Etymologically
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questionnaire

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˌk(w)ɛstʃəˈnɛə/, /ˌk(w)ɛstjəˈnɛə/[1]
  • US: /ˌkwɛs.t͡ʃəˈnɛɹ/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French questionnaire (“list of questions”),[2][3][4][5] formed from questionner (“to question”) and the suffix -aire, the French form of -ary.[5][6][7][8] The French verb goes back to Old French questioner (“to ask questions, interrogate”), from question (“question; legal inquiry”),[3][9] from Latin quaestiō (“a seeking, inquiry”), from quaerō (“to ask, seek”).[3][9] English had earlier used questionary in isolated instances: in 1541 for a catechism, from Medieval Latin questionarium, and in 1887 for a list of questions, from the French word.[4][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A set of questions used to gather information from a selected group: 1890, in The Times.[2][6] Barnhart and Etymonline date it to 1901,[4][3] and Dictionary.com to 1895–1900.[8]

Semantic evolution

The word was resisted for many years after its first use, as by Fowler in Modern English Usage (1926),[2] and purists preferred the native formation questionary.[3][2] Some speakers kept a pronunciation modelled on French, while the pronunciation after question, recorded from the mid 1930s, as in D. Jones's English Pronouncing Dictionary of 1937, is now dominant.[2] Merriam-Webster also records the word as a verb, to send a questionnaire to or survey by questionnaire.[6]

Timeline

  • 1541 – questionary, a catechism.[4]
  • 1887 – questionary, a list of questions.[4]
  • 1890 – questionnaire, a formal list of questions.[2][6]
  • 1926 – Fowler objects to the word.[2]
  • 1937 – the anglicized pronunciation is recorded.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A set of written questions used to collect information from a group of people, usually for statistical analysis: Every guest was asked to fill in a short questionnaire.[10][6][2]
  2. A survey carried out by means of such questions.[6]

Verb

  1. To send a questionnaire to; to survey by questionnaire.[6]

Usage notes

Collins gives pronunciations both with and without the /w/ of question.[10] The French-style pronunciation, once kept by some speakers, has given way to one modelled on question.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  5. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  8. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  9. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  10. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins