courier

See also: Courier

English

Etymology

From a convergence of Middle English corour, currour, from Old French coreor, agent noun of corir (“to run”), and Middle English courier, a borrowing of Middle French courrier, from Italian corriere.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkʊ.ɹi.ə/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkʊɹ.i.ɚ/, /ˈkɝ.i.ɚ/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /ˈkʉː.ɹi.əɹ/
• (Indic) IPA^(key): /ˈkɵrɪjə(r)/, /ˈkʊrɪjə(r)/

  • Audio (Tamil Nadu, rhotic):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ʊɹiə(ɹ)
• Homophone: currier (without the foot-strut split or with the hurry–furry merger)

Noun

courier (plural couriers)

1. A person who delivers messages.

   Synonym: messenger

2. A company that delivers messages.
3. A company that transports goods.
4. (Internet) A user who earns access to a topsite by uploading warez.
   • 1999, Adrian Dunn, “Re: Using a scanned picture in your demo”, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.demos (Usenet):

     You can always find musicians. There are more trackers than coders, pixelers, organizers, couriers, and designers combined.

   • 2005, Paul Craig, Ron Honick, Mark Burnett, Software Piracy Exposed, page 2:

     These sites have enormous hard drives and bandwidth for couriers to distribute the software from one site to the next.

5. A person who looks after and guides tourists.

   Synonyms: guide, rep, tourist guide

   • 1914, G. K. Chesterton, “The Paradise of Thieves”, in The Wisdom of Father Brown, p. 29:

     "A courier!" cried Muscari, laughing. "Is that the last of your list of trades? And whom are you conducting?"

Derived terms

• courier bag
• van courier

Translations

person who looks after and guides tourists

• Bulgarian: екскурзово́д (bg) m (ekskurzovód)
• Catalan: guia (ca) m or f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 領隊 / 领队 (zh) (lǐngduì), 講解員 / 讲解员 (zh) (jiǎngjiěyuán)

• Finnish: opas (fi)
• Galician: guía (gl) m or f
• German: Reiseführer (de) m
• Hungarian: idegenvezető (hu)
• Japanese: 旅行添乗員 (ryokōtenjōin), ツアーコンダクター (ja) (tsuākondakutā)
• Latin: nūntius (la) m
• Maltese: gwida m
• Persian: گردش‌بر
• Portuguese: guia (pt) m or f
• Russian: экскурсово́д (ru) m (ekskursovód), гид (ru) m (gid)

person who delivers messages

• Armenian: սուրհանդակ (hy) (surhandak)
• Belarusian: кур'е́р m (kurʺjér), пасы́льны m (pasýlʹny), пасла́нец m (paslánjec)
• Bulgarian: курие́р (bg) m (kuriér), пра́теник (bg) m (prátenik)
• Burmese: တမန် (my) (ta.man)
• Catalan: correu (ca) m, missatger (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 信使 (zh) (xìnshǐ), 郵差 / 邮差 (zh) (yóuchāi), 郵遞員 / 邮递员 (zh) (yóudìyuán) (postman)

• Czech: kurýr (cs) m
• Danish: kurer
• Dutch: koerier (nl) m
• Esperanto: kuriero (eo)
• Finnish: lähetti (fi), kuriiri (fi)
• French: coursier (fr) m, messager (fr) m
• Galician: mensaxeiro (gl) m, correo (gl) m
• German: Kurier (de) m
• Greek:

  Ancient Greek: ἀστάνδης m (astándēs)

• Hebrew: שליח (he) m (shalyakh), שליחה f (shlikha)
• Hindi: संदेशवाहक m (sandeśvāhak)
• Hungarian: futár (hu), küldönc (hu), hírnök (hu)
• Indonesian: kurir (id)
• Irish: eachlach m or f
• Italian: corriere (it) m
• Japanese: 郵便配達人 (ja) (ゆうびんはいたつにん, yūbin haitatsunin) (of postoffice), メッセンジャー (ja) (messenjā)
• Latin: cursor (la) m, nūntius (la) m, angarius m, tabellārius m
• Lithuanian: kurjeris m
• Macedonian: курир m (kurir)
• Maltese: kurrier m
• Māori: karere, kaiwaewae
• Occitan: mandador (oc) m, mandairitz f, mandairises f pl, mandadora f
• Persian: نامه‌رسان (fa)
• Polish: kurier (pl) m, kurierka (pl) f
• Portuguese: mensageiro (pt) m, estafeta (pt) m or f
• Russian: курье́р (ru) m (kurʹjér), посы́льный (ru) m (posýlʹnyj)
• Slovak: kuriér m
• Spanish: mensajero (es) m, estafeta (es) m or f (Latin America)
• Swedish: kurir (sv)
• Turkish: ulak (tr) sg, haberci (tr), peyk (tr)

  Ottoman Turkish: اولاق (ulak), چاپار (çapar), پیك (peyk)

• Ukrainian: кур'є́р m (kurʺjér), поси́льний m (posýlʹnyj), посла́нець m (poslánecʹ)
• Venetan: please add this translation if you can
• Zazaki: berder, berdoğ

company that delivers messages

• Bulgarian: курие́рска слу́жба f (kuriérska slúžba)
• Finnish: lähettiyritys
• German: Kurierdienst (de) m
• Indonesian: kurir (id)
• Italian: corriere (it) m
• Japanese: 急使 (ja) (kyuushi)
• Lithuanian: kurjeris m
• Persian: پیک (fa)
• Portuguese: correio (pt) m
• Russian: курье́рская слу́жба f (kurʹjérskaja slúžba)

company that transports goods

• Finnish: kuriiriyritys
• Indonesian: kurir (id)
• Japanese: 運送会社 (unsōgaisha), 宅配会社 (takuhai-gaisha)
• Lithuanian: kurjeris m
• Persian: باربری (fa)
• Portuguese: transportadora f
• Spanish: courier (es) m, courrier (es) m

Verb

courier (third-person singular simple present couriers, present participle couriering, simple past and past participle couriered)

1. (transitive) To deliver by courier.

   We'll have the contract couriered to you.

   • 2013 December 13, CollegeTimes Staff, “How Not To Destroy Your Reputation At The Office Work Party”, in CollegeTimes.com‎^[1]:

     Workcest is a huge no no, things will never go back to their easy ways and all of a sudden your report that’s meant to be couriered to Belfast is taking snail mail… through Thailand.

Further reading

• “courier”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

Anagrams

• Ricœur

Spanish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English courier.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkuɾjeɾ/ [ˈku.ɾjeɾ]
  • Rhymes: -uɾjeɾ
• IPA^(key): /ˈkurjeɾ/ [ˈku.rjeɾ]
  • Rhymes: -urjeɾ

Noun

courier m or f by sense (plural couriers)

1. courier

Noun

courier m (plural couriers)

1. (Latin America) courier

Alternative forms

• courrier (Latin America)

Usage notes

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

Further reading

• “courier”, in Diccionario de americanismos [Dictionary of Americanisms] (in Spanish), Association of Academies of the Spanish Language [Spanish: Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española], 2010