Diplomacy

How to spell diplomacy

9 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce diplomacy

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does diplomacy mean?

1. nounThe management of relations between countries through negotiation and tactful representation, or skill in handling sensitive matters without causing offence.

Diplomacy in a sentence

• Years of quiet diplomacy prevented the border dispute from escalating.

• She handled the layoffs with remarkable diplomacy, keeping morale intact.

Where does diplomacy come from?

Language of origin: Greek

The word traces back to the Greek diploma, which literally meant a folded paper, from diploun 'to fold double' and the root diploos 'double'. In the ancient and Roman worlds, official letters of recommendation or licences that travellers and envoys carried were folded sheets, so a diploma came to mean an official document granting a privilege. From there the Latin diploma fed into French, where diplomatie was coined in the eighteenth century to describe the conduct of negotiations between states by accredited representatives. English borrowed diplomacy from this French term around the 1790s, with the related word diplomat following shortly after. The hidden link to 'double' and 'fold' explains the unexpected -plo- in the middle, which is the spot writers most often stumble over.

How the word is built

• diplo- (from Greek diploma: a folded document of credentials)
• -acy (noun suffix denoting a state or practice)