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Added 15 October 2026

esquire

/ɪˈskwaɪə/ noun

Latin root: scūtārius Wiktionary

noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about esquire at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

A lawyer.
A male member of the gentry ranking below a knight.
An honorific sometimes placed after a man's name.

verb

To attend, wait on, escort.

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).

Origin

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.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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