Added 8 October 2026
port
/pɔːt/ noun
In Latin: portus Wiktionary
noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about port at Wordnik → Where our words come from →
- A place on the coast at which ships can shelter, or dock to load and unload cargo or passengers.
- A town or city containing such a place, a port city.
- The left-hand side of a vessel, including aircraft, when one is facing forward. Used to unambiguously refer to directions relative to the vessel structure, rather than to a person or object on board.
adjective
verb
noun
- An entryway or gate.
- An opening or doorway in the side of a ship, especially for boarding or loading; an embrasure through which a cannon may be discharged; a porthole.
- A small medical appliance installed beneath the skin, connected to a vein by a catheter, and used to inject drugs or to draw blood samples.
Origin
From Old English port, borrowed from Latin portus (“port, harbour”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pértus (“crossing”) (and thus a distant doublet of ford). The directional sense, attested since at least the 1500s, derives from ancient vessels with the steering oar on the right (see etymology of starboard), which therefore had to moor with their left sides facing the dock or wharf. Doublet of fjard, fjord, firth, ford, and Portus.
From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)