A noun for the act of asking a question or posing a query; can be used in both casual and formal contexts.
No one answered his question.
The teacher posed a question to the students.
ask a question; pose a question · begin to ask; start questioning
Standard spelling using the common 送り仮名 convention.
Alternate spelling using the less common 掛 kanji; 問いかけ is more frequent.
Compound of 問い (とい, 'question', the continuative form of 問う) + かけ (かけ, 'hanging, putting forth', the continuative form of 掛ける). Literally 'question-putting'.