inquisitive

English

Etymology

Late 14th century, from Old French inquisitif, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Late Latin inquisitivus, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin inquisitus, past participle of inquirere. See also inquire.

Pronunciation

• enPR: ĭngkwĭz'ətĭv, IPA^(key): /ɪŋˈkwɪzətɪv/

Adjective

inquisitive (comparative more inquisitive, superlative most inquisitive)

1. Eager to acquire knowledge.
   • (Can we date this quote by I. Watts and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     A young, inquisitive, and sprightly genius.

2. Too curious; overly interested; nosy.
   • (Can we date this quote by Broome and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     A wise man is not inquisitive about things impertinent.

   • 1922 February, James Joyce, Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC:
     Episode 16

     Everybody gets their own ration of luck, they say. Now you mention it his face was familiar to me. But, leaving that for the moment, how much did you part with, he queried, if I am not too inquisitive?

Derived terms

• inquisitively
• inquisitiveness

Translations

eager to acquire knowledge

• Armenian: հետաքրքրասեր (hy) (hetakʻrkʻraser)
• Bulgarian: любознателен (bg) (ljuboznatelen)
• Cebuano: masukitsukiton, mausisahon
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 好奇 (zh) (hàoqí)

• Danish: nysgerrig, videnbegærlig
• Dutch: nieuwsgierig (nl), inquisitief
• Esperanto: scivola
• Finnish: utelias (fi), tiedonhaluinen, tiedonjanoinen (fi)
• French: inquisitif (fr)
• German: neugierig (de)
• Hungarian: kíváncsi (hu), fürkész (hu)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: 知りたがる (ja) (しりたがる, shiritagaru)
• Latvian: ziņkārīgs, ziņkārs
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: vitebegjærlig, nysgjerrig (no)

• Portuguese: inquisitivo (pt)
• Russian: любозна́тельный (ru) (ljuboznátelʹnyj), пытли́вый (ru) (pytlívyj), любопы́тный (ru) (ljubopýtnyj)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: радознао, знатижељан

  Roman: radoznao (sh), znatiželjan (sh)

• Spanish: inquisitivo
• Swedish: vetgirig (sv)
• Westrobothnian:

too curious; overly interested; nosy

• Bulgarian: досадно любопитен (dosadno ljubopiten)
• French: curieux (fr)
• German: neugierig (de)
• Hungarian: kíváncsiskodó (hu), tolakodó (hu), indiszkrét (hu), tapintatlan (hu), kandi
• Italian: curioso (it), indiscreto (it)
• Maori: mahira, māhirahira
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Polish: ciekawski (pl), wścibski (pl)
• Portuguese: inquisitivo (pt), enxerido (pt), intrometido (pt)
• Russian: (назо́йливо) любопы́тный (ru) (ljubopýtnyj)
• Spanish: inquisitivo, curioso (es)
• Swedish: nyfiken (sv)

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French

Adjective

inquisitive

1. feminine singular of inquisitif

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Italian

Adjective

inquisitive

1. feminine plural of inquisitivo