Wordwyrt

esquire

/ˈeskˌwaɪə/ES-kwyr
/ˈɛskˌwaɪɹ/ES-kwyr

Meaningshield

Common meaning: courtesy title or historical attendant to a knight

Journey through time

  1. Latinscutum‘shield’source
  2. Late Latinseutarius‘shield bearer’source
  3. Old Frenchmeaning shiftsshield bearer → escu, modescuyer‘escu, mod’source
  4. Middle Englishmeaning shiftsescu, mod → attendantsquyer‘attendant’source
  5. Englishesquire‘courtesy title or historical attendant to a knight’ · today

Sources & notes

Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.

Pronunciation

  • UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
  • No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
  • US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
  • No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.

Origin: Built on Latin scutum ‘shield’.

Did you know: our wording, based on Skeat, Etymological Dictionary (1898), entry ESQUIRE, p. 195 · dictionary scan

Roots

Building blocks are an automatic split · open in app