Where does “esquire” come from?
Esquire comes from Old French escuier, from Latin scutarius meaning shield-bearer, derived from scutum (shield) and the agent suffix -arius.
esquire (English): A lawyer; A male member of the gentry ranking...
Definitions
- A lawyer; A male member of the gentry ranking...
Ancestry of “esquire”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Old French | escuier | squire; shield-bearer |
| 2 | Latin | scūtārius | — |
| 3 | Latin | scūtum | — |
| 4 | Proto-Indo-European | skei- | to cut, to divide, to separate; to cut, split; to... |
| 5 | Proto-Indo-European | sek- | to cut, cut off, sever |
Words derived from “esquire”