message

See also: Message

English

Etymology

From Middle English message, from Old French message, from Early Medieval Latin missāticum, derived from Latin mittere (“send”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *meyth₂- (“to exchange”). Displaced native Old English ærende which is survived in English errand.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ˈmɛsɪd͡ʒ/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Hyphenation: mes‧sage
  • Rhymes: -ɛsɪdʒ

Noun

message (plural messages)

  1. A communication, or what is communicated; any concept or information conveyed.
    We've just received an urgent message from the President.
  2. An underlying theme or conclusion to be drawn from something.
    The main message of the novel is that time heals all wounds.
    • 2013 June 29, “Travels and travails”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, page 55:
      Even without hovering drones, a lurking assassin, a thumping score and a denouement, the real-life story of Edward Snowden, a rogue spy on the run, could be straight out of the cinema. But, as with Hollywood, the subplots and exotic locations may distract from the real message: America’s discomfort and its foes’ glee.
  3. (UK, Ireland, chiefly in the plural) An errand.
    • 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 27:
      I had been on a message for my father, and was walking home along the road, when I saw a tall, fine lassie coming over the bogland on the right hand side of the road.
  4. (Ireland, Scotland, Northern England) See messages (“groceries, shopping”).

Abbreviations

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Descendants
  • Tok Pisin: mesej
  • → Gulf Arabic: مسج (məsij, “short electronic message”)
  • → German: Message
  • → Japanese: メッセージ (messēji)
  • → Korean: 메시지 (mesiji)
  • → Malay: mesej
  • → Russian: ме́сседж (mɛ́ssɛdž)

Translations
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

References

Verb

message (third-person singular simple present messages, present participle messaging, simple past and past participle messaged)

  1. To send a message to; to transmit a message to, e.g. as text via a cell phone.
    Just message me for directions.
    I messaged her about the concert.
  2. To send (something) as a message; usually refers to electronic messaging.
    She messaged me the information yesterday.
    Please message the final report by fax.
  3. (intransitive) To send a message or messages; to be capable of sending messages.
    We've implemented a new messaging service.
    The runaway computer program was messaging non-stop.
  4. (obsolete) To bear as a message.

Synonyms
  • (send a text message to): text

Translations
to send a message to; to transmit a message to, e.g. as text via a cell phone

See also

Anagrams

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French message, from Early Medieval Latin missāticum, derived from Latin mittere (“send”).

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /mɛ.saʒ/, /me.saʒ/
  • Audio(file)

Noun

message m (plural messages)

  1. message
    • 1928, André Breton, Nadja:
      Un journal du matin suffira toujours à me donner de mes nouvelles : X . . . ., 26 décembre. - L’opérateur chargé de la station de télégraphie sans fil située à l’ Île du Sable, a capté un fragment de message qui aurait été lancé dimanche soir à telle heure par le . . . . Le message disait notamment : « Il y a quelque chose qui ne va pas » mais il n’indiquait pas la position de l’avion à ce moment, et, par suite de très mauvaises conditions atmosphériques et des interférences qui se produisaient, l’opérateur n’a pu comprendre aucune autre phrase, ni entrer de nouveau en communication. Le message était transmis sur une longueur d’onde de 625 mètres ; d’autre part, étant donné la force de réception, l’opérateur a cru pouvoir localiser l’avion dans un rayon de 80 kilomètres autour de l’ Île du Sable.
      A morning paper will always be adequate to give me my news : X . . ., December 26 -- The radio operator on the Ile du Sable has received a fragment of a message sent Sunday evening at such and such an hour by the . . . . The message said, in particular : "There is something which is not working" but failed to indicate the position of the plane at this moment, and due to extremely bad atmospheric conditions and static, the operator was unable to understand any further sentence, nor to make communication again. The message was transmitted on a wave length of 625 meters ; moreover given the strength of the reception, the operator states he can localize the plane within a radius of 50 miles around the Ile du Sable.

Derived terms

Descendants
  • Haitian Creole: mesaj
  • → Albanian: mesazh
  • → Moroccan Arabic: ميساج (mesaž)
  • → Romanian: mesaj
  • → Turkish: mesaj

Further reading

Interlingua

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French message.

Noun

message (plural messages)

  1. message

Derived terms
  • messagero
  • messageria

Norman

Noun

message m (plural messages)

  1. Alternative form of m'sage

Old French

Alternative forms

Etymology

Inherited from Late Latin missāticum, derived from Latin mittere (“send”).

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /mɛˈsad͡ʒə/

Noun

message oblique singular, m (oblique plural messages, nominative singular messages, nominative plural message)

  1. message (form of communication)
  2. messenger

Derived terms

Descendants

Borrowings:

Scots

Etymology

Old French message, see above.

Noun

message (plural messages)

  1. message
  2. (in the plural) purchases, shopping
    go the messages - do one's shopping
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