interrogation

English

Etymology

From Middle English interrogacion, from Old French interrogacion, from Latin interrogātiō, from interrogō, from inter- (“between; among”) + rogō (“ask; request”). Equivalent to inter- + rogation.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪnˌteɹ.əˈɡeɪ.ʃən/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

Noun

interrogation (countable and uncountable, plural interrogations)

1. The act of interrogating or questioning; examination by questions; inquiry.
   • 1936 April​, T[homas] S[tearns] Eliot, “[Unfinished Poems.] Coriolan. I. Triumphal March.”, in Collected Poems 1909–1935, London: Faber & Faber […], published September 1954, →OCLC, page 136:

     There is no interrogation in his eyes / Or in the hands, quiet over the horse's neck, / And the eyes watchful, waiting, perceiving, indifferent.

2. A question put; an inquiry.
3. (dated) A question mark.

Usage notes

• Generally used with the preposition under: "He is under interrogation about last night's events."

Related terms

• interrogate
• interrogative
• interrogator
• interrogatory
• rogation
• subrogation

Translations

act of interrogating or questioning

• Arabic: تَحْقِيق مَعَ‎ m (taḥqīq maʕa), اِسْتِجْوَاب‎ m (istijwāb), إِسْتِنْطَاق‎ m (ʔistinṭāq)
• Armenian: հարցաքննություն (harcʿakʿnnutʿyun)
• Azerbaijani: dindirmə, sorğu-sual
• Belarusian: апыта́нне n (apytánnje), до́пыт m (dópyt)
• Bulgarian: ра́зпит m (rázpit)
• Catalan: interrogatori m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 疑問／疑问 (zh) (yíwèn)

• Czech: výslech m
• Danish: afhøre c, udspørge c, forhøre c
• Dutch: verhoor n, ondervraging f
• Esperanto: priaŭskulto
• Estonian: ülekuulamine
• Finnish: kuulustelu
• Georgian: დაკითხვა (daḳitxva)
• German: Befragung f, (law) Vernehmung f, (police) Verhör n
• Hebrew: חֲקִירָה‎ f (khakirá)
• Hindi: पूछताछ f (pūchtāch)
• Hungarian: kihallgatás, vallatás
• Indonesian: interogasi
• Irish: ceistiú m, ceistiúchán m
• Italian: interrogazione f
• Japanese: 尋問 (じんもん, jinmon), 聴取 (ちょうしゅ, chōshu), 取り調べ (とりしらべ, torishirabe)
• Kazakh: жауап алу (jauap alu)
• Khmer: ការសួរចំឡើយ (kaa suǝ cɑmlaəy)
• Korean: 심문(審問) (simmun), 개물음 (gaemureum)
• Kyrgyz: допрос (dopros), сурак (surak)
• Latvian: nopratināšana f
• Lithuanian: apklausa f
• Macedonian: сослушување n (soslušuvanje), испитување n (ispituvanje)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: байцаалт (bajcaalt)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: forhør n, avhør n

• Persian: بازجویی‎ (bâzjuyi), استنطاق‎ (estentâq), بازپرسی‎ (bâzporsi)
• Polish: przesłuchanie n, interrogacja f
• Portuguese: interrogatório m
• Romanian: interogare f
• Russian: опро́с m (oprós), допро́с m (doprós) (police)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: испити́ва̄ње n

  Roman: ispitívānje (sh) n

• Slovak: výsluch m, vypočúvanie n
• Slovene: zaslišanje n, izpraševanje n
• Spanish: interrogatorio m
• Swedish: förhör n
• Tajik: тергав (tergav), истинток (istintok), пурсиш (pursiš), бозпурсӣ (bozpursī)
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: sorgu
• Turkmen: sorag
• Ukrainian: до́пит m (dópyt), о́пит m (ópyt)
• Uyghur: سوراق قىلىش‎ (soraq qilish)
• Uzbek: soʻroq, soʻroq qilish
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can

question put; an inquiry

• Bulgarian: запи́тване n (zapítvane)
• Danish: afhøring c, udspørgning c, forhør n
• Hungarian: kikérdezés, tudakozódás
• Italian: interrogazione f
• Polish: zapytanie m, badanie m, interrogacja f
• Portuguese: interrogação f
• Spanish: interrogación f
• Swedish: utfrågning c

point, mark, or sign

• Bulgarian: въпроси́телна f (vǎprosítelna)
• Danish: spørgsmålstegn n
• German: Fragezeichen n
• Polish: znak zapytania m, pytajnik m
• Portuguese: interrogação f
• Spanish: signo de interrogación m

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin interrogātiō. Synchronically analysable as interroger +‎ -ation.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛ̃.tɛ.ʁɔ.ɡa.sjɔ̃/, /ɛ̃.te.ʁɔ.ɡa.sjɔ̃/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

interrogation f (plural interrogations)

1. questioning, interrogation
2. (grammar) interrogative, question
3. (computing) query
4. examen, often unexpected

Derived terms

• point d'interrogation

Further reading

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