router

1 of 3

noun (1)

rout·​er ˈrau̇-tər 

: one that routs: such as

a

: a routing plane

b

: a machine with a revolving vertical spindle and cutter for milling out the surface of wood or metal

router

2 of 3

noun (2)

rout·​er ˈrü-tər 

ˈrau̇-

: one that routes

especially : a device that mediates the transmission routes of data packets over an electronic communications network (such as the Internet)

router

3 of 3

noun (3)

rout·​er ˈrü-tər 

ˈrau̇-

: a horse trained for distance races

Examples of router in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Buy your own equipment: Skip the $10 to $15 monthly rental fee by using your own modem and router. —Roxanne Downer, USA Today, 5 Aug. 2025

The main Orbi 370 router has two-2.5 Gbps Ethernet ports, while the nodes have a single 2.5-Gbps port apiece. —Julian Chokkattu, Wired News, 2 Aug. 2025

The company has custom chips for general-purpose computing and for AI, and designed its own storage servers and networking routers. —Jordan Novet, CNBC, 9 July 2025

The new router has dual-band speeds up to 2,882Mbps on the 5GHz band and 688Mbps on the 2.4GHz band. —Mark Sparrow, Forbes.com, 5 Aug. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Noun (1)

rout entry 4 + -er entry 2

Noun (2)

route entry 2 + -er entry 2

Noun (3)

route entry 1 (in sense "race of a mile or more") + -er entry 2

First Known Use

Noun (1)

1818, in the meaning defined above

Noun (2)

1903, in the meaning defined above

Noun (3)

circa 1951, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for router

• neuter
• pewter
• scooter
• shooter
• suitor
• tutor
• commuter
• computer
• polluter
• recruiter
• microcomputer
• minicomputer

Kids Definition

router

1 of 2 noun

rout·​er ˈrau̇t-ər 

: a machine for cutting out the surface of wood or metal

router

2 of 2 noun

rout·​er ˈrüt-ər 

ˈrau̇t-

: one that routes

especially : a device that sends data from one place to another within a computer network or between computer networks