Escorted

How to spell escorted

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce escorted

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does escorted mean?

1. verbAccompanied someone or something, typically to guide, protect, or show them out.

Escorted in a sentence

• The security guard escorted the visitor to the front desk.

• Two motorcycles escorted the convoy through the city.

Where does escorted come from?

Language of origin: French

This is the past tense of the verb 'escort', which English took from the French escorte in the late 1500s. The French word was itself borrowed from the Italian scorta, meaning 'a guide' or 'a body of men accompanying someone for protection', a noun drawn from the verb scorgere, 'to guide' or 'to show the way'. Trace it further back and you reach the Latin corrigere, 'to set straight' or 'to make right', formed from com- (an intensifying prefix) and regere, 'to rule, lead or keep straight'. The military sense came first: an escort was an armed party leading travellers safely through dangerous country, and only later did the word soften into the everyday idea of simply accompanying someone. That same regere root sits inside 'correct', 'direct' and 'regent', and the single 'r' and single 't' in 'escort' (no doubling) is the small spelling point worth fixing in memory.

How the word is built

• escort (from Italian scorta: a guide, an accompanying party)
• -ed (past tense/participle suffix)