Sherpa

From Tibetan ཤར་པ། (shar pa, literally “eastern people”), from ཤར (shar, “east”) + པ (pa, nominalizing suffix). The reason for this derivation is unclear, but a common explanation notes that the Sherpas originated in eastern Tibet. The community is based in the Nepalese highlands, however, which is south of Tibet.

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈʃɝpə/

Sherpa (plural Sherpas or Sherpa)

1. A member of a particular Himalayan ethnic group living in Nepal and Tibet, known especially as mountaineers.
2. A high-ranking government official who works tirelessly in the background to conclude the text of an official communiqué, typically from a G7 or G20 summit.
   • 2018 December 1, Julian Borger, “G20 agreement backs 'rules-based' order but bows to Trump on trade reforms”, in The Guardian‎^[1], London, United Kingdom, →ISSN, archived from the original on 29 April 2019:

     Sherpas from the European Union and 19 countries worked through the week to salvage a meaningful joint statement, culminating in an all-night session on Friday.

Sherpa

1. The Southern Tibetan language of these people.

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Sherpa terms
• Ethnologue entry for Sherpa, xsr ⁠

• E sharp, E-sharp, Harpes, Sharpe, Spehar, e sharp, e-sharp, harpes, hepars, pasher, phares, phaser, phrase, raphes, seraph, shaper, sharpe, shrape, sphear