Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “porter” come from?

Porter comes from Middle English porter, from Anglo-Norman portour, from Late Latin portarius, an agent noun formed with the suffix -arius from Latin portāre meaning "to carry," ultimately from Proto-Indo-European per-.

porter (English): A person who carries luggage and related objects;...

Definitions

  1. A person who carries luggage and related objects;...

Ancestry of “porter”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishporter—
2Old Frenchportourcarrier; bearer
3Old Frenchporterto carry; to carry a child
4Old French-mentUsed to form adverbs, most of the time equivalent...
5Latin-mentuminstrument, medium, or result of; e.g....
6Latin-mentanominative plural of -mentum; accusative plural...
7Proto-Indo-European-mn̥Creates action nouns or result nouns from verbs

Words derived from “porter”

  • portress
  • porterhouse
  • porterage
  • symporter
  • uniporter
  • porterly
  • porterless
  • Tuscan porterhouse
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -mn̥ →