messenger

See also: Messenger

English

Etymology

From Middle English messengere, messingere, messangere, from Old French messanger, a variant of Old French messagier (French messager), equivalent to message +‎ -er. Doublet of messager.

For the replacement of -ager with -enger, -inger, -anger, compare passenger, harbinger, scavenger, porringer. This development may have been merely the addition of n, or it may have resulted due to contamination from other suffixes such as Middle English -ing and the rare Old French -ange, -enc, -inge, -inghe (“-ing”) for Old French -age (“-age”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈmɛ.sɪn.dʒəɹ]

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

messenger (plural messengers)

1. One who brings messages.
2. (nautical) A light line with which a heavier line may be hauled e.g. from the deck of a ship to the pier.
3. The supporting member of an aerial cable (electric power or telephone or data).
4. (law) A person appointed to perform certain ministerial duties under bankrupt and insolvent laws, such as to take charge of the estate of the bankrupt or insolvent.

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5. (computing) An instant messenger program.
6. A forerunner.
7. A light scudding cloud preceding a storm.
8. A piece of paper, etc., blown up a string to a kite.
9. (oceanography) A weight dropped down a line to close a Nansen bottle.
10. The secretary bird.
11. (Scotland) A messenger-at-arms.

Derived terms

• instant messenger
• raven-messenger

Translations

one who brings messages

• Arabic: رَسُول‎ (ar) m (rasūl), قَاصِد‎ m (qāṣid)
• Armenian: բանբեր (hy) (banber)
• Asturian: mensaxeru m
• Azerbaijani: qasid, rəsul (Islam)
• Burmese: တမန် (my) (ta.man)
• Catalan: missatger (ca) m, missatgera (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 信使 (zh) (xìnshǐ), 使者 (zh) (shǐzhě)

• Czech: posel (cs) m, kurýr (cs) m
• Danish: bud n
• Dutch: boodschapper (nl) m
• Esperanto: anoncanto
• Faroese: boðberi m, boðsveinur m, sendiboð n, ørindasveinur m
• Finnish: lähetti (fi), sanansaattaja (fi), kuriiri (fi)
• French: messager (fr) m
• Galician: mensaxeiro m
• Georgian: მაცნე (macne), შიკრიკი (šiḳriḳi), მოამბე (moambe), მაუწყებელი (mauc̣q̇ebeli), მომასწავებელი (momasc̣avebeli)
• German: Kurier (de) m, Bote (de) m, Botschafter (de) m
• Gothic: 𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌿𐍃 m (airus)
• Greek: αγγελιοφόρος (el) m (angeliofóros)

  Ancient: ἄγγελος m (ángelos)

• Hausa: manzo, masinja
• Hebrew: מַלְאָךְ‎ (he) m (mal'akh) (biblical) שָׁלִיחַ‎ (he) m (shalíakh)
• Hungarian: hírvivő (hu), hírnök (hu)
• Icelandic: sendiboði (is) m, boðberi (is) m
• Irish: teachtaire m, scéalaí m, eachlach m or f
• Italian: messaggero (it) m, corriere (it) m
• Japanese: 使者 (ja) (ししゃ, shisha), メッセンジャー (messenjā), 伝令 (でんれい, denrei)
• Kazakh: хабаршы (xabarşı)
• Khmer: អ្នកនាំសារ (neak noam saa)
• Korean: 사자 (ko) (saja), 메신저 (mesinjeo)
• Latin: nūntius (la) m, nūntia f, cursor m, viator m, viatrix f

• Latvian: ziņnesis m, kurjers m
• Malay: utusan, pengutus
• Maori: karere, pūrahorua, kaiwaewae
• Ngazidja Comorian: ndrume class 9/10, mtrume class 3/4
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: bud (no) n, budbringer m, budbærer m, sendebud n

• Occitan: messatgièr (oc) m
• Old Occitan: messatger m
• Persian: پیغام رسان‎ (peyqâm-resân), پیک‎ (fa) (peyk), رسول‎ (fa) (rasul) (Islam), قاصد‎ (fa) (qâsed)
• Polish: posłaniec (pl) m, kurier (pl) m
• Portuguese: mensageiro (pt) m
• Quechua: chaski, kacha
• Russian: посла́нник (ru) m (poslánnik), посы́льный (ru) m (posýlʹnyj), ве́стник (ru) m (véstnik), гоне́ц (ru) m (gonéc), связно́й (ru) m (svjaznój), курье́р (ru) m (kurʹjér), ме́ссенджер (ru) m (mɛ́ssɛndžer) (software)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: гласник m, весник m

  Roman: glasnik (sh) m, vesnik (sh) m

• Slovene: sèl m
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: pósoł m

• Spanish: mensajero (es) m
• Swedish: bud (sv) n, budbärare (sv) c
• Tajik: қосид (qosid), расул (rasul) (Islam)
• Tibetan: བང་ཆེན (bang chen), ཕོ་ཉ (pho nya)
• Turkish: haberci (tr), resul (tr) (Islam)
• Ukrainian: посла́нник m (poslánnyk), посла́нець m (poslánecʹ), послане́ць m (poslanécʹ)
• Uyghur: روسۇل‎ (rosul) (Islam)
• Uzbek: xabarchi (uz), rasul (uz) (Islam)
• Walloon: messaedjî (wa) m
• Wolof: ndaw (wo)
• Yiddish: משולח‎ m (meshulekh), שליח‎ m (sheliyekh)

Verb

messenger (third-person singular simple present messengers, present participle messengering, simple past and past participle messengered)

1. (transitive) To send something by messenger.

   I'll messenger over the signed documents.