request for information or a formal investigation into something. You make an inquiry when you want to find out the truth about a situation.
n. a systematic investigation or a formal request for information. Often used in legal or administrative contexts to describe an official process of discovery.
The police opened an inquiry into the missing money.
The company received a formal inquiry from the tax office regarding their recent international transactions.
Following the public outcry, the government launched an independent inquiry to determine whether the safety regulations had been systematically ignored by the construction firm.
From Middle English enquery, from the Old French verb enquerre, from Latin inquīrō, composed of in- (“in, at, on; into”) + quaerō (“I seek, look for”), of uncertain origin, but possibly from Proto-Italic kʷaizeō, from Proto-Indo-European kʷeh₂- (“to acquire”). Later respelled to conform to the original Latin spelling, as opposed to the Old French spelling.
Often takes the prepositions 'into' (for investigations) or 'about' (for simple questions).
They made an inquiry for the accidentThey made an inquiry into the accidentWhen referring to a formal investigation, the noun typically takes 'into' rather than 'for'.