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porter

noun · verb

Simple meaning

A person use to carry luggage and supplies.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

pawrter

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈpɔɹtɚ

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. A person employed to carry luggage and supplies

  2. A person who carries luggage and related objects.

  3. countableuncountablebeer

    A strong, dark ale, originally favored by porters (etymology 1, sense 1), similar to a stout but less strong.

  4. countable

    A person in control of the entrance to a building.

  5. A railroad employee who assists passengers (especially on sleeping cars)

  6. United States writer of novels and short stories (1890-1980)

verb

  1. To serve as a porter; to carry.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B2 · Upper Intermediate
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: A person employed to carry luggage and supplies

Used this way, porter is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Nearby words

  • pullman porter , rarer, so it draws attention
  • redcap , rarer, so it draws attention

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Strong

miss porter

Control

john porter

Other combinations

hall portermichael porteradmiral portergeneral portercaptain porter

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • portnounBase word

    A place (seaport or airport) where people and merchandise can enter or leave a country.

  • portenounBase word

    The Ottoman court in Constantinople.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • portalnounDerived noun · specialist

    A grand and imposing entrance (often extended metaphorically).

  • portableadjectiveDerived adjective

    Easily or conveniently transported.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • pullman porternounCompound term

    A railroad employee who assists passengers (especially on sleeping cars).

  • hall porternounCompound term

    Someone who guards an entrance.

  • night porternounCompound term

    A porter on duty during the night.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: person employed to carry luggage and supplies

pullman porterRare

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.