- 1紳士敬稱（寫在男性姓名後，如 John Smith, Esq.；台灣書信通常改寫「先生」）
Esquire is a polite title written after a man’s name, most often as Esq., especially on a formal envelope or letter: Thomas Wright, Esq. It is not a job you introduce yourself with in the street. In Britain it has long been a gentleman’s courtesy in addresses, a notch of respect rather than a precise rank. In the United States, lawyers often put Esq. after their names; that legal habit is strong there, and some women lawyers use it too, though the old rule was “for men.” Though actually, the word started as a job: an esquire was a shield-bearer, a young man attending a knight — the same world as squire. That medieval rank ; the leftover is mostly ink on an envelope. Saying “he is an esquire” as if it were doctor or teacher sounds odd in modern English.
組成From Old French escuyer / escuier, “shield-bearer,” from Late Latin scūtārius (shield-bearer / shield-maker), from Latin scūtum, “shield.” English squire is the same word with the first vowel worn off (apheresis).
同家族的字
- squirethe same word, shortened; historically the knight’s shield-bearer
- escutcheonfrom the same Latin scūtum, “shield”; an escutcheon is a shield-shaped coat of arms
原始詞典資料8 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，摘錄並精簡格式，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
esquirenoun詞源 1/ɪˈskwaɪə/
- 1
lawA lawyer.
- 2
A male member of the gentry ranking below a knight.
- I am Robert Shallow, sir; a poor esquire of the county, and one of the king's justices of the peace.
- Esquires and gentlemen are confounded together by Sir Edward Coke, who observes that every esquire is a gentleman, and a gentleman is defined to be one qui arma gerit, who bears coat-armour, the grant of which was thought to add gentility to a man's family. It is indeed a matter somewhat unsettled what constitutes the distinction, or who is a real esquire; for no estate, however large, per se confers this rank upon its owner.
- 3
An honorific sometimes placed after a man's name.
- 4
A gentleman who attends or escorts a lady in public.
- 5
archaicA squire; a youth who in the hopes of becoming a knight attended upon a knight
- 6
obsoleteA shield-bearer, but also applied to other attendants.
- The office of the esquire consisted of several departments; the esquire for the body, the esquire of the chamber, the esquire of the stable, and the carving esquire; the latter stood in the hall at dinner, carved the different dishes, and distributed them to the guests.
esquireverb詞源 1/ɪˈskwaɪə/
- 1
obsoleteTo attend, wait on, escort.
esquirenoun詞源 2/ɪˈskwaɪə/
- 1
raregovernmentheraldryhobbiesThe lower of the halves into which a square is divided diagonally, a single gyron, but potentially larger (extending across the shield) or smaller (for example, on Mortimer's arms).
- Thre pallets between ij Esquires bast dexter and sinister of the second.
- Mortimer, Barry of 6, or & az. an inescutcheon arg. on a chief of the first 2 pallets between as many base esquires of the second.
摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary，已精簡格式；依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用，改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。