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. Displaced native Old English boda (“messenger, envoy”) and ǣrendraca (“messenger, ambassador”).

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

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmɛs.n̩.d͡ʒɚ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈmɛs.n̩.d͡ʒə/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: mes‧sen‧ger

Noun

messenger (plural messengers)

1. One who brings messages.
2. The secretary bird.
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.
   • (Can we date this quote?), James Burrow, Reports of Cases Adjudged in the Court of King's Bench:

     The Messenger under the joint Commission of Bankruptcy might have seized the Whole, if they had remained in their Warehouse

5. (computing) An instant messenger program.
   • 2006, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Energy and Commerce. Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, Sexual exploitation of children over the Internet, page 395:

     The 4 primary messengers include ^[sic] AOL Instant Messenger, ICQ, Yahoo! Messenger, and MSN Messenger.

   • 2010, Tim Collins, A Woman's Guide to Internet Dating, A Male Perspective, page 49:

     Have them meet you on your favorite messenger program. IMs provide a means of instant chat without waiting on someone to respond back to you.

6. (figurative) A forerunner or harbinger.

   a messenger of doom

7. A light scudding cloud preceding a storm.
8. A piece of paper, etc., blown up a string to a kite.
9. (nautical) A light line with which a heavier line may be hauled e.g. from the deck of a ship to the pier.
10. (oceanography) A weight dropped down a line to close a Nansen bottle.
11. (Scotland) A messenger-at-arms.
12. (bowling) A pin which travels across the pin deck to knock over another pin, usually for a strike.

Derived terms

• chemical messenger
• corbie-messenger
• death messenger
• don't shoot the messenger
• instant messenger
• kill the messenger
• messenger bag
• messenger pigeon
• messenger RNA
• multi-messenger astronomy
• raven-messenger
• second messenger
• shoot the messenger

 

Translations

one who brings messages

• Aghwan: 𐔼𐕅𐕒𐕡𐕇𐕆𐔴𐕖𐔰𐔾 (il'ux̣hečal)
• Albanian: lajmëtar (sq) m
• Arabic: رَسُول (ar) m (rasūl), قَاصِد m (qāṣid)
• Armenian: բանբեր (hy) (banber)
• Asturian: mensaxeru m
• Azerbaijani: qasid, rəsul (Islam)
• Belarusian: пасла́нец m (paslánjec), пасы́льны m (pasýlʹny), звясту́н m (zvjastún), ве́снік m (vjésnik), гане́ц m (hanjéc), сувязны́ m (suvjazný) (military), кур'е́р m (kurʺjér)
• Bulgarian: пра́теник (bg) m (prátenik), пра́теница f (prátenica), пра́теничка f (prátenička), ве́стник (bg) m (véstnik), курие́р (bg) m (kuriér)
• Burmese: တမန် (my) (ta.man)
• Catalan: missatger (ca) m, missatgera (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 信使 (zh) (xìnshǐ), 使者 (zh) (shǐzhě), 伻 (zh) (bēng) (literary)

• Czech: posel (cs) m, kurýr (cs) m
• Danish: bud n
• Dutch: boodschapper (nl) m, bode (nl) m
• Egyptian: (wpwtj)
• Esperanto: anoncanto
• Estonian: sõnumitooja, saadik
• Faroese: boðberi m, boðsveinur m, sendiboð n, ørindasveinur m
• Finnish: lähetti (fi), sanansaattaja (fi), kuriiri (fi), viestintuoja, viestinviejä
• French: messager (fr) m, coursier (fr) m
• Galician: mensaxeiro (gl) m, mandadeiro
• 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)

  Mycenaean: 𐀀𐀐𐀫 (a-ke-ro)

• Guaraní: temimbou
• Gujarati: દૂત m (dūt)
• Hausa: manzo (ha), masinja
• Hebrew: מַלְאָךְ (he) m (mal'akh) (biblical) שָׁלִיחַ (he) m (shalíakh)
• Hindi: संदेशवाहक m (sandeśvāhak)
• 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 (ja) (messenjā), 伝令 (ja) (でんれい, denrei), 伻
• Kaingang: jẽnẽ jamã
• Kazakh: хабаршы (xabarşy)
• Khmer: អ្នកនាំសារ (nĕək nŏəm saa)
• Korean: 사자(使者) (ko) (saja), 메신저 (mesinjeo)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: pêyamber n

• Latin: nūntius (la) m, nūntia f, cursor (la) m, viator (la) m, viatrix (la) f
• Latvian: ziņnesis m, kurjers m, vēstnesis m
• Lithuanian: pasiuntinys m, kurjeris m
• Macedonian: гласник m (glasnik), курир m (kurir)
• Malay: utusan, pengutus
• Manchu: ᡝᠯᠴᡳᠨ (elcin)
• Maori: karere, pūrahorua, kaiwaewae
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: элч (mn) (elč)

• 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 Church Slavonic:

  Cyrillic: проповѣдьникъ m (propovědĭnikŭ)

• Old English: boda m
• Old Norse: árr m, ǫ́rr m
• Old Occitan: messatger m
• Ottoman Turkish: اولاق (ulak), چاپار (çapar), رسول (resul)
• Persian: پیغام رسان (peyğâm-resân), پیک (fa) (peyk), رسول (fa) (rasul) (Islam), قاصد (fa) (qâsed)
• Polabian: bode m, bezaikă m
• Polish: posłaniec (pl) m, posłannik m, kurier (pl) m, wysłannik (pl) m, wysłaniec m, poseł (pl) m, goniec (pl) m, łącznik (pl) m,
• Portuguese: mensageiro (pt) m
• Quechua: chaski, kacha
• Romanian: mesager (ro) m
• Russian: посла́нник (ru) m (poslánnik), посы́льный (ru) m (posýlʹnyj), ве́стник (ru) m (véstnik), гоне́ц (ru) m (gonéc), связно́й (ru) m (svjaznój) (military), курье́р (ru) m (kurʹjér), ме́ссенджер (ru) m (mɛ́ssɛndžer) (software)
• Sanskrit: दूत (sa) m (dūta)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: гла̑снӣк m, ве̑снӣк m, вје̑снӣк m

  Roman: glȃsnīk (sh) m, vȇsnīk (sh) m, vjȇsnīk (sh) m

• Slovak: posol m, kuriér m
• Slovene: sèl m
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: pósoł m

• Spanish: mensajero (es) m
• Swahili: tarishi (sw), mesenja
• Swedish: bud (sv) n, budbärare (sv) c
• Tagalog: mensahero, sugo
• Tajik: қосид (qosid), расул (rasul) (Islam)
• Tashelhiyt: amazan m
• Tibetan: བང་ཆེན (bang chen), ཕོ་ཉ (pho nya)
• Turkish: haberci (tr), resul (tr) (Islam), elçi (tr)
• Ugaritic: 𐎎𐎍𐎀𐎋 (mlảk)
• Ukrainian: посла́нник m (poslánnyk), посла́нець m (poslánecʹ), послане́ць m (poslanécʹ), ви́сланець m (výslanecʹ), кур'є́р m (kurʺjér), поси́льний m (posýlʹnyj), гоне́ць m (honécʹ), зв'язкови́й m (zvʺjazkovýj) (military), ві́сник (uk) m (vísnyk), вісту́н m (vistún)
• Urdu: پیام نگار
• Uyghur: روسۇل (rosul) (Islam)
• Uzbek: xabarchi (uz), rasul (uz) (Islam)
• Venetan: meso m, mesa f
• Walloon: messaedjî (wa) m
• Welsh: cennad f, negesydd 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.

Scots

Alternative forms

• messinger

Etymology

From Old French messagier.

Noun

messenger (plural messengers)

1. messenger

Derived terms

• corbie messenger

References

• “mesinger, n.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, retrieved 20 May 2024, reproduced from William A[lexander] Craigie, A[dam] J[ack] Aitken [et al.], editors, A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue: […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1931–2002, →OCLC.
• “messenger, n.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, retrieved 20 May 2024, reproduced from W[illiam] Grant and D[avid] D. Murison, editors, The Scottish National Dictionary, Edinburgh: Scottish National Dictionary Association, 1931–1976, →OCLC.