enquire & inquire 词汇辨析

Both words derive from the Old French enquerre, from a variant of the Latin inquirere, based on quaerere 'seek'. The same root word can be seen in various modern English words, including acquire, require, conquer, quest, request, inquest, and question.

这两个单词均源自法语词汇enquerre,来源于一个拉丁词汇inquirere的变种，基于词汇quaerere（寻求）。现代英语词汇的很多单词均来源于这个词汇，包括acquire（获得），require（需要），conquer（征服），quest（追求），request（要求），inquest（审讯），和question（问题）。

Enquire和inquire这两个动词传统意义上的区别在于：Enquire的一般意义为“询问”，To enquire – to ask for information。Inquire的含义为“做正式的调查”，To inquire – to make a formal investigation。另外Query作为动词，表示“询问”，作为名词表示“疑问”。即To query – means to question, to ask a question about.

Could I enquire about your mother's health?

我可以询问下你母亲的健康状况么？

She inquired about the library's rare books collection.

她调查了图书馆稀有的藏书。

I have a query about what you said.

我对你说的话保有疑问。

In practice, however, enquire, and the associated noun enquiry, are more common in British English while inquire (and the noun inquiry) are more common in American English, but otherwise there is little discernible distinction in the way the words are used. Some style guides require that only inquire or only enquire be used.

实际上，enquire和它的名词形式enquiry常用语英式英语中，而inquire和其名词形式inquiry则在美式英语中更为常见。这两个单词在使用方式上并无其他明显的差别。在一些特殊场合中会要求只使用inquire/inquiry或者enquire/enquiry。

Every enquiry is very welcome.

欢迎每条咨询。

Adam helped the police with their inquiries.

亚当协助警方进行调查。

Shall I inquire about the price of tickets?

我可以问一下票价吗？