interrogative

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English interrogatif,^[2] borrowed from Late Latin interrogātīvus (“pertaining to a question”),^{[3][4][5][6][7][2]} from interrogātus, the past participle of interrogō (“to ask, question; cross-examine”),^[4][5][7] which is formed from inter (“between”) and rogō (“to ask”).^[4] Etymonline calls the simple verb apparently a figurative use of a verb meaning "to stretch out (the hand)", from Proto-Indo-European *reg- (“to move in a straight line”).^[4] The OED compares French interrogatif, recorded from 1507.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of a word in grammar, used in asking a question: the Middle English Dictionary quotes a nown interrogatyf from a Donatus of before 1500.^[2] The OED's first record is Whittington's Vulgaria of 1520,^[3] Etymonline dates the adjective to about 1500,^[4] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged gives the 15th century.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The word first appears as a term of grammar, for words and forms that ask questions.^[2][3] The noun has the same technical meaning.^[3][5] The wider sense, of the nature of questioning or having the force of a question, is first quoted by the OED from Hooker in 1597,^[3] though Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates it to the 15th century.^[5] A use for a person given to asking questions, inquisitive, appears in Steele's Tatler in 1709 and has stayed rare.^[3][6] Johnson (1755) records both parts of speech, the noun as a pronoun used in asking questions: who, what, which, whether.^[8]

Timeline

• before 1500 – adjective, of a word: used in asking a question.^[2]
• 1522 – noun, a word or form used in asking a question.^[5] The OED's first record is Palsgrave, 1530.^[3]
• before 1586 – noun, a question (rare), in Sidney's Apologie for Poetrie.^[3]
• 1597 – adjective, having the form or force of a question.^[3]
• 1709 – adjective, inquisitive (rare).^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Having the form or force of a question; questioning: an interrogative lift at the end of her sentence.^[5][9][3]
2. (grammar) Of a word, form or construction: used in asking a question, as which is in Which road did you take?^[9][5][3]
3. Given to asking questions; inquisitive (rare).^[3][6][5]

Noun

1. (grammar) A word or form used in asking a question, especially a pronoun such as who or what.^[3][5][9]
2. A question (rare).^[3][6][5]
3. A question mark.^[9]

Word family

• interrogatively

Related words

• interrogate
• interrogation
• interrogator
• interrogatory
• rogation
• inter-

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
9. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins