# scout

> English word · Noun · IPA /skaʊt/ · frequency rank #7,498

## Definitions
1. A person sent out to gather and bring back information; especially, one employed in war to gain information about the enemy and ground.
2. An act of scouting or reconnoitering.
3. A member of any number of youth organizations belonging to the international scout movement, such as the Boy Scouts of America or Girl Scouts of the United States.
4. A person who assesses or recruits others; especially, one who identifies promising talent on behalf of a sports team.
5. A person employed to monitor rivals' activities in the petroleum industry.
6. A housekeeper or domestic cleaner, generally female, employed by one of the constituent colleges of Oxford University to clean rooms; generally equivalent to a modern bedder at Cambridge University.
7. A domestic servant, generally male, who would attend (usually several) students in a variety of ways, including cleaning; generally equivalent to a gyp at Cambridge University or a skip at Trinity College, Dublin.
8. A fielder in a game for practice.
9. A fighter aircraft.
10. A preliminary image that allows the technician to make adjustments before the actual diagnostic images.
11. A term of address for a man or boy.

## Etymology
From Middle English scout, scoult, from Old French escoute (“action of listening”), verbal noun from escouter (“to listen, heed”), from Latin auscultō (“to listen”). The verb comes from the noun.

## Easily confused with
- **sou** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/scout-vs-sou)
- **sot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/scout-vs-sot)
- **shot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/scout-vs-shot)
- **sort** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/scout-vs-sort)
- **spot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/scout-vs-spot)
- **soul** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/scout-vs-soul)
- **shut** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/scout-vs-shut)
- **soft** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/scout-vs-soft)
- **soup** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/scout-vs-soup)
- **slot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/scout-vs-slot)
- **sour** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/scout-vs-sour)
- **slut** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/scout-vs-slut)
- **scum** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/scout-vs-scum)
- **sous** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/scout-vs-sous)
- **soot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/scout-vs-soot)
- **snot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/scout-vs-snot)
- **smut** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/scout-vs-smut)
- **swot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/scout-vs-swot)
- **south** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/scout-vs-south)
- **short** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/scout-vs-short)

## Common misspellings (7)
`csout`, `sccout`, `scotu`, `scoutt`, `scuot`, `socut`, `sscout`

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