English Reference
noun

airport

n.
US /ˈɛɹˌpɔɹt/ UK /ˈeəpɔːt/ air·port UK spelling airport's, airport's

  1. 01 A1 Beginner

    a place where airplanes take off and land, with buildings for passengers to wait and check their bags.

    a designated area for aircraft operations, including runways and passenger terminals for commercial travel.

    Simple

    We arrived at the airport three hours before our flight to London.

    In context

    The international airport expanded its primary terminal to accommodate the increasing volume of long-haul flights from emerging markets.

    airfieldaerodrome

Usage airport operator


From 'air' + 'port', a compound formed in the 20th century. No earlier attestation is recorded for the term, though the individual components were in use long before. The construction follows the pattern of other English locative compounds, with 'port' signifying a place of entry or passage.

Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This entry
Level A1 · Beginner
Frequency Very common
Updated