Origin: French suffix -ier
Carrier has 13 different meanings across 2 categories:
a self-propelled wheeled vehicle designed specifically to carry something
"refrigerated carriers have revolutionized the grocery business"
a large warship that carries planes and has a long flat deck for takeoffs and landings
"The naval carrier launched its fighter jets from the massive, flat deck at dawn to secure the airspace."
an inactive substance that is a vehicle for a radioactive tracer of the same substance and that assists in its recovery after some chemical reaction
"The researcher selected ethanol as the carrier to transport the radioactive iodine through the solvent system before recovering it after oxidation."
a person or firm in the business of transporting people or goods or messages
"The package arrived late because the carrier missed its scheduled delivery window."
a radio wave that can be modulated in order to transmit a signal
"The technician adjusted the frequency of the carrier before broadcasting the new emergency alert across the city."
a man who delivers the mail
"The carrier rang my doorbell to hand me today's newspapers before heading back out the street."
(medicine) a person (or animal) who has some pathogen to which he is immune but who can pass it on to others
"The doctor warned that even though the child felt perfectly fine, she could still act as an asymptomatic carrier and spread the flu to her classmates."
a rack attached to a vehicle; for carrying luggage or skis or the like
"He strapped his ski boots onto the metal carrier attached to the back of his car before driving up the mountain."
(genetics) an organism that possesses a recessive gene whose effect is masked by a dominant allele; the associated trait is not apparent but can be passed on to offspring
"After learning she was a carrier for cystic fibrosis, Maria and her husband decided to get genetic testing before starting their family."
A person or object that carries someone or something else.
"The delivery truck arrived as a carrier for our fresh groceries, dropping off boxes at my doorstep."
In plain English: A carrier is something that holds and moves people or things from one place to another.
"The delivery carrier dropped off my package at the front door."
Usage: Use "carrier" to describe anyone or any vehicle responsible for transporting people or goods from one place to another. Do not confuse it with words like "driver," which refers specifically to the person operating the transport, unless the carrier is also the operator.
A Northern Athabaskan language spoken in Canada. Sometimes considered to be three separate languages: Southern Carrier, Northern Carrier and Central Carrier.
"The linguist spent months studying the distinct dialects of Carrier before realizing they might actually represent three separate languages."
The word carrier comes from the Middle English verb carien, meaning to transport something by hand or animal. It entered modern usage through a combination of direct borrowing from Anglo-Norman French and later reanalysis as an agent noun formed from the verb carry.