emissary

English

Etymology

From French émissaire, from Latin emissarius (“agent, scout, spy”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɛmɪs(ə)ɹi/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈɛmɪˌsɛɹi/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

emissary (plural emissaries)

1. An agent sent on a mission to represent the interests of someone else.
   • 1958, Conrad Brandt, “A Defeat out of Victory and a Devil out of the Machine”, in Stalin's Failure in China, 1924–1927‎^[1], number 31, Cambridge, Mass.: Russian Research Center, Harvard University Press, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 143:

     The small group around Ch’en Tu-hsiu that had remained at headquarters hastily sent an emissary—Chang Kuo-t’ao—to Nanch’ang. Though Chang set out immediately, he did not reach Nanch’ang until July 31, the day before the rising.

   1. Such an agent spreading a gospel.

      Near-synonym: missionary

2. (anatomy) A venous channel in the skull.
3. An underground channel by which the water of a lake escapes.

Hyponyms

• (agent): interpreter (divine, obsolete)

Derived terms

• emissarial
• emissaryship
• emissary vein

Related terms

• emission
• emit
• missionary

Translations

an agent sent on a mission to represent the interests of someone else

• Arabic: مَبْعُوث m (mabʕūṯ)
• Belarusian: эміса́р m (emisár), эміса́рка f (emisárka)
• Bulgarian: емиса́р (bg) m (emisár), емиса́рка f (emisárka), пра́теник (bg) m (prátenik), пра́теница f (prátenica), пра́теничка f (prátenička)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 使者 (zh) (shǐzhě), 伻 (zh) (bēng)

• Czech: emisar (cs) m, emisař (cs) m
• Danish: udsending c, sendebud n
• Dutch: afgezant (nl) m
• Egyptian: (wpwtj)
• Esperanto: sendito
• Finnish: lähettiläs (fi)
• French: émissaire (fr) m or f
• German: Emissär (de) m, Emissärin (de) f, Abgesandter (de) m
• Greek: αγγελιοφόρος (el) m (angeliofóros), απεσταλμένος (el) m (apestalménos)
• Japanese: 使者 (ja) (ししゃ, shisha)
• Korean: 사자(使者) (ko) (saja)
• Latin: emissarius m
• Macedonian: пратеник m (pratenik), пратеничка f (pratenička)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: sendebud n

• Ottoman Turkish: رسول (resul)
• Polish: emisariusz (pl) m, emisariuszka f
• Portuguese: emissário (pt) m
• Russian: эмисса́р (ru) m (emissár), посла́нник (ru) m (poslánnik), посла́нница (ru) f (poslánnica)
• Slovak: emisár m
• Spanish: emisario (es) m, emisaria f
• Swedish: sändebud (sv) n, emissarie (sv) c
• Ukrainian: еміса́р m (emisár), еміса́рка f (emisárka)

a venous channel in the skull

• Greek: εκφορητικός πόρος m (ekforitikós póros)