Plain English Meaning

A jet engine with a big fan at the front. Some of the air goes through the hot middle of the engine to be burned with fuel, and some of it is pushed around the outside by the fan. Both streams together push the airplane forward.

Full Definition

A jet engine that uses a large fan at the front to move a high volume of air. Some of that air passes through the engine core, where it is compressed, mixed with fuel, ignited, and expelled as hot exhaust. The rest of the air bypasses the core and is accelerated by the fan alone. Thrust is produced by combining the bypass airflow with the core exhaust.

Context Anchor

Seen in jet engine basics, aircraft systems descriptions, and preflight discussions of jet engine inlets.