en passant

American  

[ahn pa-sahnt, ahn pah-sahn] / ˌɑn pæˈsɑnt, ɑ̃ pɑˈsɑ̃ /

adverb

1. (italics) in passing; by the way.

2. Chess. (used when a pawn that has moved two squares is captured by an opponent's pawn commanding the square that was passed.)

---

en passant British  

/ ɒn pæˈsɑːnt, ɑ̃ pasɑ̃ /

adverb

1. in passing: in chess, said of capturing a pawn that has made an initial move of two squares to its fourth rank, bypassing the square where an enemy pawn on its own fifth rank could capture it. The capture is made as if the captured pawn had moved one square instead of two

---

Etymology

Origin of en passant

First recorded in 1655–65

Example Sentences

He neither relies on voiceovers nor films them obliquely à la Polanski, who gives us the poetry en passant.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 14, 2022

Have pretty women, attractive men, guests who are en passant, the flavor of another language.

From Slate • Nov. 6, 2013

She stated that East could ruff with the heart jack and return a heart to dummy’s ace, but either lead would then allow South to score her heart nine with a coup en passant.

From New York Times • Jul. 21, 2013

Five minutes later Jane Haworth, as Prince Siegfried's mother, made a sweeping entrance down the aisle and, en passant, punted my drink into a handbag half a dozen rows in front.

From The Guardian • Jun. 15, 2013

The resultant siege, with its sallies and combats à outrance, we shall forbear to describe, only remarking en passant that, in the mercantile phrase, its details are ‘up to sample.’

From Legends & Romances of Spain by Spence, Lewis