commissionaire

English

Alternative forms

• commissionnaire

Etymology

Borrowed from French commissionaire, from Latin commissio. Doublet of commissioner.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kəˌmɪʃəˈnɛː/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /kəˌmɪʃəˈnɛɹ/
• (obsolete) IPA^(key): /kəˌmɪsjəˈnɛɹ/, /kəˌmɪsjəˈneɪɹ/

Noun

commissionaire (plural commissionaires)

1. One entrusted with a (small) commission, such as an errand; especially, an attendant or subordinate employee in a public office, hotel, etc.
2. (British) A uniformed doorman.
   • 2004, Alan Hollinghurst, chapter 8, in The Line of Beauty […], 1st US edition, New York, N.Y.: Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN:

     When the day came Nick turned up early at the bank and waited under a palm tree in the atrium. People hurried in, nodding to the commissionaire, who still wore a tailcoat and a top hat.

3. (law) An undisclosed agent under European civil law.

Derived terms

• commissionairess