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porter

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porter¹

  • /ˈpɔɹtɚ/ US
  • /ˈpɔːtə/ UK
  • /ˈpo(ː)ɹtɚ/
  • /ˈpoətə/

Rhymes with -ɔː(ɹ)tə(ɹ)

Where it comes from

From Middle English porter, portere, portier, borrowed from Anglo-Norman portour and Old French porteor, from Late Latin portātor, from past participle of Latin portāre (“to carry”). By surface analysis, port (“to carry”) + -er.

noun porters

  1. A person who carries luggage and related objects; (historically) one who carried luggage or did manual labour in the transloading of cargo. goods porter
  2. An ant having the specialized role of carrying.
  3. One who ports software (makes it usable on another platform). […] useful only if you are a Perl porter or implementor and you want to check the efficiency of the hashing algorithm.

porter²

  • /ˈpɔɹtɚ/ US
  • /ˈpɔːtə/ UK
  • /ˈpo(ː)ɹtɚ/
  • /ˈpoətə/

Rhymes with -ɔː(ɹ)tə(ɹ)

Where it comes from

From Middle English porter, portere, portare, borrowed from Anglo-Norman portour and Old French portier, from Late Latin portarius (“gatekeeper”), from Latin porta (“gate”).

noun porters

  1. countable A person in control of the entrance to a building.
  2. countable An employee who clears and cleans tables and puts bowling balls away.
  3. countable, uncountable A strong, dark ale, originally favored by porters (etymology 1, sense 1), similar to a stout but less strong.
  4. Ireland, countable, uncountable Stout (malt brew). ‘Here, Pat, give us a g.p., like a good fellow.’ The curate brought him a glass of plain porter. The man drank it at a gulp and asked for a caraway seed.

verb porters · portering · portered

  1. To serve as a porter; to carry.

Porter³

Where it comes from

From Middle English Porter, from porter (“porter”),

* From Old French portier (“doorman”), from porte (“door”)

* From Old French portour (“bearer”), from porter (“to carry”)

proper noun Porters

  1. countable, uncountable A surname originating as an occupation. The pixels’ use in a taxpayer context resulted in the “reckless” sharing of legally protected data that could put taxpayers at risk, according to the report by Warren and her Democratic colleagues Sens. Ron Wyden; Richard Blumenthal; Tammy Duckworth; and Sheldon Whitehouse; Sen. Bernie Sanders, an i
  2. countable, uncountable A unisex given name.
  3. countable, uncountable A town in Westchester Township, Porter County, Indiana.
  4. countable, uncountable A town and village in Oxford County, Maine.
  5. countable, uncountable A minor city in Yellow Medicine County and Lincoln County, Minnesota.
  6. countable, uncountable An unincorporated community in Scott County, Missouri.
  7. countable, uncountable A town in Niagara County, New York, named after Augustus Porter.
  8. countable, uncountable An unincorporated community in Gallia County, Ohio.
  9. countable, uncountable A town in Wagoner County, Oklahoma.
  10. countable, uncountable An unincorporated community in Montgomery County, Texas.
  11. countable, uncountable An unincorporated community in Clay County, West Virginia.
  12. countable, uncountable A town in Rock County, Wisconsin.
  13. countable, uncountable A number of townships in the United States, listed under Porter Township.
  14. abbreviation, countable, ellipsis, uncountable Ellipsis of Porter County
  15. abbreviation, countable, ellipsis, uncountable Ellipsis of Porter Crater

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: hall porter, doorman, gatekeeper, doorkeeper, redcap, door guard, pullman porter, carrier, carrying, packer, lodge, lodging, concierge, carry, bolt, labourer

Translations

Every language

noun person who carries luggage

Españolmozo, cargador, changador, changarín, faquín, fardero
한국어짐꾼 jimkkun
हिन्दीक़ुली qulī, कुली kulī, वाहक vāhak, बैरा bairā, मोटिया moṭiyā
Kiswahilihamali
Portuguêscarregador
Françaisporteur
DeutschGepäckträger
Italianofacchino, bastagio
Ελληνικάαχθοφόρος achthofóros
Românăhamal
Русскийноси́льщик nosílʹščik, гру́зчик grúzčik
العربيةحَمَّال ḥammāl

noun person in control of a building entrance

Españolportero
Portuguêsporteiro
DeutschPförtner, Portier
Русскийпортье portʹje

noun strong, dark ale weaker than a stout

Portuguêspórter
Françaisporter
Русскийпо́ртер pórter

name surname

中文波特 Bōtè
FrançaisPorter

name equivalent surname

FrançaisPortier

Talk about this word

Cite this
MLA

"porter." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/porter. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

porter. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/porter

Chicago

"porter." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/porter.

BibTeX
@misc{porter_2026,
  title = {porter},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/porter},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}