ambassador

See also: ambassadör

English

Alternative forms

• ambassadour (obsolete)
• embassador (archaic)
• embassadour (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English ambassadore, from Anglo-Norman ambassadeur, from Old Italian ambassadore, from Old Occitan ambaisador (“ambassador”), derivative of ambaissa (“service, mission, errand”), from Medieval Latin ambasiator, from Gothic 𐌰𐌽𐌳𐌱𐌰𐌷𐍄𐌹 (andbahti, “service, function”), from Proto-Germanic *ambahtiją (“service, office”), derivative of Proto-Germanic *ambahtaz (“servant”), from Gaulish ambaxtos, from Proto-Celtic *ambaxtos, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂m̥bʰi-h₂eǵ- (“drive around”), from *h₂m̥bʰi- (“around”) + *h₂eǵ- (“to drive”).

Displaced native Old English ǣrendraca.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /æmˈbæs.ə.də(ɹ)/

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /æmˈbæs.ə.dɚ/, /æmˈbæs.əˌdɔɹ/

Noun

ambassador (plural ambassadors)

1. A minister of the highest rank sent to a foreign court to represent there his sovereign or country. (Sometimes called ambassador-in-residence)
   • 1982, Orville T. Murphy, Charles Gravier, Comte de Vergennes: French Diplomacy in the Age of Revolution, 1719-1787:

     Vergenne'fury reached its height when the priest tried to involve the English ambassador.

2. An official messenger and representative.
   • 1856, Mrs. William Busk, Mediæval Popes, Emperors, Kings, and Crusaders: Or, Germany, Italy and Palestine, from A.D. 1125 to A.D. 1268‎^[1], volume IV, London: Hookham and Sons, →OCLC, page 294:

     The new accusation brought by Urban against Manfred of murdering his sister-in-law's embassador – it may be observed that, tacitly, he acquits him of parricide, fratricide, and nepoticide – requires a little explanation.

3. A corporate representative, often the public face of the company.

   As front hall porter, you are an ambassador for the hotel.

Usage notes

• In English the preferred construction is (Nationality) ambassador to (Country) (the French ambassador to the United States) or ambassador of (Sending Country) to (Receiving Country) (the ambassador of France to the United States).

Derived terms

• amb.
• ambassador-at-large
• ambassadorial
• ambassadorless
• ambassadorship
• ambassadress
• ambassadry
• glambassador
• goodwill ambassador

 

Related terms

• embassy

Translations

minister

• Afrikaans: ambassadeur
• Arabic: سَفِير m (safīr), سَفِيرَة f (safīra)

  Egyptian Arabic: سفير m (safīr)

• Armenian: դեսպան (hy) (despan)
• Asturian: embaxador m, embaxadora f
• Bulgarian: пра́теник (bg) m (prátenik), пра́теница f (prátenica)
• Catalan: ambaixador (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 大使 (zh) (dàshǐ)

• Coptic: ⲡⲣⲉⲥⲃⲉⲩⲧⲏⲥ m (presbeutēs)
• Czech: velvyslanec (cs) m
• Danish: ambassadør (da) c
• Dutch: ambassadeur (nl) m
• Finnish: suurlähettiläs (fi)
• French: ambassadeur (fr) m, ambassadrice (fr) f
• Galician: embaixador m, embaixadora f
• German: Botschafter (de) m
• Greek: πρέσβης (el) m (présvis)

  Ancient: πρεσβεύς m (presbeús), πρεσβευτής m (presbeutḗs)

• Gujarati: રાજદૂત (rājdūt)
• Hebrew: שַׁגְרִיר (he) m (shagrír), שגרירה f (shagrira)
• Hindi: दूत (hi) m (dūt), राजदूत (hi) m (rājdūt)
• Hungarian: nagykövet (hu)
• Icelandic: sendiherra m, (dated) ambassadör
• Indonesian: duta (id)
• Irish: ambasadóir m
• Italian: ambasciatore (it) m, ambasciatrice (it) f
• Japanese: 大使 (ja) (たいし, taishi)
• Khmer: ឯកអគ្គរដ្ឋទូត (aek a’kea roattʰa’ tuut)
• Korean: 대사(大使) (ko) (daesa)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: بالیۆز (ckb) (balyoz)

  Northern Kurdish: sefîr (ku), ambasador (ku)

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Kyrgyz: элчи (ky) (elci)
• Latin: lēgātus (la) m
• Macedonian: амбаса́дор m (ambasádor), амбасадорка f (ambasadorka)
• Malay: duta

  Jawi: دوتا

• Maltese: ambaxxatur
• Navajo: naalchiʼí
• Norman: ambassadeu m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: ambassadør (no) m

  Nynorsk: ambassadør m

• Occitan: ambaissador (oc) m, ambaissairitz (oc) f
• Old English: ǣrendraca m
• Oriya: ଦୁତ (duta)
• Persian: سفیر (fa) (safir), آمباسادور (âmbâsâdor), ایلچی (fa) (ilči) (obsolete)
• Polish: ambasador (pl) m, ambasadorka f
• Portuguese: embaixador (pt) m, embaixadora (pt) f
• Romanian: ambasador (ro) m, ambasadoare f
• Russian: посо́л (ru) m (posól)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: амбасадор m, велепосланик m (Croatia), велепосланица f (Croatia)

  Roman: ambasador (sh) m, veleposlanik (sh) m (Croatia), veleposlanica (sh) f (Croatia)

• Slovene: veleposlanik (sl) m, ambasador (sl) m
• Sotho: moambasadara
• Spanish: embajador (es) m, embajadora (es) f
• Swahili: balozi (sw)
• Swedish: ambassadör (sv) c
• Tagalog: sugo, embahador (tl)
• Turkish: büyükelçi (tr)
• Urdu: سفیر (safīr), وزیر (ur) (vazīr)

representative

• Afrikaans: ambassadeur
• Albanian: ambasador (sq) m
• Amharic: አምባሳደር (ʾämbasadär)
• Arabic: سَفِير m (safīr), سَفِيرَة f (safīra)
• Armenian: դեսպան (hy) (despan)
• Azerbaijani: səfir (az), elçi

  Cyrillic: сәфир

  Persic: سفیر

• Belarusian: пасо́л m (pasól), амбаса́дар m (ambasádar)
• Bengali: রাষ্ট্রদূত (raśṭrodut)
• Bulgarian: посла́ник (bg) m (poslánik), посла́ничка f (poslánička), посо́л m (posól) (dated, literary)
• Burmese: သံအမတ်ကြီး (sam-a.matkri:), သံအမတ် (my) (sam-a.mat)
• Chechen: векал (vekal)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 大使 (daai⁶ si³)

  Dungan: дашы (dašɨ)

  Hakka: 大使 (thai-sṳ́)

  Mandarin: 大使 (zh) (dàshǐ)

  Min Nan: 大使 (tāi-sài)

• Coptic: ⲡⲣⲉⲥⲃⲉⲩⲧⲏⲥ m (presbeutēs)
• Czech: velvyslanec (cs) m
• Danish: ambassadør (da) c
• Dutch: gezant (nl) m, ambassadeur (nl) m, ambassadrice (nl) f
• Esperanto: ambasadoro (eo) (male), ambasadorino (female)
• Estonian: suursaadik
• Finnish: lähettiläs (fi)
• French: ambassadeur (fr) m, ambassadrice (fr) f
• Georgian: ელჩი (elči)
• German: Botschafter (de) m, Botschafterin (de) f
• Greek: πρεσβευτής (el) m (presveftís), πρεσβευτίνα f (presveftína)
• Gujarati: એલચી (gu) (elacī), રાજદૂત m (rājdūt)
• Hebrew: שַׁגְרִיר (he) m (shagrír)
• Hindi: दूत (hi) m (dūt), राजदूत (hi) m (rājdūt), एलची (hi) m (elcī), सफीर (hi) m (saphīr), नुमाइंदा (hi) m (numāindā), प्रतिनिधि (hi) m (pratinidhi)
• Hungarian: nagykövet (hu)
• Icelandic: sendiherra m
• Ido: ambasadisto (io)
• Indonesian: duta besar (id), duta (id)
• Irish: ambasadóir m
• Italian: ambasciatore (it) m
• Japanese: 大使 (ja) (たいし, taishi)
• Kannada: ರಾಯಭಾರಿ (kn) (rāyabhāri)
• Kazakh: елші (kk) (elşı)
• Khmer: ឯកអគ្គរដ្ឋទូត (ʼaekʼakkĕəʼrŏətthaʼtuut)
• Korean: 대사(大使) (ko) (daesa)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: balyoz (ku), sefîr (ku), ambasador (ku)

• Kyrgyz: элчи (ky) (elci)
• Lao: ທູດ (thūt)
• Latin: legatus (la) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Latvian: vēstnieks m
• Lithuanian: ambasadorius m
• Macedonian: амбаса́дор m (ambasádor), амбасадорка f (ambasadorka)
• Malay: duta, duta besar
• Maori: māngai, māngai kāwanatanga
• Marathi: राजदूत (rājdūt)
• Mongolian: элчин сайд (elčin sajd)
• Moore: tẽn-taag lɛta
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: ambassadør (no) m

• Old East Slavic: посълъ m (posŭlŭ)
• Old English: ǣrendraca m
• Oriya: ରାଷ୍ଟ୍ରଦୂତ (rāshṭraduta)
• Pashto: سفير (ps) m (safír), ايلچي m (ilčí)
• Persian: سفیر (fa) (safir)
• Polish: ambasador (pl) m, ambasadorka f
• Portuguese: embaixador (pt) m, representante (pt) m or f
• Romanian: ambasador (ro) m, reprezentant (ro) m
• Russian: посо́л (ru) m (posól)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: амбасадор m, велепосланик m (Croatia), велепосланица f (Croatia)

  Roman: ambasador (sh) m, veleposlanik (sh) m (Croatia), veleposlanica (sh) f (Croatia), izaslanik (sh)

• Shor: элчи (elçi)
• Sinhalese: තානාපති (tānāpati)
• Slovak: veľvyslanec m
• Slovene: veleposlanik (sl) m, ambasador (sl) m
• Southern Altai: элчи (elči)
• Spanish: embajador (es) m, embajadora (es) f
• Swahili: balozi (sw)
• Swedish: ambassadör (sv) c
• Tajik: сафир (safir), элчӣ (tg) (elči)
• Tatar: илче (tt) (ilçe)
• Thai: ทูต (th) (tûut)
• Tibetan: གཞུང་ཚབ (gzhung tshab)
• Tigrinya: ኣምባስደር (ʾambasdär)
• Turkish: elçi (tr), büyükelçi (tr)
• Turkmen: ilçi

  Cyrillic: илчи

• Tuvan: элчин (elçin)
• Ukrainian: посо́л m (posól), посо́лка f (posólka)
• Urdu: سفیر m (safīr), ایلچی m (ēlcī), نمائندہ (numāīnda)
• Uyghur: ئەلچى (elchi)
• Uzbek: elchi (uz)

  Cyrillic: әлчи

• Vietnamese: đại sứ (vi) (大使)
• Welsh: llysgennad m
• Yiddish: אַמבאַסאַדאָר m (ambasador)
• Zhuang: dasij

See also

• consul
• high commissioner