private message

English

Noun

private message (plural private messages)

1. (Internet) A message sent to another user of a social media or chat platform through a private channel as opposed to a publicly accessible area or chatroom.

   Synonyms: (initialism) PM, direct message, personal message, whisper

   • 2007 January 19, Seth Schiesel, “O Brave New World That Has Such Gamers in It”, in The New York Times‎^[1]:

     By then I was receiving dozens of private messages in the game every hour from players I had never met who could see that my guildmate and I were out front: “OMG how did you level so fast?,” “Hey you must have a lot of gold, can I have some?” and of course “You guys are huge nerds.”

Translations

communication to an individual social media user

• Afrikaans: privaatboodskap
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 私信 (si¹ seon³), 私訊／私讯 (si¹ seon³) (Hong Kong, Taiwan)

  Mandarin: 私信 (zh) (sīxìn), 私訊／私讯 (zh) (sīxùn) (Hong Kong, Taiwan)

• Finnish: yksityisviesti (fi)
• French: message privé m
• Hungarian: privát üzenet, privi (hu)
• Japanese: プライベートメッセージ (puraibēto messēji)
• Polish: wiadomość prywatna f, priv m (colloquial)
• Portuguese: mensagem privada f
• Spanish: mensaje privado m
• Swedish: privatmeddelande (sv)
• Thai: หลังไมค์ (lǎng-mai) (colloquial)

Verb

private message (third-person singular simple present private messages, present participle private messaging, simple past and past participle private messaged)

1. (Internet) To send a private message.

   Synonyms: (initialism) PM, direct message, personal message

Alternative forms

• private-message

Translations

to send a private message

• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 私信 (si¹ seon³), 私訊／私讯 (si¹ seon³) (Hong Kong, Taiwan)

  Mandarin: 私信 (zh) (sīxìn), 私訊／私讯 (zh) (sīxùn) (Hong Kong, Taiwan)

• Finnish: yksityisviesti (fi)
• Thai: หลังไมค์ (lǎng-mai) (colloquial)