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"ambassador" in seven languages

Meaningambassador

Spanish

embajador

/embaxaˈdoɾ/

masc.borrowed · Old Occitan ambaissador

fem.: embajadora

French

ambassadeur

/ɑ̃basadœʁ/

masc.borrowed · Italian ambasciatore

fem.: ambassadrice

Italian

ambasciatore

/ambaʃʃaˈtore/

masc.borrowed · Old Occitan ambaissada 'mission'

fem.: ambasciatrice

Portuguese

embaixador

/ẽbajʃaˈdoh/

masc.borrowed · Old Occitan ambaissador (perhaps via Spanish)

Romanian

ambasador

/ambasaˈdor/

masc.borrowed · French ambassadeur

Catalan

ambaixador

/əmbəʃəˈdo/

masc.borrowed · Old Occitan ambaissador

English

ambassador

/æmˈbæsədɚ/

from Latin/French · Old French ambassadeur

English → ItalianambassadorambasciatoreCognateSame source — inherited, learned or borrowed. You can recognize it.What English and Italian share

The Latin ancestor

AMBACTUS (from Gaulish)‘vassal, retainer’

All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.

The story

Caesar describes Gaulish ambacti, retainers sent on a lord's errands. The word travelled through medieval Occitan into the sisters; the exact route is debated, but none of them inherited it directly.

English relatives: embassy

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In a sentence

  • esEl embajador se reunió con el presidente.
  • frL'ambassadeur a rencontré le président.
  • itL'ambasciatore ha incontrato il presidente.
  • ptO embaixador se reuniu com o presidente.
  • roAmbasadorul s-a întâlnit cu președintele.
  • caL'ambaixador es va reunir amb el president.
  • enThe ambassador met the president.

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