envoy

English

Etymology

From French envoyé (“envoy, messenger”), from envoyer (“send”).

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈɛn.vɔɪ/, /ˈɑn.vɔɪ/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɛn.vɔɪ/, /ˈɒn.vɔɪ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

envoy (plural envoys)

1. (law) A diplomatic agent of the second rank, next in status after an ambassador.
3. A representative.

   special envoy to the United Nations

   • 1887, W. P. Groeneveldt, “Notes on the Malay Archipelago and Malacca”, in Miscellaneous Papers Relating to Indo-China and the Indian Archipelago‎^[1], volume I, London: Trübner & Co., →OCLC, page 165:

     In the year 1460 the king Tu-ma-pan (Tumapel?)† sent envoys to carry tribute. When these envoys went back, and had arrived at An-ch’ing,‡ they got drunk and had a fight with foreign priests who came to bring tribute, and of whom six were killed.

4. A diplomat.
5. A messenger.
6. (poetry) Alternative spelling of envoi (“short stanza at end of poem”).

Synonyms

• (diplomatic agent of second rank): envoy extraordinary, minister plenipotentiary

Derived terms

• e-envoy
• envoyship

Translations

diplomatic agent of second rank

• Finnish: lähettiläs (fi)
• Georgian: დესპანი (desṗani)
• German: Gesandter (de) m, Gesandte (de) f
• Thai: รัฐทูต (rát-tà-tûut)
• Turkish: elçi (tr)

representative

• Albanian: dërguar (sq) m, lajmëtar (sq)
• Amharic: መልእክተኛ (mälʾəktäña)
• Arabic: مَبْعُوث m (mabʕūṯ), وَزِير مُفَوَّض m (wazīr mufawwaḍ), رَسُول (ar) m (rasūl)
• Armenian: դեսպանորդ (hy) (despanord)
• Azerbaijani: elçi
• Bashkir: илсе (ilse)
• Belarusian: пасла́ннік m (paslánnik)
• Bengali: দূত (bn) (dut)
• Bulgarian: посла́ник (bg) m (poslánik), пра́теник (bg) m (prátenik)
• Burmese: သံ (my) (sam), သံတမန် (my) (samta.man)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 使者 (si³ ze² / si⁵ ze²)

  Hokkien: 使者 (sù-chiá)

  Mandarin: 使者 (zh) (shǐzhě)

• Czech: vyslanec (cs) m
• Danish: gesandt c, udsending c, sendebud c
• Dutch: gezant (nl) m
• Egyptian: (wpwtj)
• Estonian: saadik
• Finnish: edustaja (fi)
• French: envoyé (fr) m, émissaire (fr) m
• Georgian: დესპანი (desṗani)
• German: Gesandter (de) m, Gesandte (de) f
• Gothic: 𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌿𐍃 m (airus)
• Greek: αντιπρόσωπος (el) m (antiprósopos)
• Guarani:

  Paraguayan Guarani: ^{(please verify)} temimbou

• Hebrew: שַׁגְרִיר (he) m (shagrír)
• Hindi: दूत (hi) m (dūt)
• Hungarian: követ (hu)
• Icelandic: sendimaður m
• Indonesian: duta (id), utusan (id)
• Irish: toscaire m
• Italian: inviato (it) m, inviata (it) f
• Japanese: 使者 (ja) (ししゃ, sisha)
• Kazakh: елші (elşı), уәкіл (uäkıl)
• Khmer: ប្រេសិត (km) (preesət), ទូត (km) (tuut)
• Korean: 사자(使者) (ko) (saja)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: elçî (ku)

• Kyrgyz: элчи (ky) (elci)
• Lao: ທູດ (thūt)
• Latin: lēgātus (la) m
• Latvian: sūtnis m
• Lithuanian: pasiuntinys m
• Macedonian: пратеник m (pratenik)
• Malay: duta (ms)
• Maltese: mibgħut m
• Māori: karere
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: элч (mn) (elč)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: sendebud m, sendemann m

• Pali: dūta m
• Pashto: استازی (ps) m (astãzay), ايلچي m (ilčí)
• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: فِرِسْتادِه (ferestâde), ایلْچی (ilči)

• Polish: wysłannik (pl) m
• Portuguese: enviado (pt) m
• Romanian: trimis (ro) m, sol (ro) m
• Russian: посла́нник (ru) m (poslánnik), посла́нец (ru) m (poslánec)
• Sanskrit: दूत (sa) m (dūta)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: по̀сланӣк m, изасла̀нӣк m

  Latin: pòslanīk (sh) m, izaslànīk (sh) m

• Slovak: vyslanec m
• Slovene: odposlanec m, poslanik m
• Spanish: enviado (es) m
• Swahili: mjumbe (sw) class I
• Swedish: envoyé (sv) c, sändebud (sv) c
• Tagalog: legado, sugo
• Tajik: фиристода (firistoda), элчӣ (tg) (elči), сафир (safir)
• Tatar: илче (tt) (ilçe)
• Telugu: దూత (te) (dūta)
• Thai: ทูต (th) (tûut)
• Tibetan: ཕོ་ཉ (pho nya)
• Turkish: elçi (tr)

  Ottoman Turkish: ایلچی (elçi), سفیر (sefir)

• Turkmen: ilçi
• Ukrainian: посла́нник m (poslánnyk)
• Urdu: ایلْچی m (elcī), دُوت m (dūt)
• Uyghur: ئەلچى (elchi)
• Uzbek: elchi (uz)
• Vietnamese: phái viên (vi) (派員), công sứ (vi) (公使), sứ giả (vi) (使者)