question

English Online Dictionary. What means question‎? What does question mean?

English

Alternative forms

• quæstion (archaic)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkwɛst͡ʃən/, /ˈkwɛstjən/, /ˈkwɛʃt͡ʃən/
• (US also) IPA^(key): /ˈkwɛʃtən/
• (India) IPA^(key): /ˈkwɛst͡ʃɛn/, /ˈkwɛʃ(t͡ʃ)ɛn/
• (Hong Kong) IPA^(key): /ˈkwɛ.ʃən/, /ˈkwɛʔ.ʃən/
• (Some speakers) IPA^(key): [ˈkwɛʃ.t͡ʃn̩˗]
• Rhymes: -ɛstʃən
• Hyphenation: ques‧tion

Etymology 1

From Middle English question, questioun, questiun, from Anglo-Norman questiun, from Old French question, from Latin quaestiōnem, accusative of quaestiō (“a seeking, investigation, inquiry, question”), from quaerere (“to seek, ask, inquire”), of uncertain origin, but possibly from Proto-Italic *kʷaizeō, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷeh₂- (“to acquire”).

Partially displaced native Old English āscung. Compare also Middle Low German quēstie (“questioning; inquiry”), Middle High German questje (“question”).

Cognates include English quest.

Noun

question (plural questions)

1. A sentence, phrase or word which asks for information, reply or response; an interrogative.
   • 2006 Feb. 3, Graham Linehan, The IT Crowd, Season 1, Episode 4:

     Can I ask you two a question? / Please, Christ, yes. / How can you two live like this? / How can... / Don't google the question, Moss!

2. A subject or topic for consideration or investigation.
3. A doubt or challenge about the truth, accuracy, or validity of a matter.
4. A proposal to a meeting as a topic for deliberation.

5. (now archaic, historical, chiefly with definite article) Interrogation by torture.
6. (obsolete) Talk; conversation; speech.

Synonyms

• (interrogative): inquiry, enquiry, query, interrogation
• (subject): subject, topic, problem, consideration, proposition
• (doubt): issue, doubt
• (proposal): proposal

Derived terms

Related terms

• query
• quest

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English questionen, questyonen, partly from Middle French questionner and partly from the noun.

Verb

question (third-person singular simple present questions, present participle questioning, simple past and past participle questioned)

1. (transitive) To ask questions of; to interrogate; to ask for information.
2. (transitive) To raise doubts about; have doubts about.
   • 2019, VOA Learning English (public domain)

     He questioned South Korean claims that China is a major source of its pollution.

3. (intransitive) To ask a question or questions; inquire or seek to know; examine.
4. (intransitive, obsolete) To argue; to converse; to dispute.

Synonyms

• frain, quaeritate (obsolete)

Derived terms

• question the question
• questioner

Translations

See also

• answer
• ask
• interrogative

References

• “question”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “question”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

French

Alternative forms

• quæstion (obsolete)

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French and Old French question (12th c.), borrowed from Latin quaestiō. At first a learned word, therefore retaining preconsonantal -s- (compare related quête).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɛs.tjɔ̃/
• Rhymes: -jɔ̃

Noun

question f (plural questions)

1. (historical, chiefly with the definite article) question (interrogation by torture)
2. question (sentence, phrase or word which asks for information, reply or response)

   Coordinate term: réponse

   Je voudrais vous poser une question. ― I would like to ask you a question.

3. issue, matter, topic, problem

Derived terms

Further reading

• “question”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• quêtions, toniques

Interlingua

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kwesˈtjon/

Noun

question (plural questiones)

1. question

Middle English

Noun

question

1. Alternative form of questioun

Occitan

Pronunciation

Noun

question f (plural questions) (Languedoc, Limousin)

1. question

   Synonym: demanda

   Antonym: responsa

   pausar una question ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)

Derived terms

Related terms

References

• Diccionari General de la Lenga Occitana, L’Academia occitana – Consistòri del Gai Saber, 2008-2024, page 558.

Old French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin quaestiō, quaestiōnem.

Noun

question oblique singular, f (oblique plural questions, nominative singular question, nominative plural questions)

1. question (verbal statement intended to elicit a response)
2. question (problem in need of resolution)

Descendants

• → Middle English: questioun, question, questiun, questyon, questyounn, qwestyon, qwestioun
  • English: question
  • Scots: quaisten, quastin
  • → Welsh: cwestiwn
• French: question
  • → Romanian: chestie, chestiune
• Norman: tchestchion (Jersey)

References

• question on the Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub