courier

American  

[kur-ee-er, koor-] / ˈkɜr i ər, ˈkʊər- /

noun

couriers plural

1. a messenger, usually traveling in haste, bearing urgent news, important reports or packages, diplomatic messages, etc.

2. any means of carrying news, messages, etc., regularly.

3. the conveyance used by a courier, as an airplane or ship.

4. Chiefly British. a tour guide for a travel agency.

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courier British  

/ ˈkʊərɪə /

noun

1. a special messenger, esp one carrying diplomatic correspondence

2. a person who makes arrangements for or accompanies a group of travellers on a journey or tour

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verb

1. (tr) to send (a parcel, letter, etc) by courier

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• couriers
  plural

Etymology

Origin of courier

1350–1400; < Middle French cour ( r ) ier < Italian corriere, equivalent to corr ( ere ) to run (< Latin currere ) + -iere < Latin -ārius -ary; replacing Middle English corour < Anglo-French cor ( i ) our, Old French coreor < Late Latin curritor runner; see current, -tor

Explanation

A courier is a person you trust with delivering important messages or packages. Let your mail carrier deliver your credit card bill and the form letter from the “Save the Orchids” foundation, but trust a courier with your book contract or birth certificate. Couriers are in a hurry. Do they saunter up your driveway the way a mail carrier does? No! Couriers are clearly on important business; they’re jogging. The word comes from a Latin word, currere, meaning “to run.” Nowadays, you might see couriers on bicycles, however, weaving in and out of traffic to deliver your messages on time.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

courier couriers

Flights from New York City to Colorado Springs are about $250, and sending your dog with a courier would cost well over $1,000.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 29, 2026

Her daughter arranged for a soldier to help bring her belongings to a courier.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026

Det Supt Oliver Little, from City of London Police, said courier fraud represented "serious organised crime" that was "very sophisticated at getting people's confidence".

From BBC ● Apr. 18, 2026

But the courier was sent home after a Customs and Border Protection agent stopped him at the Miami airport and got the letter.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 16, 2026

Mudd went to Washington to introduce Booth to a Confederate courier named John Harrison Surratt.

From "Chasing Lincoln's Killer" by James L. Swanson

"Along with a network of others, McKelvie, Sanderson and Tracey operated as couriers," he added.

From BBC ● Jun. 15, 2026

The National Security Agency also developed a behavioral profiling program, SKYNET, to identify Al Qaeda couriers in Afghanistan.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 4, 2026

Acting as couriers, they take up parcels of host bacterial DNA and deliver them to neighbouring bacteria.

From Science Daily ● Apr. 17, 2026

Gold said just over 94,000 couriers were impacted with an average underpayment of $19.48.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 30, 2026

During the day, telephone calls are meant for business: banks and couriers and department stores and the post office.

From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse