Explore

How to spell explore

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce explore

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does explore mean?

1. verbTo travel through or examine something in order to discover or learn about it.

Explore in a sentence

• The team will explore several funding options before deciding.

• They booked a long weekend to explore the old harbour town.

Where does explore come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin verb explorare, which combined ex-, meaning 'out', with plorare, meaning 'to cry out' or 'to wail'. The most widely accepted explanation is that the term began as a hunting word: hunters would shout to flush out their quarry, so explorare carried the sense of searching by drawing something into the open. From that vivid root it broadened to mean 'to investigate' or 'to examine thoroughly'. English took the word in during the late 1500s, partly through French explorer, originally with the sense of searching out or examining a place or matter. By the age of sea voyages it had settled into its familiar meaning of travelling through unknown regions to learn about them, and the buried plorare ('to cry out') is a useful reminder that the second syllable is spelled with 'plor', not 'plore' twice over.

How the word is built

• ex- (out)
• plor (from plorare: to cry out)
• -e (verb ending)