Standard Lemma guide

envoy

noun · 8 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.

  • US: /ˈɛn.vɔɪ/
  • US: /ˈɑn.vɔɪ/
  • UK: /ˈɛn.vɔɪ/
  • UK:
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: EH1 N V OY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
  • CMU ARPABET 2: AA1 N V OY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A diplomatic agent of the second rank, next in status after an ambassador.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: law

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A representative.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • special envoy to the United Nations

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

A diplomat.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

A messenger.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

Alternative spelling of envoi (“short stanza at end of poem”).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: alt-of, alternative

Topics: communications, journalism, literature, media, poetry, publishing, writing

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

noun

Meaning 6

a brief stanza concluding certain forms of poetry

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: envoi

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: stanza

7

noun

Meaning 7

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

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: emissary

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: representative

Narrower terms: legate, official emissary

8

noun

Meaning 8

a diplomat having less authority than an ambassador

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: envoy extraordinary, minister plenipotentiary

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: diplomat, diplomatist

History

Etymology

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

Across languages

Translations

112 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Armenian: դեսպանորդ (despanord) — diplomatic agent of second rank
  • Finnish: lähettiläs — diplomatic agent of second rank
  • Georgian: დესპანი (desṗani) — diplomatic agent of second rank
  • German: Gesandter — diplomatic agent of second rank
  • German: Gesandte — diplomatic agent of second rank
  • Thai: รัฐทูต (rát-tà-tûut) — diplomatic agent of second rank
  • Turkish: elçi — diplomatic agent of second rank
  • Albanian: dërguar — representative
  • Albanian: lajmëtar — representative
  • Amharic: መልእክተኛ (mälʾəktäña) — representative
  • Arabic: مَبْعُوث (mabʕūṯ) — representative
  • Arabic: وَزِير مُفَوَّض (wazīr mufawwaḍ) — representative
  • Arabic: رَسُول (rasūl) — representative
  • Armenian: դեսպանորդ (despanord) — representative
  • Azerbaijani: elçi — representative
  • Bashkir: илсе (ilse) — representative
  • Belarusian: пасла́ннік (paslánnik) — representative
  • Bengali: দূত (dut) — representative
  • Bulgarian: посла́ник (poslánik) — representative
  • Bulgarian: пра́теник (prátenik) — representative
  • Burmese: သံ (sam) — representative
  • Burmese: သံတမန် (samta.man) — representative
  • Chinese Cantonese: 使者 (si3 ze2 / si5 ze2) — representative
  • Chinese: 使者 (sù-chiá) — representative
  • Chinese Mandarin: 使者 (shǐzhě) — representative
  • Czech: vyslanec — representative
  • Danish: gesandt — representative
  • Danish: udsending — representative
  • Danish: sendebud — representative
  • Dutch: gezant — representative
  • Egyptian: wp:p-w-t:y-D54-A1 (wpwtj) — representative
  • Estonian: saadik — representative
  • Finnish: edustaja — representative
  • French: envoyé — representative
  • French: émissaire — representative
  • Georgian: დესპანი (desṗani) — representative
  • German: Gesandter — representative
  • German: Gesandte — representative
  • Gothic: 𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌿𐍃 (airus) — representative
  • Greek: αντιπρόσωπος (antiprósopos) — representative
  • Hebrew: שַׁגְרִיר (shagrír) — representative
  • Hindi: दूत (dūt) — representative
  • Hungarian: követ — representative
  • Icelandic: sendimaður — representative
  • Indonesian: duta — representative
  • Indonesian: utusan — representative
  • Irish: toscaire — representative
  • Italian: inviato — representative
  • Italian: inviata — representative
  • Japanese: 使者 (sisha) — representative
  • Kazakh: елші (elşı) — representative
  • Kazakh: уәкіл (uäkıl) — representative
  • Khmer: ប្រេសិត (preesət) — representative
  • Khmer: ទូត (tuut) — representative
  • Korean: 사자 (saja) — representative
  • Northern Kurdish: elçî — representative
  • Kyrgyz: элчи (elci) — representative
  • Lao: ທູດ (thūt) — representative
  • Latin: lēgātus — representative
  • Latvian: sūtnis — representative
  • Lithuanian: pasiuntinys — representative
  • Macedonian: пратеник (pratenik) — representative
  • Malay: duta — representative
  • Maltese: mibgħut — representative
  • Māori: karere — representative
  • Mongolian: элч (elč) — representative
  • Norwegian Bokmål: sendebud — representative
  • Norwegian Bokmål: sendemann — representative
  • Pali: dūta — representative
  • Pashto: استازی (astãzay) — representative
  • Pashto: ايلچي (ilčí) — representative
  • Iranian Persian: فِرِسْتادِه (ferestâde) — representative
  • Iranian Persian: ایلْچی (ilči) — representative
  • Polish: wysłannik — representative
  • Portuguese: enviado — representative
  • Romanian: trimis — representative
  • Romanian: sol — representative
  • Russian: посла́нник (poslánnik) — representative
  • Russian: посла́нец (poslánec) — representative
  • Sanskrit: दूत (dūta) — representative
  • Serbo-Croatian: по̀сланӣк — representative
  • Serbo-Croatian: изасла̀нӣк — representative
  • Serbo-Croatian: pòslanīk — representative
  • Serbo-Croatian: izaslànīk — representative
  • Slovak: vyslanec — representative
  • Slovene: odposlanec — representative
  • Slovene: poslanik — representative
  • Spanish: enviado — representative
  • Swahili: mjumbe — representative
  • Swedish: envoyé — representative
  • Swedish: sändebud — representative
  • Tagalog: legado — representative
  • Tagalog: sugo — representative
  • Tajik: фиристода (firistoda) — representative
  • Tajik: элчӣ (elči) — representative
  • Tajik: сафир (safir) — representative
  • Tatar: илче (ilçe) — representative
  • Telugu: దూత (dūta) — representative
  • Thai: ทูต (tûut) — representative
  • Tibetan: ཕོ་ཉ (pho nya) — representative
  • Turkish: elçi — representative
  • Ottoman Turkish: ایلچی (elçi) — representative
  • Ottoman Turkish: سفیر (sefir) — representative
  • Turkmen: ilçi — representative
  • Ukrainian: посла́нник (poslánnyk) — representative
  • Urdu: ایلْچی (elcī) — representative
  • Urdu: دُوت (dūt) — representative
  • Uyghur: ئەلچى (elchi) — representative
  • Uzbek: elchi — representative
  • Vietnamese: phái viên — representative
  • Vietnamese: công sứ — representative
  • Vietnamese: sứ giả — representative
Real reading context

envoy in complete knowledge articles