Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

esquire

/ˈɛskwaɪɚ/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.11 in modern English

Syllables
es-quire
IPA
/ˈɛskwaɪɚ/
16
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A lawyer.

American usage

noun

An honorific sometimes placed after a man's name.

noun

A squire; a youth who in the hopes of becoming a knight attended upon a knight

Archaic

noun

A shield-bearer, but also applied to other attendants.

Obsolete

verb

To attend, wait on, escort.

Obsolete; Transitive verb

noun

The lower of the halves into which a square is divided diagonally, a single gyron, but potentially larger (extending across the shield) or smaller (for example, on Mortimer's arms).

Example Sentences

Etymology

From Middle English esquier, from Old French escuyer, escuier, properly, a shield-bearer (compare modern French écuyer (“shield-bearer, armor-bearer, squire of a knight, esquire, equerry, rider, horseman”)), from Late Latin scūtārius (“shieldmaker, shield-bearer”), from Latin scūtum (“shield”); probably akin to English hide (“to cover”). The term squire is the result of apheresis. Compare equerry, escutcheon.

Origin

Word Breakdown

  • Root: esquier, escuyer, scūtārius, scūtum

Regional Pronunciation

  • American English: /ˈɛskwaɪɚ/
  • British English: /ɪˈskwaɪə/

Usage

Inflected Forms

Derived Forms

Synonyms

Rhymes With

Questions

How do you pronounce esquire?
The recorded pronunciation is /ˈɛskwaɪɚ/.
What does esquire mean?
A lawyer.
Where does esquire come from?
It is traced to Middle English.

How to pronounce esquire

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “esquire”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˈɛskwaɪɚ/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
  3. Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “esquire”.
  4. Repeat and practice — Say “esquire” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.