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

On an underground train en route to Piccadilly Circus, I got the picture after spotting a newspaper headline.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 7, 2026

The Charles de Gaulle, the flagship of the French navy, and its escorts were transiting through the Suez Canal en route to the southern Red Sea, the defence ministry said.

From Barron's • May 6, 2026

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

The other Internet correspondent on Fischer’s expedition, however, was a client who intended to go all the way to the summit and file daily dispatches for NBC Interactive Media en route.

From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer