Standard Lemma guide

bodyguard

noun · verb · 5 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK: /ˈbɒdiɡɑːd/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • US: /ˈbɑːdiɡɑːɹd/
  • CMU ARPABET: B AA1 D IY0 G AA2 R D Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A person or group of persons, often armed, responsible for protecting someone.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

verb

Meaning 2

To act as bodyguard for (someone).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

verb

Meaning 3

To protect (someone or something).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: figuratively, transitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

a group of men who escort and protect some important person

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: detachment, guard

Narrower terms: Praetorian Guard

5

noun

Meaning 5

someone who escorts and protects a prominent person

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: escort

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: defender, guardian, protector, shielder

Narrower terms: outrider, Praetorian Guard, Praetorian, yeoman, yeoman of the guard, beefeater

History

Etymology

From body + guard.

Across languages

Translations

131 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: lyfwag — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Arabic: حَرَس خَاصّ (ḥaras ḵāṣṣ) — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Arabic: حَرَس (ḥaras) — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Arabic: حَارِس (ḥāris) — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Arabic: حَارِس شَخْصِيّ (ḥāris šaḵṣiyy) — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Armenian: թիկնապահ (tʻiknapah) — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Azerbaijani: cangüdən — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Basque: bizkartzain — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Belarusian: целаахо́ўнік (cjelaaxównik) — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Belarusian: ахо́ва (axóva) — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Belarusian: ахо́ўнік (axównik) — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Bengali: দেহরক্ষী বরকন্দাজ (dehorokkhi) — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Bengali: মহাফেজ (mohaphej) — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Bulgarian: телохрани́тел (telohranítel) — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Bulgarian: бодига́рд (bodigárd) — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Burmese: သက်တော်စောင့် (saktaucaung.) — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Catalan: guardaespatlles — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Chamorro: a'adahi — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Cherokee: ᎠᏓᎦᏘᏯ (adagatiya) — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Chinese Cantonese: 保鏢 /保镖 (bou2 biu1) — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Chinese Cantonese: 護衛 /护卫 (wu6 wai6) — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Chinese Mandarin: 保鏢 /保镖 (bǎobiāo) — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Chinese Mandarin: 護衛 /护卫 (hùwèi) — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Chinese Mandarin: 衛士 /卫士 (wèishì) — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Czech: tělesná stráž — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Czech: bodyguard — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Czech: osobní strážce — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Danish: livvagt — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Dutch: lijfwacht — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Dutch: lijfgarde — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Dutch: persoonsbeveiliger — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Dutch: bodyguard — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Esperanto: korpogardisto — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Esperanto: korpogardistaro — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Esperanto: kapogardisto — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Estonian: turvamees — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Estonian: ihukaitsja — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Faroese: lívverji — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Finnish: turvamies — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Finnish: henkivartija — person responsible for protecting someone
  • French: garde du corps — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Galician: gardacostas — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Georgian: მცველი (mcveli) — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Georgian: პირადი მცველი (ṗiradi mcveli) — person responsible for protecting someone
  • German: Leibwächter — person responsible for protecting someone
  • German: Bodyguard — person responsible for protecting someone
  • German: Personenschützer — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Greek: σωματοφύλακας (somatofýlakas) — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Ancient Greek: σωματοφύλαξ (sōmatophúlax) — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Ancient Greek: δορύφορος (dorúphoros) — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Hebrew: שׁוֹמֵר רֹאשׁ (shomér rósh) — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Hebrew: שׁוֹמֶרֶת רֹאשׁ (shomeret rosh) — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Hindi: अंगरक्षक (aṅgrakṣak) — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Hindi: बॉडीगार्ड (bŏḍīgārḍ) — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Hungarian: testőr — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Ido: korpogardisto — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Irish: garda cosanta — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Italian: guardia del corpo — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Japanese: ボディーガード (bodīgādo) — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Japanese: 侍衛 (jiei) — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Japanese: 親衛兵 (shin'eihei) — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Japanese: 用心棒 (yōjinbō) — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Japanese: 警護 (keigo) — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Japanese: 保鏢 (hohyō) — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Japanese: 衛士 (eji) — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Karelian: henkivarteiččija — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Kazakh: оққағар (oqqağar) — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Khmer: អង្គរក្ស (ʼɑngkĕəʼrĕək) — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Korean: 보디가드 (bodigadeu) — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Korean: 경호원 (gyeonghowon) — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Korean: 호위무사 (howimusa) — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Lao: ອົງຄະລັກ (ʼong kha lak) — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Latin: stipator — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Latin: satelles — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Latin: custōs corporis — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Latvian: miesassargs — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Latvian: miesassardze — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Macedonian: телохранител (telohranitel) — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Macedonian: гаваз (gavaz) — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Malay: pengawal peribadi — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Malay: pengawal — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Malayalam: അംഗരക്ഷകൻ (aṅgarakṣakaṉ) — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Māori: poutiriao — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Marathi: अंगरक्षक (aṅgrakṣak) — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Marathi: बॉडीगार्ड (bŏḍīgārḍa) — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Navajo: aa áhályáanii — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Norwegian Bokmål: livvakt — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: livvakt — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Persian: محافظ شخصی (mohâfez-e šaxsi) — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Persian: محافظ (mohâfez) — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Polish: ochroniarz — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Polish: ochroniarka — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Polish: ochrona — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Portuguese: guarda-costas — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Romanian: gardă de corp — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Romanian: bodyguard — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Romanian: gardă personală — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Russian: телохрани́тель (teloxranítelʹ) — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Russian: охра́нник (oxránnik) — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Russian: охра́на (oxrána) — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Serbo-Croatian: телохранитељ — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Serbo-Croatian: тјелохранитељ — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Serbo-Croatian: telohranitelj — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Serbo-Croatian: tjelohranitelj — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Sikkimese: སྐུ་སྲུང་བོ (sku srung bo) — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Slovak: osobný strážca — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Slovak: bodyguard — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Slovene: telesni stražar — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Slovene: stražar — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Spanish: escolta — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Spanish: guardaespaldas — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Spanish: espaldero — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Spanish: patovica — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Swedish: livvakt — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Tajik: муҳофиз (muhofiz) — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Telugu: అంగరక్షకుడు (aṅgarakṣakuḍu) — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Thai: องครักษ์ (ong-ká-rák) — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Turkish: özlük muhafızı — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Turkish: koruma — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Ukrainian: тілоохоро́нець (tilooxorónecʹ) — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Ukrainian: охоро́на (oxoróna) — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Ukrainian: охоро́нець (oxorónecʹ) — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Urdu: محافظ (muhāfiz) — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Urdu: باڈی گارڈ (bāḍī gārḍ) — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Uyghur: ياساۋۇل (yasawul) — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Uyghur: مۇھاپىزەتچى (muhapizetchi) — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Uyghur: نەۋكەر (newker) — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Uzbek: shaxsiy soqchi — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Vietnamese: vệ sĩ — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Welsh: gwarchodwr — person responsible for protecting someone
  • Welsh: gwarchodwr corff — person responsible for protecting someone
Real reading context

bodyguard in complete knowledge articles