# esquire

> English word · Noun · IPA /ɪˈskwaɪə/ · frequency rank #25,052

## Definitions
1. A lawyer.
2. A male member of the gentry ranking below a knight.
3. An honorific sometimes placed after a man's name.
4. A gentleman who attends or escorts a lady in public.
5. A squire; a youth who in the hopes of becoming a knight attended upon a knight
6. A shield-bearer, but also applied to other attendants.

## Etymology
From Middle English esquier, from Old French escuyer, escuier, properly, a shield-bearer (compare modern French écuyer (“shield-bearer, armor-bearer, squire of a knight, esquire, equerry, rider, horseman”)), from Late Latin scūtārius (“shieldmaker, shield-bearer”), from Latin scūtum (“shield”); probably akin to English hide (“to cover”). The term squire is the result of apheresis. Compare equerry, escutcheon.

## Easily confused with
- **equine** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/equine-vs-esquire)
- **enquiry** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/enquiry-vs-esquire)
- **enquire** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/enquire-vs-esquire)
- **enquirer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/enquirer-vs-esquire)

## Common misspellings (9)
`eqsuire`, `esqiure`, `esqquire`, `esquier`, `esquirre`, `esqurie`, `essquire`, `esuqire`, `sequire`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/esquire