• n. 大使；代表；使節

前綴ambi-, 兩邊，周圍。 -ass, 詞根ag的過去分詞形式。原指古羅馬帝國派到各地巡視的官員。

ambassador

ambassador: [14] Appropriately enough, ambassador is a highly cosmopolitan word. It was borrowed back and forth among several European languages before arriving in English. Its ultimate source appears to be the Indo- European root *ag- ‘drive, lead’, whose other numerous offspring include English act and agent. With the addition of the prefix *amb- ‘around’ (as in ambidextrous), this produced in the Celtic languages of Gaul the noun ambactos, which was borrowed by Latin as ambactus ‘vassal’.

The Latin word then found its way into the Germanic languages – Old English had ambeht ‘servant, messenger’, Old High German ambaht (from which modern German gets amt ‘official position’) – from which it was later borrowed back into medieval Latin as ambactia. This seems to have formed the basis of a verb, *ambactiāre ‘go on a mission’ (from which English ultimately gets embassy), from which in turn was derived the noun *ambactiātor.

This became ambasciator in Old Italian, from which Old French borrowed it as ambassadeur. The word had a be wildering array of spellings in Middle English (such as ambaxadour and inbassetour) before finally settling down as ambassador in the 16th century.
=> embassy

ambassador (n.)

late 14c., also embassador, from Middle French ambassadeur, from Old French embassator, via Proven?al or Old Spanish from Latin ambactus "a servant, vassal," from Celtic amb(i)actos "a messenger, servant," from PIE *ambhi- "about" (see ambi-) + *ag- "drive, lead" (see act (v.)). Compare embassy. Forms in am- and em- were used indiscriminately 17c.-18c.

1. The decision will be relayed to Iraq's ambassador at the UN.

這個決定將會被傳達給伊拉克駐聯合國大使。

來自柯林斯例句

2. Also among the speakers was the new American ambassador to Moscow.

發言者當中還有駐莫斯科的新任美國大使。

來自柯林斯例句

3. I've been invited to meet with the American Ambassador.

我受邀會見美國大使。

來自柯林斯例句

4. This morning the American was formally handed over to the ambassador.

今天上午這名美國人被正式移交給了大使。

來自柯林斯例句

5. The ambassador was clearly disconcerted by the British reaction.

顯然，英國的反應讓這位大使很不安。

來自柯林斯例句