# sortie

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈsɔːti/ · frequency rank #46,787

## Definitions
1. An attack made by troops from a besieged position; a sally.
2. An operational flight carried out by a single military aircraft.
3. An act of venturing out to do a task, etc.
4. An act of trying to enter a new field of activity.
5. An attacking move.
6. An operational flight carried out by a spacecraft involving a return to Earth.
7. Synonym of sally port (“an entry to or opening into a fortification to enable a sally”).
8. A series of aerial photographs taken during the flight of an aircraft; (by extension) a photography session.

## Etymology
PIE word
 *upó
The noun is borrowed from French sortie (“act of exiting; exit, way out; (military) sally, sortie”), the feminine past participle of sortir (“to exit, go out”), from Old French sortir, from Latin sortīrī, the present active infinitive of sortior (“to cast or draw lots; to choose, select; to distribute, divide; to obtain, receive; to share”), from sors (“something used to determine chances, a lot; casting or drawing of lots; decision by lot; a share”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ser- (“to bind, tie together; a thread”)), possibly influenced by surrēctus (“arisen, having been caused to arise; gotten up, having been gotten up”), the perfect passive participle of surgō (“to arise, get up, rise”), from subrigō (“to lift up; to straighten”), from sub- (prefix meaning ‘beneath, under’) + regō (“to direct, guide, steer; to govern, rule; to manage, oversee”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ- (“to right oneself, straighten; just; right”)).
The verb is derived from the noun.

## Easily confused with
- **sorts** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sortie-vs-sorts)
- **sort** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sort-vs-sortie)
- **sore** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sore-vs-sortie)
- **serie** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/serie-vs-sortie)
- **sorta** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sorta-vs-sortie)
- **Sophie** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sophie-vs-sortie)
- **sorted** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sorted-vs-sortie)
- **soothe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/soothe-vs-sortie)
- **sordid** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sordid-vs-sortie)
- **Scottie** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/scottie-vs-sortie)

## Common misspellings (8)
`osrtie`, `sorite`, `sorrtie`, `sortei`, `sorttie`, `sotrie`, `srotie`, `ssortie`

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