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

It’s the reset I reach for when I know groceries are en route and the counters feel a little gritty, a little sticky from a day of recipe testing.

From Salon • May 5, 2026

Data about shipments already traveling on the water can give a preview for what’s en route.

From Los Angeles Times • May 3, 2026

In October, Marimar Martinez, en route to a Chicago church to donate clothes, saw an unmarked vehicle she suspected was carrying federal agents.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 1, 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

A prominent abolitionist stopped for a day en route to Chicago and stayed for a week.

From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead