spokesperson

English

Etymology

From spoke (“past participle of speak”) +‎ -s- +‎ person.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈspəʊkspɜːɹsən/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈspoʊksˌpɝsən/

Noun

spokesperson (plural spokespersons or spokespeople)

1. A person who acts as the voice of another person or a group of people.
   • 2012, C. Holtz-Bacha, J. Strömbäck, Opinion Polls and the Media:

     News subsidies thus include making spokespersons available, producing press releases or staging pseudo-events designed to suit the media's production needs and attract the media's attention […]

   • 2022 January 25, Eric Reinhardt, “How Joe Biden Launched a New Prison Boom”, in Slate‎^[1]:

     Biden and his spokespeople have proudly touted his signature COVID relief bill as a major stimulus for policing in a national context already characterized by globally unparalleled police spending.

   • 2023 August 7, Nadeem Badshah, “Bodies of three hillwalkers recovered from ridge in Scottish Highlands”, in The Guardian‎^[2], →ISSN:

     A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “We were made aware of concern for a group of three hillwalkers who had not returned from the Aonach Eagach ridge in Glen Coe shortly after 9.05pm on Saturday 5 August.

Synonyms

• spox

Coordinate terms

• spokesdog
• spokesman
• spokeswoman

Derived terms

• spokescreature
• spokescritter
• spokesmodel
• spokespersonship
• spokestoon

Translations

person who acts as the voice of a group of people

• Albanian: zëdhënës (sq) m, shprehës (sq) m
• Arabic: نَاطِق رَسْمِيّ m (nāṭiq rasmiyy), مُتَحَدِّث رَسْمِيّ m (mutaḥaddiṯ rasmiyy)
• Armenian: խոսնակ (hy) (xosnak)
• Azerbaijani: mətbuat katibi, nümayəndə (az), vəkil (az)
• Bashkir: вәкил (vəkil)
• Belarusian: прадстаўні́к m (pradstawník), прадстаўні́ца f (pradstawníca), спі́кер m (spíkjer), спі́керка f (spíkjerka)
• Bulgarian: представи́тел (bg) m (predstavítel), представи́телка f (predstavítelka), говори́тел (bg) m (govorítel), говори́телка f (govorítelka)
• Catalan: portaveu m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 發言人 / 发言人 (zh) (fāyánrén)

• Czech: mluvčí (cs) m, zástupce (cs) m, zástupkyně f
• Danish: talsperson c
• Dutch: woordvoerder (nl) m, woordvoerster (nl) f, zegsman (nl) m, zegsvrouw (nl) f
• Esperanto: proparolanto (eo)
• Estonian: eestkõneleja, esindaja (et)
• Finnish: edustaja (fi), tiedottaja (fi); puhemies (fi), puhetorvi (fi)
• French: porte-parole (fr) m or f
• Georgian: წარმომადგენელი (c̣armomadgeneli), პრესმდივანი (ṗresmdivani) (press secretary)
• German: Sprecher (de) m, Sprecherin (de) f, Wortführer (de) m, Wortführerin (de) f
• Hebrew: דּוֹבֵר (he) m (dovér)
• Hungarian: szóvivő (hu)
• Ido: viceparolanto (io)
• Indonesian: juru bicara (id), penyambung lidah (id)
• Irish: urlabhraí (ga) m
• Italian: portavoce (it) m or f
• Japanese: 代弁者 (だいべんしゃ, daibensha)
• Kazakh: өкіл (ökıl)
• Khmer: អ្នកនាំពាក្យ (nĕək nŏəm piək)
• Korean: 대변자(代辯者) (daebyeonja)
• Kyrgyz: өкүл (ky) (ökül)
• Lao: ໂຄສົກ (khō sok)
• Latvian: pārstāvis m, pārstāve f
• Lithuanian: atstovas m, atstovė f
• Macedonian: претставник m (pretstavnik), претставничка f (pretstavnička), говорник m (govornik), говорничка f (govornička), гласноговорник m (glasnogovornik), гласноговорничка f (glasnogovornička)
• Malay: jurucakap (ms)
• Malayalam: വക്താവ് (ml) (vaktāvŭ)
• Māori: reo kōrero, waha kōrero
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: talsperson m, talsmann m, talskvinne f

• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: سُخَنْگو (soxangu), نُمایَنْدِه (fa) (nomâyande), وَکیل (fa) (vakil)

• Polish: rzecznik (pl) m, rzeczniczka (pl) f
• Portuguese: porta-voz (pt) m or f
• Romanian: purtător de cuvânt (ro) m, purtătoare de cuvânt f
• Russian: представи́тель (ru) m (predstavítelʹ), представи́тельница (ru) f (predstavítelʹnica), спи́кер (ru) m (spíker)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: портпарол m, портпаролка f, гласногово̀рнӣк m, гласногово̀рница f

  Latin: portparol (sh) m, portparolka f, glasnogovòrnīk (sh) m, glasnogovòrnica (sh) f

• Slovak: hovorca m, hovorkyňa f, zástupca m, zástupkyňa f
• Slovene: predstavnik m, predstavnica f
• Spanish: portavoz (es) m or f
• Swedish: talesperson (sv) c
• Tajik: сухангӯ (suxangü), намоянда (namoyanda), вакил (vakil)
• Thai: โฆษก (th) (koo-sòk)
• Turkish: sözcü (tr)
• Ukrainian: представни́к (uk) m (predstavnýk), представни́ця (uk) f (predstavnýcja), ре́чник m (réčnyk), ре́чниця f (réčnycja), спі́кер m (spíker), спі́керка (uk) f (spíkerka)
• Urdu: تَرْجُمان m (tarjumān)
• Uzbek: vakil (uz)
• Vietnamese: người phát ngôn, phát ngôn viên