emissary

<font size="-1" face="arial, helvetica"> <p> <strong> <font color="#000066">Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 25, 2020 is:</font> </strong> </p> <p> <strong>emissary</strong> &#149; \EM-uh-sair-ee\&nbsp; &#149; <em>noun</em><br /> <p><strong>1 :</strong> one designated as the agent of another <strong>:</strong> <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/representative#h2">representative</a> </p> <p><strong>2 :</strong> a secret agent</p> </p> <p> <strong>Examples:</strong><br /> <p>"America has a long tradition of deploying political <em>emissaries</em>. They can have the authority of a direct line to the president." — <a href="https://www.economist.com/international/2020/08/13/the-dereliction-of-american-diplomacy"><em>The Economist</em>, 13 Aug. 2020</a></p> <p>"He had founded that fellowship of the Black Arrow, as a ruined man longing for vengeance and money; and yet among those who knew him best, he was thought to be the agent and <em>emissary</em> of the great King-maker of England, Richard, Earl of Warwick." — <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Black_Arrow_a_Tale_of_Two_Roses/XR8pAQAAIAAJ?hl=en&amp;gbpv=1&amp;dq=%22He+had+founded+that+fellowship+of+the+Black+Arrow%22&amp;pg=PA164&amp;printsec=frontcover">Robert Louis Stevenson, <em>The Black Arrow</em>, 1888</a></p> </p> <p> <strong>Did you know?</strong><br /> <p>An emissary is often a person who is sent somewhere in order to act as a representative. The key in that sentence is <em>sent</em>; <em>emissary</em> derives from Latin <em>emissus</em>, the past participle of the verb <em>emittere</em>, meaning "to send out."  By the early 17th century, it was a commonly seen and heard word. An earlier common <em>emittere</em> descendant is <em><a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/emit">emit</a></em>. In addition, <em>emittere</em> itself comes from Latin <em>mittere</em> ("to send"), which is an ancestor of many English words, including <em><a href=