envoy
pronunciation
How to pronounce envoy in British English:
UK [ˈenvɔɪ]
How to pronounce envoy in American English:
US [ˈenvɔɪ]
-
- Noun:
- a diplomat having less authority than an ambassador
- someone sent on a mission to represent the interests of someone else
- a brief stanza concluding certain forms of poetry
Word Origin
- envoy
- envoy: [14] English has acquired envoy – literally ‘sent on one’s way’ – twice. The first time, it meant ‘final part of a poem’ (this is now usually spelled envoi); the second time (in the 17th century) it meant ‘diplomatic representative’. Both came from the past participle of the French verb envoyer ‘send’, which in turn was a descendant of late Latin inviāre ‘put on the way’, a compound based on the noun via ‘way’. Its plural formed the basis of invoice [16].=> invoice
- envoy (n.)
- "messenger," 1660s, from French envoyé "messenger; a message; a sending; the postscript of a poem," literally "one sent" (12c.), noun use of past participle of envoyer "send," from Vulgar Latin *inviare "send on one's way," from Latin in "on" (see in- (2)) + via "road" (see via (adv.)). The same French word was borrowed in Middle English as envoi in the sense "stanza of a poem 'sending it off' to find readers" (late 14c.).
Example
- 1. Israel sent an envoy there for truce talks .
- 2. The envoy of paraguay 's new government was turned away in mendoza .
- 3. Mr. micheletti confirmed wednesday night in a statement that he had asked mr. arias to send an international envoy .
- 4. But locke 's toughly worded challenges to china - on everything from its currency to intellectual property protection to leveling the playing field for u. s.businesses here - seem to have dispelled any notion that he is anything other than an envoy for american interests .
- 5. He talked of deploying an envoy to encourage peaceful progress there .