En route means on the way to a destination or in the process of traveling somewhere. It's a French phrase that English speakers borrowed and still use today. If your family is en route to the beach, you're already in the car heading there. If a package is en route, it's traveling toward your house but hasn't arrived yet.

The phrase works for any kind of journey. A pilot might announce that the plane is en route to Denver. A ship carrying cargo might be en route across the Atlantic Ocean. You could even say you grabbed a snack en route to soccer practice, meaning you picked it up on your way there.

While traveling, people sometimes make stops en route to their final destination. A family driving from New York to Florida might stop en route in Virginia to visit relatives, then continue south. The phrase captures that sense of being in motion, already committed to reaching somewhere but not quite there yet.