en route

American  

[ahn root, en, ahn root] / ɑn ˈrut, ɛn, ɑ̃ ˈrut /

adverb

1. on the way.

   The plane crashed en route from Cairo to Athens.

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en route British  

/ ɑ̃ rut, ɒn ˈruːt /

adverb

1. on or along the way; on the road

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en route Idioms  

1. On or along the way, as in We'll pick up Dan en route to the restaurant, or We can finish our discussion en route. This French term was adopted into English in the late 1700s.

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Etymology

Origin of en route

Borrowed into English from French around 1770–80

Example Sentences

At 8:27 p.m., he pulled up a live feed of Trump en route to the event.

From Los Angeles Times • May 3, 2026

More than five weeks after a humpback whale became stranded in shallow waters on the German coast, a barge has ferried the animal out of German waters, en route to the North Sea.

From BBC • Apr. 29, 2026

It also seized an Iranian-flagged ship, Touska, which was en route to Iran’s Bandar Abbas on Sunday, after it failed to comply with warnings over a six-hour period, U.S.

From Barron's • Apr. 21, 2026

And his Dodgers teammates put runs on the board like they were logs in the fireplace, scoring at least one run every inning until the sixth inning en route to a breezy 7-1 victory.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 17, 2026

Finally I buy a slice of take-out pizza and devour it en route, with my fingers, folding it in two and gnawing.

From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood