سفیر

Borrowed from Arabic سَفِير (safīr, “ambassador”).

سفیر • (sefir) (definite accusative سفیری (sefiri), plural سفرا (süferâ))

1. delegate, legate, envoy, representative, someone who represents others as a member of a legislative or governing body

   Synonyms: ایلچی (elçi), مبعوث (mebʼus)

2. ambassador, a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state

   Synonyms: ایلچی (elçi), بیوك ایلچی (büyük elçi)

• Turkish: sefir
• → Albanian: sefir

• Barbier de Meynard, Charles (1886) “سفیر”, in Dictionnaire turc-français, volume II, Paris: E. Leroux, page 85
• Çağbayır, Yaşar (2007) “sefir”, in Ötüken Türkçe Sözlük (in Turkish), volume 1, Istanbul: Ötüken Neşriyat, page 4119
• Devellioğlu, Ferit (1962) “sefir”, in Osmanlıca-Türkçe Ansiklopedik Lûgat‎‎^[1] (in Turkish), Istanbul: Türk Dil Kurumu, page 1114
• Kélékian, Diran (1911) “سفیر”, in Dictionnaire turc-français‎^[2] (in French), Constantinople: Mihran, page 682
• Meninski, Franciszek à Mesgnien (1687) “Legatus”, in Complementum thesauri linguarum orientalium, seu onomasticum latino-turcico-arabico-persicum, simul idem index verborum lexici turcico-arabico-persici, quod latinâ, germanicâ, aliarumque linguarum adjectâ nomenclatione nuper in lucem editum‎^[3], Vienna, column 930
• Meninski, Franciszek à Mesgnien (1680) “سفیر”, in Thesaurus linguarum orientalium, Turcicae, Arabicae, Persicae, praecipuas earum opes à Turcis peculiariter usurpatas continens, nimirum Lexicon Turkico-Arabico-Persicum‎^[4], Vienna, column 2630
• Nişanyan, Sevan (2002–) “sefir”, in Nişanyan Sözlük
• Redhouse, James W. (1890) “سفیر”, in A Turkish and English Lexicon‎^[5], Constantinople: A. H. Boyajian, page 1063

Borrowed from Arabic سَفِير (safīr).

سفیر • (safir) (plural سفرا (sofarâ), or سفیران)

1. ambassador

   سفیر کنونی بریتانیا در ایران

   safir-e konuni-ye beritâniyâ dar irân

   the current British ambassador to Iran

2. (historical) envoy, messenger

   Synonyms: ايلچى (ilči), پیغامبر (peyġâmbar)

   • c. 1080, Nāṣir-i Khusraw, “Qaṣīda 106”, in دیوان ناصرخسرو [Dīvān of Nāṣir-i Khusraw]‎^[6]:

     قران را به پیغمبرت ناورید
     مگر جبرئیل آن مبارک سفیر

     qur'ān rā ba payġambar-at n-āwarīd
     magar jibra'īl ān mubārak safīr

     No other than Gabriel, that blessed messenger,
     Brought the Quran to your prophet.

     (Classical Persian transliteration)

3. (rare) mediator

• Dehkhoda, Ali-Akbar (1931–) “سفیر”, in Dehkhoda Dictionary Institute, editors, Dehkhoda Dictionary (in Persian), Tehran: University of Tehran Press
• Hayyim, Sulayman (1934) “سفیر”, in New Persian–English dictionary, Teheran: Librairie-imprimerie Béroukhim

Borrowed from Classical Persian سفیر (safīr), from Arabic سَفِير (safīr).

• (Standard Urdu) IPA^(key): /sə.fiːɾ/

سَفِیر • (safīr) m (Hindi spelling सफ़ीर)

1. ambassador, envoy
2. arbitrator, messenger
3. mediator

• “سفیر”, in اُردُو لُغَت (urdū luġat) (in Urdu), Ministry of Education: Government of Pakistan, 2017.
• “سفیر”, in ریخْتَہ لُغَت (rexta luġat) - Rekhta Dictionary [Urdu dictionary with meanings in Hindi & English], Noida, India: Rekhta Foundation, 2025.