traveller
Pluraltravellers, Travellers
US spellingtraveler
- 1A person who goes on journeys, often to places far away.
My aunt is a keen traveller and has visited thirty countries.
The airport was full of tired travellers waiting for their flights.
UsageWrite two l's: traveller, travelling, travelled.
Similarglobetrotter, tourist, holidaymaker
Note
- 2A person who lives in a caravan, bus or other vehicle instead of a fixed home.
A family of travellers lived in a caravan at the end of the lane.
He became a traveller after selling his flat and moving into an old bus.
Similarnomad
Note
- 3A member of an Irish ethnic group with its own culture and a tradition of travelling from place to place.
Her grandmother was a Traveller who grew up on the roads of County Clare.
Her grandparents were Travellers who lived on the road in the west of Ireland.
UsageWrite it with a capital T: Travellers.
Note
Less common meanings
- 4A person who goes to different places selling things for a company.
My grandfather was a traveller for a soap company and drove all over Scotland.
The shopkeeper ordered new stock from the travellers who called each month.
UsageOften commercial traveller, or a traveller for a company.
Similarsalesman, representative, rep
- 5A member of an ethnic group in Norway with its own culture and a tradition of travelling from place to place.
- 6A rail in a theatre or TV studio that a curtain slides along to open or close.
- 7A metal ring on a ship that slides freely along a rope or pole holding the sails.
- 8A document that follows a part through a factory, giving instructions and recording the work done.
- 9In wiring, one of the two wires joining two switches that work the same light from different places.
- 10In the card game bridge, a paper that is passed round with the cards, where players write their scores.
Used only in American English, spelled traveler: an alcoholic drink in a takeaway cup.
Practice
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Origins
From Middle English. It is travel + -er, and the old word could also mean 'worker'.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Traveller comes from Middle English. en.wiktionary.org
- Traveller is equivalent to travel + -er. en.wiktionary.org
- The Middle English word could also mean ‘worker’. en.wiktionary.org
It comes from the word traveller.