Reporter

How to spell reporter

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce reporter

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does reporter mean?

1. nounA person who gathers and presents news for a newspaper, broadcaster, or website.

Reporter in a sentence

• The reporter filed her story minutes before the deadline.

• A local reporter interviewed witnesses outside the courthouse.

Where does reporter come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin verb reportare, which literally meant 'to carry back' or 'to bring back', formed from the prefix re- ('back') and portare ('to carry'). English took it through Old French reporter, and by the late 1300s the verb 'report' meant to bring back an account of something. The agent noun 'reporter', meaning a person who reports, appears in English from the 1500s, originally for anyone who relayed proceedings or carried a message. Its modern sense, a journalist who gathers and writes news, settled into place during the 1700s and 1800s as newspapers grew. The same portare root still carries through everyday relatives such as 'transport', 'export', and 'porter', all of which involve carrying something somewhere.

How the word is built

• re- (back, again)
• port (carry, from Latin portare)
• -er (one who does)