guardian angel

English

WOTD – 3 June 2012

A postcard depicting a guardian angel

Etymology

guardian + angel

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

Noun

guardian angel (plural guardian angels)

1. (religion) A tutelary angel watching over a particular person in monotheistic contexts.
   • 1926, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Land of Mist‎^[1]:

     "We may call them 'guardian angels' as the Catholics do, or 'guides' or 'controls', but whatever you call them, they really do exist and they guard us from evil on the spiritual plane."

2. (figuratively) A person who watches over another.

Hypernyms

• (tutelary spirit): angel; see also Thesaurus:spirit
• (protector): caretaker, tutelary

Translations

spirit

• Arabic: مَلَاك حَارِس m (malāk ḥāris)
• Armenian: պահապան հրեշտակ (hy) (pahapan hreštak)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 守護天使／守护天使 (shǒuhù tiānshǐ), 守护天使 (shǒuhù tiānshǐ)

• Crimean Tatar: qoruyıcı melek
• Czech: anděl strážný, anděl strážce
• Danish: skytsengel
• Dutch: beschermengel (nl) m, engelbewaarder (nl) m
• Esperanto: gardanĝelo
• Estonian: kaitseingel (et)
• Finnish: suojelusenkeli (fi)
• French: ange gardien (fr) m
• German: Schutzengel (de) m
• Greek: φυλακάγγελος m (fylakángelos)
• Gujarati: પાલક દેવદૂત (pālak devdūt)
• Hungarian: őrangyal (hu)
• Irish: aingeal coimhdeachta m
• Italian: angelo custode m
• Japanese: 守護天使 (しゅごてんし, shugotenshi)
• Korean: 수호천사 (ko) (suhocheonsa)
• Latin: angelus custōs m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Maori: anahera kaitiaki
• Navajo: diyin naalʼaʼí naa áhályánígíí
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: skytsengel m

  Nynorsk: skytsengel m

• Persian: فرشتهٔ نگهبان (ferešte-ye negahbân)
• Plautdietsch: Schutzenjel m
• Polish: Anioł Stróż (pl) m
• Portuguese: anjo da guarda m
• Romanian: înger păzitor (ro)
• Russian: а́нгел-храни́тель (ru) m (ángel-xranítelʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: анђео чувар m

  Roman: anđeo čuvar m

• Slovak: anjel strážny
• Spanish: ángel protector m, ángel de la guarda (es) m
• Swedish: skyddsängel
• Tagalog: anghel na bantay, hilagyo
• Tamil: காவல் தேவதை (ta) (kāval tēvatai)
• Turkish: koruyucu melek
• Uyghur: قوغدىغۇچى پەرىشتە (qoghdighuchi perishte)
• Vietnamese: thiên thần hộ mệnh.

person

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 守護天使／守护天使 (shǒuhù tiānshǐ), 守护天使 (shǒuhù tiānshǐ)

• Finnish: suojelija (fi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• French: ange gardien (fr) m
• Hungarian: őrangyal (hu)
• Polish: anioł stróż (pl) m
• Slovak: anjel strážny

See also

• daimon, genius, genius hominis, tutelary deity (similar concepts in polytheistic contexts)