Scout

How to spell scout

5 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce scout

What does scout mean?

1. verbTo explore or examine an area in order to gather information or find something.
2. nounA person sent ahead to observe and report, or one who looks for talent.

Scout in a sentence

• verb

  The agent went to scout the neighbourhood for available rental flats.

• noun

  A baseball scout watched the young pitcher from behind the dugout.

• verb

  Managers often scout rival firms for promising staff to recruit.

• noun

  The army scout returned with a detailed report of the enemy positions.

Where does scout come from?

Language of origin: French

The word scout traces back to the Latin verb auscultare, which meant 'to listen attentively' or 'to give ear to', and it survives today in the medical term 'auscultate' that doctors use for listening to the chest. In Old French this softened into escouter, meaning 'to listen', and a scout was originally someone sent ahead to listen out for and gather news of the enemy. Middle English took the word in during the 1300s, where the sense shifted from listening to watching: a scout became a person who goes forward to observe and report. From that came the verb 'to scout', meaning to explore and inspect, and over time the noun spread to talent scouts, sports scouts, and the youth Scouting movement founded in the early 1900s. The single vowel sound spelled 'ou' is the only mild trap, since the word otherwise spells exactly as it sounds.

How the word is built

• scout (from Old French escouter, to listen, ultimately Latin auscultare, to listen attentively)