Pioneer

How to spell pioneer

7 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce pioneer

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does pioneer mean?

1. nounA person who is among the first to explore, settle, or develop something new.
2. verbTo be the first to develop, use, or open up something new.

Pioneer in a sentence

• noun

  She is regarded as a pioneer in computer science.

• verb

  The company hopes to pioneer a cheaper way to recycle plastic.

• noun

  The museum honours every pioneer who settled the western plains.

• verb

  A small team set out to pioneer new surgical techniques.

Where does pioneer come from?

Language of origin: French

This word travelled into English from the French pionnier, which originally named a foot soldier sent ahead of an army to dig trenches, clear roads, and prepare the ground for the troops behind. That French term grew out of the Old French peon, meaning a foot soldier or labourer on foot, which itself traces back to the Latin pedem, the accusative form of pes, meaning 'foot'. English borrowed the military sense in the 1500s, and over the following centuries the meaning broadened from a soldier who clears the way to anyone who goes ahead and opens up new territory, whether literal frontier land or a new field of knowledge. The same Latin 'foot' root quietly survives in everyday relatives such as 'pedestrian' and 'pedal'. The spelling trap sits in the middle and end: the unstressed 'io' is easy to slim down, and the '-eer' ending is the same suffix found in 'engineer' and 'volunteer'.

How the word is built

• pion- (from Old French peon: foot soldier, digger)
• -eer (one who does or is concerned with)