'research' originates from Old French, specifically the word 'recercher' (also seen as 'recherche'), where 're-' meant 'again' and 'cercher' (from Old French) meant 'to search'.

'research' changed from Old French 'recercher'/'recherche' into Middle English forms like 'riserch'/'research' and eventually became the modern English word 'research'.

Initially, it meant 'to search closely' or 'search again'; over time it evolved into the modern sense of a systematic investigation or the act of studying something in detail.