The Meaning of FAQ: What It Is and How To Use It

Do you know the definition of FAQ? This article will provide you with all of the information you need on the acronym FAQ, including its definition, examples of FAQ, usage, other potential means, and more!

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What does the term FAQ mean?

According to Cyber Definitions, the term FAQ stands for frequently asked questions. This abbreviation is considered an initialism, which means the pronunciation is “F-A-Q” and not “fack.” This refers to lists of questions on websites that provide basic information about a company or site. These common questions are in a question and answer format. The questions are listed there due to the frequency at which they have been asked to the company by newcomers. FAQ pages on a given subject are very common. These are not secrets, but merely guidelines to a particular subject or textual media on online forums. This ordered array of items of list of answers are usually sorted into categories in a database so users of a website can easily locate the question they have. An FAQ list is a great thing to have on a website in addition to live advice and instruction manuals to answer customer’s questions on a particular topic. Try using this shorthand today! 

The term FAQ can stand for many things aside from frequently asked questions. Take a look at this list of other potential definitions from The Free Dictionary. When in doubt, use the full form of FAQ.

  •  Fair Average Quality
  •  Foire Aux Questions (French)
  •  Financial Aid Questionnaire (education financing)
  •  Frequently Asked Question
  •  Facts, Answers, Questions
  •  Femmes Autochtones du Québec (French: Quebec Native Women; Canada)
  •  Foire Aux Question (French: Frequenty Asked Question)
  •  First Article Qualification
  •  Freaking Annoying Questions (polite version)
  •  Fine Arts Quartet (various locations)

Many different languages also contain words that mean question. You may notice that some of these words look and sound similar to each other. These are called cognates, which are often formed when two words have the same root or language of origin like Latin or Greek. This list of translations of question is provided by Word Sense.

  •  Scottish Gaelic: ceist‎ (fem.)
  •  Maltese: kwistjoni‎ (fem.), mistoqsija‎ (fem.)
  •  Vietnamese: câu hỏi‎
  •  Norwegian: spørsmål‎
  •  Khmer: សំនួរ‎ (sɑmnuə)
  •  Asturian: entruga‎ (fem.), pregunta‎ (fem.)
  •  Chuvash: ыйту‎
  •  Friulian: domande‎ (fem.)
  •  Romansch: dumonda‎ (fem.)
  •  Polish: pytanie‎ (neut.)
  •  Adyghe: упчӏэ‎
  •  Ladino: פריגונטה‎ (pregunto)
  •  Thai: คำถาม‎
  •  Slovene: vprašanje‎ (neut.)
  •  Bashkir: һорау‎
  •  Middle Persian: pursišn‎
  •  Marathi: प्रश्न‎
  •  Shor: сурағ‎ (surağ)
  •  Southern Altai: сурак‎ (suraq)
  •  Latin: rogatio‎ (fem.)
  •  Belarusian: пыта́нне‎ (neut.)
  •  Finnish: kysymys‎
  •  Bengali: প্রশ্ন‎
  •  Oriya: ପ୍ରଶ୍ନ‎
  •  Uzbek: soʻroq‎, savol‎
  •  Turkish: soru‎
  •  Czech: otázka‎ (fem.)
  •  Swedish: fråga‎ (common), spörsmål‎ (neut.), spörjning‎ (common)
  •  Catalan: pregunta‎ (fem.)
  •  Dutch: vraag‎ (fem.)
  •  Irish: ceist‎ (fem.)
  •  Japanese: 質問‎ (しつもん, shitsumon)
  •  Malayalam: ചോദ്യം‎
  •  Interlingua: question‎
  •  Sanskrit: प्रश्न‎
  •  Urdu: سوال‎, پرشن‎
  •  Tibetan: དོགས་གནད‎
  •  Baluchi: جست‎ (just), سوال‎ (sawál, suwál)
  •  Lao: ຄຳຖາມ‎
  •  Hungarian: kérdés‎
  •  Macedonian: прашање‎ (neut.)
  •  Gujarati: પ્રશ્ન‎ (praśn)
  •  Burmese: ပုစ္ဆာ‎, အမေး‎
  •  Southern Sami: gyhtjelasse‎
  •  Malay: soalan‎, pertanyaan‎, tanya‎
  •  Abkhaz: азҵаара‎
  •  Cyrillic: пи́та̄ње‎ (neut.)
  •  Occitan: question‎ (fem.)
  •  Indonesian: pertanyaan‎, soal‎
  •  Aromanian: ãntribari‎ (fem.)
  •  Armenian: հարց‎
  •  Kyrgyz: суроо‎
  •  Buryat: асуудал‎
  •  Yiddish: פֿראַגע‎ (fem.)
  •  Kumyk: сорав‎ (soraw), суал‎ (sual)
  •  Estonian: küsimus‎
  •  Sorani: پرسیار‎
  •  Latvian: jautājums‎ (masc.)
  •  Venetian: dimanda‎ (fem.)
  •  Norman: tchestchion‎ (fem.)
  •  Lithuanian: klausimas‎ (masc.)
  •  Khakas: сурағ‎, сурығ‎
  •  Italian: domanda‎ (fem.)
  •  Roman: pítānje‎ (neut.)
  •  Ossetian: фарст‎
  •  Slovak: otázka‎ (fem.)
  •  Koryak: пыӈлон‎ (pəŋlon)
  •  White Hmong: lo lus noog‎
  •  Swahili: swali‎
  •  Waray-Waray: paki-ana‎, pangutana‎
  •  Korean: 질문‎ (質問‎)
  •  Afrikaans: vraag‎
  •  Kannada: ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆ‎
  •  Tamil: கேள்வி‎
  •  Azeri: sual‎
  •  Pashto: پوښتنه‎ (pūŝtanâ)
  •  Basque: galdera‎, itaun‎
  •  Karakalpak: soraw‎, sawal‎
  •  Punjabi: ਸਵਾਲ‎ (savāl)
  •  Portuguese: questão‎ (fem.), pergunta‎ (fem.)
  •  Uyghur: سوئلا‎, سوراق‎
  •  Mandarin: 問題‎, 问题‎ (wèntí)
  •  Lojban: preti‎
  •  Turkmen: sorag‎, sowal‎
  •  Navajo: naʼídíkid‎
  •  Chamicuro: inajpeki‎
  •  Hindi: सवाल‎ (masc.), प्रश्न‎ (masc.)
  •  Russian: вопро́с‎ (masc.)
  •  Welsh: cwestiwn‎ (masc.)
  •  Galician: pregunta‎ (fem.), cuestión‎ (fem.)
  •  Icelandic: spurning‎ (fem.), spursmál‎ (neut.)
  •  Crimean Tatar: sual‎
  •  Ido: questiono‎
  •  Chechen: хаттар‎
  •  Albanian: pyetje‎ (fem.)
  •  Scots: quaisten‎
  •  Sicilian: dumanna‎ (fem.), dimanna‎ (fem.), dimanna‎ (fem.), dumanna‎ (fem.)
  •  Karachay-Balkar: соруу‎ (soruw)
  •  French: question‎ (fem.)
  •  Nepali: प्रश्न‎ (praśn)
  •  Hawaiian: nīnau‎, ui‎
  •  Taos: cìakǫ’óna‎
  •  Faroese: spurningur‎ (masc.)
  •  Georgian: კითხვა‎, საკითხი‎
  •  Romanian: întrebare‎ (fem.)
  •  Tuvan: айтырыг‎
  •  Bulgarian: въпро́с‎ (masc.), питане‎ (neut.), запитване‎ (neut.)
  •  Yakut: ыйытыы‎
  •  Ukrainian: пита́ння‎ (neut.)
  •  Tajik: пурсиш‎, савол‎
  •  Yup’ik: apyun‎
  •  German: Frage‎ (fem.), Anfrage‎ (fem.)
  •  Malagasy: fanontaniana‎
  •  Maori: pātai‎, ui‎, whakaui‎
  •  Kazakh: сұрақ‎, сұрау‎
  •  Tagalog: tanong‎
  •  Cherokee: ᎠᏛᏛᎲᏍᎩ‎
  •  Hebrew: שְׁאֵלָה‎
  •  Telugu: ప్రశ్న‎
  •  Skolt Sami: kõõččmoš‎
  •  Lezgi: жузна‎
  •  Arabic: سُؤَال‎ (masc.)
  •  Danish: spørgsmål‎ (common)
  •  Kalmyk: сурвр‎
  •  Tatar: сорау‎
  •  Persian: پرسش‎ (porseš), سؤال‎ (so’âl)
  •  Sinhalese: ප්‍රශ්‍නය‎
  •  Greek: ερώτηση‎ (fem.)
  •  Luxembourgish: Fro‎ (fem.)
  •  Spanish: pregunta‎ (fem.), cuestión‎ (fem.)
  •  Esperanto: demando‎
  •  Mongolian: асуудал‎

What are synonyms and antonyms of FAQ?

There are many different equivalent words for the term FAQ. These are called synonyms, which are especially important to know if you are trying to say FAQ in a polite way that is more appropriate for formal or professional situations. It is not okay to use chat slang in formal or professional situations, so stick to one of these synonyms from Power Thesaurus instead. 

  •  contest
  •  thing
  •  questioned
  •  questions
  •  problem
  •  pump
  •  interview
  •  canvass
  •  inquire
  •  disbelieve
  •  investigate
  •  case
  •  doubted
  •  point
  •  distrust
  •  doubtfulness
  •  theme
  •  request
  •  interrogation
  •  catechize
  •  sound out
  •  demand
  •  debate
  •  probe
  •  enigma
  •  query
  •  challenge
  •  interrogate
  •  subject
  •  call into question
  •  poll
  •  puzzle
  •  concern
  •  dubiousness
  •  matter
  •  quiz
  •  enquiry
  •  topic
  •  doubt
  •  dispute
  •  ask
  •  inquiry
  •  mistrust
  •  issues
  •  examine
  •  issue
  •  cross-examine
  •  suspect
  •  grill
  •  trouble

There are also numerous different words that mean the opposite of question. These are called antonyms, which are words and phrases that are also useful in expanding your English language vocabulary. Any of these could be sued in a situation in which it is inappropriate to use a slang term. This list of antonyms is provided by Power Thesaurus as well.

  •  accept
  •  agree on something
  •  consider
  •  disregard
  •  key
  •  retort
  •  believe in
  •  harmony
  •  support
  •  have confidence in
  •  calm
  •  sureness
  •  confidence
  •  be secure in one’s belief
  •  agree
  •  resolution
  •  solution
  •  clarification
  •  believe
  •  be certain
  •  definiteness
  •  conviction
  •  hope
  •  word
  •  contentment
  •  be convinced by
  •  reply
  •  puzzle piece
  •  concord
  •  be absolutely sure
  •  respond
  •  clarity
  •  explanation
  •  calmness
  •  doubtlessness
  •  claim
  •  be unshakeable in one’s belief
  •  interpretation
  •  count on
  •  answer
  •  trust
  •  confirm
  •  accord
  •  depend on
  •  agreement
  •  explication
  •  response
  •  be in no doubt
  •  resolve
  •  certainty

Overall, FAQ means frequently asked questions. This is normally a webpage found on a company website.

Sources:

  1. question: meaning, origin, translation | Word Sense 
  2. Question synonyms – 3 230 Words and Phrases for Question | Power Thesaurus 
  3. Question antonyms – 1 152 Opposites of Question | Power Thesaurus  
  4. FAQ | What Does FAQ Mean? | Cyber Definitions 
  5. FAQ – What does FAQ stand for? | The Free Dictionary