guardian angel

guardian angel

English

WOTD – 3 June 2012

A postcard depicting a guardian angel

Etymology

guardian + angel

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Noun

guardian angel (plural guardian angels)

1. (religion) A tutelary angel watching over a particular person in monotheistic contexts.
   • 1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:

     "We may call them 'guardian angels' as the Catholics do, or 'guides' or 'controls', but whatever you call them, they really do exist and they guard us from evil on the spiritual plane."

2. (figuratively) A person who watches over another.

Hypernyms

• (tutelary spirit): angel; see also Thesaurus:spirit
• (protector): caretaker, tutelary

Translations

spirit

Arabic: مَلَاك حَارِس‎ m (malāk ḥāris) Armenian: պահապան հրեշտակ (hy) (pahapan hreštak) Chinese: Mandarin: 守護天使／守护天使 (shǒuhù tiānshǐ) Crimean Tatar: qoruyıcı melek Czech: anděl strážný, anděl strážce Danish: skytsengel Dutch: beschermengel (nl) m, engelbewaarder (nl) m Esperanto: gardanĝelo Estonian: kaitseingel (et) Faroese: verndareingil m Finnish: suojelusenkeli (fi) French: ange gardien (fr) m German: Schutzengel (de) m Greek: φυλακάγγελος m (fylakángelos) Gujarati: પાલક દેવદૂત (pālak devdūt) Hungarian: őrangyal (hu) Irish: aingeal coimhdeachta m Italian: angelo custode m Japanese: 守護天使 (しゅごてんし, shugotenshi) Korean: 수호천사 (ko) (suhocheonsa) Latin: angelus custōs m Maori: anahera kaitiaki Navajo: diyin naalʼaʼí naa áhályánígíí Norwegian: Bokmål: skytsengel m Nynorsk: skytsengel m Persian: فرشتهٔ نگهبان‎ (ferešte-ye negahbân) Plautdietsch: Schutzenjel m Polish: Anioł Stróż (pl) m Portuguese: anjo da guarda m Romanian: înger păzitor (ro) Russian: а́нгел-храни́тель (ru) m (ángel-xranítelʹ) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: анђео чувар m Roman: anđeo čuvar m Slovak: anjel strážny Spanish: ángel protector m, ángel de la guarda (es) m Swedish: skyddsängel (sv) Tagalog: anghel na bantay, hilagyo Tamil: காவல் தேவதை (ta) (kāval tēvatai) Turkish: koruyucu melek Uyghur: قوغدىغۇچى پەرىشتە‎ (qoghdighuchi perishte) Vietnamese: thiên thần hộ mệnh.

person

Chinese: Mandarin: 守護天使／守护天使 (shǒuhù tiānshǐ) Finnish: suojelija (fi) French: ange gardien (fr) m Hungarian: őrangyal (hu) Polish: anioł stróż (pl) m Slovak: anjel strážny

See also

• daimon, genius, genius hominis, tutelary deity (similar concepts in polytheistic contexts)