Is the word ask a noun

A reader questions the use of ask as a noun:

“The ask was unreasonable.”

“I realize it’s a big ask, but I’m hoping you can do it.”

In these examples, “ask” seems to be a synonym for “request.” Merriam-Webster says “ask” is a verb, but increasingly I hear it used as a noun.  Is this use of “ask” increasingly prominent?  Is it appropriate?

Examples of ask as a noun can be found in Old English, and the OED includes a citation of its use as a card-playing term in 1886, but the uses illustrated in the reader’s question are fairly recent.

The financial idiom “bid and ask” appears on the Ngram Viewer graph in 1903. In the context of the stock market, the bid is the price a buyer is willing to pay for a stock, and the ask is the price the seller is willing to accept. This use of ask is business jargon for what in standard speech would be called “the asking price.”

After a brief flurry in the 1920s, the phrase “a big ask” appears on the Ngram Viewer in 1989 and soars from there. M-W labels this use of ask “chiefly British, informal.”

The OED agrees that ask as a noun is “colloquial,” but identifies the usage as “originally Australian” and observes that it occurs chiefly in the context of sports.

M-W defines noun ask as “something asked for, requested, or required of someone,” but the OED specifies that ask as a noun in modern usage is accompanied by a modifier like big, huge, or tough. Ask in this sense is not simply “something asked for,” but “something that is a lot to ask of someone; something difficult to achieve or surmount.”

Outside the context of the stock market, the reader’s first example, “The ask was unreasonable,” is not even good informal English. If the speaker is talking about the price of something, then the appropriate term is “asking price.” If the person is talking about a request, then the noun wanted is request or demand.

The second example, “I realize it’s a big ask, but I’m hoping you can do it,” passes muster as acceptable colloquial English because “a big ask” is not the same as a mere request. “A big ask” is an idiom like “a tall order,” something asked of a person that will require more than average effort to accomplish.

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‘Ask’ as a Noun The Oxford English Dictionary shows that “ask” has been used as a noun since Old English. The word “request” didn’t even show up until the mid-1300s. It came to English from Old French like so many words during that time.

Is ask a verb or adjective?

Ask is a verb that means to present a question to someone, to request something, or to invite someone. Ask has several other senses as a verb and a noun. When asking about something, you might pose several questions or politely request information about something.

What is an adjective for asking?

enquired, queried, questioned, quizzed, grilled, interrogated, interviewed, probed, examined, inquired, investigated, pressed, prest, scrutinized, canvassed, catechized, checked, cross-examined, inquisitioned, pumped, cross-questioned, enquired of, felt out, found out, hit, hit up, made inquiries, needled, put a …

What part of speech is asking?

Ask and ask for. … Ask. Ask is a verb meaning ‘put a question or seek an answer from someone’: … Ask for.

Is asking a verb or noun?

ask verb (REQUEST)

What is verb of ask?

(Entry 1 of 2) transitive verb. 1a : to call on for an answer She asked him about his trip. b : to put a question about asking her opinion.

What is a strong verb for ask?

Some common synonyms of ask are inquire, interrogate, query, and question.

Is the word use a verb?

verb (used with object), used, us·ing. to employ for some purpose; put into service; make use of: to use a knife. to avail oneself of; apply to one’s own purposes: to use the facilities.

How do you explain a verb?

Verbs are words that show actions, motions, doing, or states of being. They can also demonstrate how someone feels. Verbs are an absolutely necessary part of sentences. A sentence cannot work without an action verb.

What is the difference between a noun verb and adjective?

1 Answer. Nouns are things, adjectives describe things, verbs are what the things do, and adverbs are how they do it.

What is adjective and example sentences?

An adjective is a word that tells us more about a noun. It “describes” or “modifies” a noun (The big dog was hungry). In these examples, the adjective is in bold and the noun that it modifies is in italics. An adjective often comes BEFORE a noun: a green car.

Living in Europe, I have never encountered the usage myself, and neither Merriam-Webster nor Wiktionary even mention the mere possibility of «ask» being used as a noun.

That being said, Raymond Chen, a senior Microsoft programmer (Redmond, WA), blogged about the noun ask on January 7th, 2004, saying that it had gained momentum in the year before:

Ask (as a noun)

This has taken over Microsoft-speak in the past year or so and it drives me batty. «What are our key asks here?», you might hear in a meeting. Language tip: The thing you are asking for is called a «request». Plus, of course, the thing that is an «ask» is usually more of a «demand» or «requirement». But those are such unfriendly words, aren’t they? Why not use a warm, fuzzy word like «ask» to take the edge off?

Answer: Because it’s not a word.

I have yet to find any dictionary which sanctions this usage. Indeed, the only definition for «ask» as a noun is A water newt [Scot. & North of Eng.], and that was from 1913!

Answer 2: Because it’s passive-aggressive.

These «asks» are really «demands». So don’t guilt-trip me with «Oh, you didn’t meet our ask. We had to cut half our features. But that’s okay. We’ll just suffer quietly, you go do your thing, don’t mind us.»

If we stop right here, whether you subscribe to Mr. Chen’s prescriptive approach or prefer to just let languages evolve, your suspicions seem to be confirmed to some extent (rather recent trend, technology company, though not exactly East Coast).

However, digging deeper, here is a Language Log post from August 7th, 2004 (the plot thickens). And finally, the excellent follow-up from July 10th, 2008 (the plot takes an unexpected U-turn):

I opined that the noun ask was likely to be venerable, probably going back to Old English. And so it is and does, but the full story is more interesting than a simple survival of a lexical item from a millennium ago.

[…] A natural innovation in Old English would have been to create a noun directly from the verb ask (or its pre-OE forebear); that would have been a useful thing to have, and so it happened. Yes, a nouning of a verb. […] The crucial point here is that the noun request wasn’t around then. According to the OED, it appeared in Middle English, in the 14th century (when borrowings from Old French began swarming into the language), and, about 200 years later, we got the verb request (a verbing, either in English or in Old French, it’s hard to tell). So a noun ask was a good thing to have while we were waiting for the French-based request to arrive.

The OED has three early cites, between roughly 1000 and 1230, and then a huge gap until these two cites:

1781 T. TWINING Let. 8 Dec. in Recreat. & Stud. (1882) 108, I am not so unreasonable as to desire you to..answer all my asks.

1886 ‘CAVENDISH’ Whist 127 When your three comes down in the next round, it is not an ask for trumps.

That post is chock-full of such revelations, which boil down to:

[The] noun ask seems to have been innovated on a number of different occasions.

Of which the current technology-company speak is just one. Highly recommended reading.

English[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

• aks, ax (standard until about 1600, now dialectal and no longer standard)
• aske (obsolete)

Pronunciation[edit]

• (UK)
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɑːsk/
  • (Northern England, Scotland) IPA^(key): /ˈask/
  • (multicultural London also) IPA^(key): /ˈɑːks/
• (US)
  • (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈæsk/
  • (NYC, Philadelphia) IPA^(key): /eəsk/
  • (AAVE, Cajun, Nigeria) enPR: ăks, IPA^(key): /ˈæks/
• Rhymes: -ɑːsk, -æsk
• Homophones: ax, axe (some dialects)

Etymology 1[edit]

From Middle English asken (also esken, aschen, eschen, etc.), from Old English āscian, from Proto-West Germanic *aiskōn, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eys- (“to wish; request”). Compare German heischen, Dutch eisen.

Verb[edit]

ask (third-person singular simple present asks, present participle asking, simple past and past participle asked)

1. (transitive or ditransitive) To request (information, or an answer to a question).

   I asked her age.

   I asked her (for) her age.

2. To put forward (a question) to be answered.

   to ask a question

3. To interrogate or enquire of (a person).

   I’m going to ask this lady for directions.

   • He is of age; ask him: he shall speak for himself.

4. To request or petition; usually with for.

   to ask for a second helping at dinner

   to ask for help with homework

   Emma asked Jim to close his eyes.

   • Ask, and it shall be given you.

5. To request permission to do something.

   She asked to see the doctor.

   Did you ask to use the car?

6. To require, demand, claim, or expect, whether by way of remuneration or return, or as a matter of necessity.

   What price are you asking for the house?

   • But in any Exigence of State, like that they are now pressed with, it certainly asks a much longer time to conduct any Design, for the Good of the Common-wealth, to its Maturity and Perfection.

7. To invite.

   Don’t ask them to the wedding.

8. To publish in church for marriage; said of both the banns and the persons.
9. (figuratively) To take (a person’s situation) as an example.

   • 1990 April 26, Paul Wiseman, “Dark days”, in USA Today:

     Even when the damage isn’t that clear cut, the intangible burdens of a bad image can add up. Just ask Dow Chemical.

Usage notes[edit]

• This is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive. See Appendix:English catenative verbs
• Pronouncing ask as /æks/ is a common example of metathesis (attested since the Old English period) and still common in some varieties of English, notably African American Vernacular English (AAVE).
• The action expressed by the verb ask can also be expressed by the noun-verb combination pose a question.
• In older forms of English, when the pronoun thou was in active use, and verbs used -est for distinct second-person singular indicative forms, the verb ask had the form askest, and had askedst for its past tense.
• Similarly, when the ending -eth was in active use for third-person singular present indicative forms, the form asketh was used.

Hyponyms[edit]

• beg, beseech, demand, enquire, entreat, frain, implore, interrogate, petition, prompt, query, question, request, solicit, supplicate

Derived terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

Noun[edit]

ask (plural asks)

1. An act or instance of asking.

   • 2005, Laura Fredricks, The ask:

     To ask for a gift is a privilege, a wonderful expression of commitment to and ownership of the organization. Getting a yes to an ask can be a rush, but asking for the gift can and should be just as rewarding.

   • 2022 December 14, Christian Wolmar, “No Marston Vale line trains… and no one in charge seems to ‘give a damn’”, in RAIL, number 972, page 46:

     That really does not seem much of an ask.

2. Something asked or asked for.

   Synonym: request

   I know this is a big ask, but …

   • 2008, Doug Fields, Duffy Robbins, Speaking to Teenagers:

     Communication researchers call this the foot-in-the-door syndrome. Essentially it’s based on the observation that people who respond positively to a small “ask” are more likely to respond to a bigger “ask” later on.

3. An asking price.
4. (Internet) A message sent to a blog on social networking platform Tumblr, which can be publicly posted and replied to by the recipient.
   • 2017, Abigail Oakley, «Supporting one another: Nonbinary community building on Tumblr», in Sex in the Digital Age (eds. Isabel K. Düsterhöft & Paul G. Nixon), unnumbered page:

     Answering ‘asks‘ like this is one common way that Tumblr bloggers interact with their followers, so it is in the act of publicly answering these asks that I examine community building practices.

   • 2018, Lynette Kvasny & Fay Cobb Payton, «African American Youth Tumbling Toward Mental Health Support-Seeking and Positive Academic Outcomes», in Diversifying Digital Learning: Online Literacy and Educational Opportunity (eds. Amanda Ochsner, William G. Tierney, & Zoë B. Corwin), page 168:

     The following example from Black Mental Health illustrates an ask from an anonymous follower seeking social support: […]

   • 2020, Lee Brown, «Behind the Scenes of a Popular Trans Youth Resources Tumblr», in A Tumblr Book: Platforms and Cultures (eds. Alexander Cho, Allison McCracken, Indira N. Hoch, & Louisa Stein), page 265:

     Once the number of unanswered Asks in the inbox was over eight thousand, despite us deleting everything accumulated in the inbox once a year.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:ask.

Derived terms[edit]

• bid-ask spread
• big ask
• tough ask

Etymology 2[edit]

From Middle English aske, arske, ascre, from Old English āþexe (“lizard, newt”), from Proto-West Germanic *agiþahsijā (“lizard”), a compound of *agiz (“snake, lizard”) + *þahsuz (“badger”). Cognate of German Echse (“lizard”).

Alternative forms[edit]

• asker, ascar, askerd, askard

Noun[edit]

ask (plural asks)

1. (UK dialectal and Scotland) An eft; newt.

   • 1876, S. Smiles, Scottish Naturalist:

     He looked at the beast. It was not an eel. It was very like an ask.

2. (UK dialectal) A lizard.
   • 1951, Malcolm Arthur Smith, The British Amphibians & Reptiles (page 258)

     We hear of Adder dens, but detailed accounts of the discovery of one are very rare. Service (1902) records that a peatman, when levelling on an estate by the Solway, found in a hole in the ground, some 8 inches below the surface, 40 adders, 10 toads and a large number of asks (lizards).

Anagrams[edit]

• AKs, KAs, KSA, SAK, SKA, aks, kas, ska

Danish[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old Norse askr, from Proto-Germanic *askaz.

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): /ask/

Noun[edit]

ask c (singular definite asken, plural indefinite aske)

1. ash tree (Fraxinus spp.), especially, common ash (tree, Fraxinus excelsior)

Declension[edit]

References[edit]

• “ask” in Den Danske Ordbog

Faroese[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

• askur m

Etymology[edit]

From Old Norse askr, from Proto-Germanic *askaz, *askiz.

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): /ask/

Noun[edit]

ask f (genitive singular askar, plural askir)

1. ash tree
2. ash wood

Declension[edit]

Declension of ask
f2	singular	plural
indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	ask	askin	askir	askirnar
accusative	ask	askina	askir	askirnar
dative	ask	askini	askum	askunum
genitive	askar	askarinnar	aska	askanna

Icelandic[edit]

Noun[edit]

ask

1. indefinite accusative singular of askur

Northern Kurdish[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

• asik

Etymology[edit]

Ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱ-. Confer Persian آهو‎ (âhu).

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): /ɑːsk/

Noun[edit]

ask f (Arabic spelling ئاسک‎)

1. gazelle
2. deer

Declension[edit]

References[edit]

• Chyet, Michael L. (2020), “ask”, in Ferhenga Birûskî: Kurmanji–English Dictionary (Language Series; 1), volume 1, London: Transnational Press, page 14

Norwegian Bokmål[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old Norse askr, from Proto-Germanic *askaz.

Noun[edit]

ask m (definite singular asken, indefinite plural asker, definite plural askene)

1. European ash (ash tree) Fraxinus excelsior

References[edit]

• “ask” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old Norse askr, from Proto-Germanic *askaz. Akin to English ash.

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): /ɑsk/

Noun[edit]

ask m (definite singular asken, indefinite plural askar, definite plural askane)

1. European ash (ash tree) Fraxinus excelsior

References[edit]

• “ask” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Old Norse[edit]

Noun[edit]

ask

1. accusative singular of askr

Old Saxon[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Proto-West Germanic *ask.

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): /ɑs̺k/

Noun[edit]

ask m

1. ash tree
2. spear

Declension[edit]

Descendants[edit]

• Middle Low German: esk
  • Plautdietsch: Asch

Swedish[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old Swedish asker, from Old Norse askr, from Proto-Germanic *askaz, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ōs- (“ash”).

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

ask c

1. European ash (tree) Fraxinus excelsior
2. a small box (with a loose lid)

   Synonyms: låda, skrin

Declension[edit]

Declension of ask
	Singular	Plural
Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	ask	asken	askar	askarna
Genitive	asks	askens	askars	askarnas

Descendants[edit]

• → Finnish: aski

Further reading[edit]

• ask in Svensk ordbok.

Anagrams[edit]

• sak, ska