embassy

B2 Topic:Places & Geography

US /ˈɛmbəsi/ See IPA manual

Freq #4745

Meanings

1

noun
The official building where a country's representatives work in a foreign country.

She applied for her visa at the French embassy in London.
2

noun
The group of officials who represent their country in a foreign country.

The embassy issued a warning to its citizens travelling abroad.

Thesaurus

Word family

Forms embassies

Related forms ambassadorconsulate

Simplified etymology

Embassy entered English in late Middle English and originally also appeared as ambassy, a spelling that showed its relationship to ambassador. It comes from Old French ambasse, ultimately from Latin ambactus, meaning “servant,” and formerly denoted the position of ambassador or the sending out of ambassadors as well as an official residence.

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Celtic *ambaxtos Gaulish ambaxtosder. Old Occitan ambaissadabor. Old Italian ambasciatader. Old French ambascee Middle French ambasseebor. English ambassy English embassy Modern variant of obsolete ambassy, from Middle French ambassee (“mission, embassy”), from Old French ambascee (also enbassee (“message for a high official, official mission”)) from Old Italian ambasciata, from Old Occitan ambaissada (“embassy”), derived from ambaissa (“message”), from Late Latin ambactia (“service rendered”) (attested also as ambascia, from Proto-Germanic *ambahtiją (“service”), *ambahta…

*h₂ent- Proto-Indo-European ambassee Middle French ambascee Old French ambasciata roa-oit ambaissada pro ambactia la-lat *ambahtiją Proto-Germanic ambaxtos cel-gau *ambaxtos Proto-Celtic *h₂m̥bʰi-h₂eǵ- Proto-Indo-European

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Places & Geography

External links

# embassy

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B2
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈɛmbəsi/
**Frequency rank:** 4745

## Meanings
1. The official building where a country's representatives work in a foreign country.
2. The group of officials who represent their country in a foreign country.

## Examples
- She applied for her visa at the French embassy in London.
- The embassy issued a warning to its citizens travelling abroad.

## Related Forms
- ambassador
- consulate

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *h₂ent-
- Root: ambassee
- Root: ambascee
- Root: ambasciata
- Root: ambaissada
- Root: ambactia
- Root: *ambahtiją
- Root: ambaxtos
- Root: *ambaxtos
- Root: *h₂m̥bʰi-h₂eǵ-

## Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Celtic *ambaxtos Gaulish ambaxtosder. Old Occitan ambaissadabor. Old Italian ambasciatader. Old French ambascee Middle French ambasseebor. English ambassy English embassy Modern variant of obsolete ambassy, from Middle French ambassee (“mission, embassy”), from Old French ambascee (also enbassee (“message for a high official, official mission”)) from Old Italian ambasciata, from Old Occitan ambaissada (“embassy”), derived from ambaissa (“message”), from Late Latin ambactia (“service rendered”) (attested also as ambascia, from Proto-Germanic *ambahtiją (“service”), *ambahta…

## AI Etymology
Embassy is a modern variant of obsolete ambassy, from Middle French ambassee (“mission, embassy”), from Old French ambascee (also enbassee (“message for a high official, official mission”)) from Old Italian ambasciata, from Old Occitan ambaissada (“embassy”), derived from ambaissa (“message”), from Late Latin ambactia (“service rendered”) (attested also as ambascia, from Proto-Germanic *ambahtiją (“service”), *ambahta.

## Topics
- Places & Geography

markdown