Equestrian

How to spell equestrian

10 letters · 4 syllables

2 of the 33 people asked to spell equestrian in Spelling Garden got it wrong the first time.

How to pronounce equestrian

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does equestrian mean?

1. adjectiveRelating to horse riding or to horses and their riders.
2. nounA person who rides horses, especially one who is skilled or competes.

Equestrian in a sentence

• adjective

  The country estate has its own equestrian centre with stables.

• noun

  As a lifelong equestrian, she trained horses every morning before work.

• adjective

  She bought new equestrian boots before the dressage competition.

• noun

  The club welcomes any equestrian wanting to improve their jumping technique.

Where does equestrian come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin equus, meaning 'horse', from which the Romans formed equester, an adjective describing anything 'belonging to a horseman or to the cavalry'. A Roman of the eques rank was literally a man wealthy enough to keep a horse and serve as mounted cavalry, so the word carried social standing as well as a connection to riding. English adopted equestrian in the seventeenth century, first as an adjective for matters of horse riding and later as a noun for the rider. The same equus root lies behind 'equine' and the equine breeds we still discuss today, though it is worth noting that 'equestrian' is unrelated to 'equal', which comes from the look-alike Latin aequus meaning 'level' or 'even'. That coincidence of spelling is the very thing that trips writers up, since the qu and the unstressed -ian ending give little phonetic warning.

How the word is built

• equ- (from Latin equus: horse)
• -estr- (from equester: of horsemen)
• -ian (relating to / a person who)