Meaning

noun a statement (either spoken or written) that is made to reply to a question or request or criticism or accusation

noun a statement that solves a problem or explains how to solve the problem

noun the speech act of replying to a question

originEtymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂ent- Proto-Indo-European *-s Proto-Indo-European *h₂éntsder. Proto-Germanic *anda- Proto-Indo-European *swer-der. Proto-Germanic *swarō Proto-Germanic *andaswarō Proto-West Germanic *andaswaru Old English andswaru Middle English answere English answer From Middle English answere, andsware, from Old English andswaru (“answer”), from and- (“against”) + swaru…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0