How to say “officer” in 39 different languages
Every one of these is a word that turns up in ordinary speech, not a dictionary curiosity — the number beside it is where it ranks in that language.
- офицер[ɐfʲɪˈt͡sɛr] Russian
- अधिकारी/ə.d̪ʱɪ.kɑː.ɾiː/ Hindi
- ഓഫിസർ/oːfisɐr/ Malayalam
- ఉద్యోగి/ˈudjoːɡi/ Telugu
- افسر[ʔæf.sǽɹ] Persian
“officer” in Russian: офицер · Hindi: अधिकारी
It is commonest in Malay, where pegawai is the 533rd most used word.
Officer in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans generaal/xənəˈrɑːl/ general, general officer #399
- Albanian oficer/ɔfit͡sɛɾ/ #876
- Arabic شرطي/ʃurtˤijj/ policeman, police officer #648
- Bengali কর্মকর্তা/kɔɾmɔkɔɾt̪a/ official, officer #1,460
- Bosnian oficir/ofǐt͡siːr/ #2,489
- Bulgarian полицай[poliˈt͡saj] police officer, policeman #708
- Chinese 警官/t͡ɕiŋ²¹⁴⁻²¹ ku̯än⁵⁵/ police officer; constable #330
- Croatian časnik/t͡ʃâːsniːk/ #2,197
- Czech důstojník[ˈduːstojɲiːk] #2,106
- Dutch agent/aːˈɣɛnt/ a police officer #399
- English detective/dɪˈtɛktɪv/ A police officer tasked with collecting… #893
- Esperanto oficiro/ofiˈt͡siro/ #1,844
- Estonian ohvitser/ˈohvitser/ #1,125
- Finnish komentaja/ˈkomentɑjɑ/ commander, commanding officer #1,667
- French flics/flik/ police officer; copper; pig; rozzer #900
- German polizist/poliˈt͡sɪst/ police officer; policeman #1,542
- Hebrew קצין/kaˈt͡sin/ commissioned officer #1,286
- Hindi अधिकारी/ə.d̪ʱɪ.kɑː.ɾiː/ officer, one with authority #1,024
- Hungarian rendőr[ˈrɛndøːr] police officer, policeman #1,265
- Indonesian detektif/deˈtektif/ a police officer who looks for evidence as… #754
- Italian poliziotto/po.litˈt͡sjɔt.to/ policeman, police officer, cop, copper,… #1,025
- Korean 사령관[sʰa̠ɾjʌ̹ŋɡwa̠n] commanding officer, commander #2,226
- Latvian policists/ˈpolit͡sists/ police officer, policeman #1,561
- Lithuanian pareigūnas[pɐrʲɛɪ²ˈɡuːnɐs] official, officer #1,152
- Macedonian офицер[ˈɔfit͡sɛr] #1,771
- Malay pegawai/pəˈɡawai̯/ officer; official #533
- Malayalam ഓഫിസർ/oːfisɐr/ #2,104
- Norwegian kaptein/kapˈtæɪn/ captain; a military officer rank between… #443
- Persian افسر[ʔæf.sǽɹ] #770
- Russian офицер[ɐfʲɪˈt͡sɛr] #1,388
- Serbian oficir/ofǐt͡siːr/ #2,220
- Slovak dôstojník/du̯ɔstɔjɲiːk/ #796
- Slovenian častnik/t͡ʃáːstnik/ #1,042
- Swedish assistent/ˈasɪsˌtɛnt/ an assistant, a clerical officer #1,885
- Tagalog pulis/puˈlis/ police officer; policeman; policewoman #171
- Telugu ఉద్యోగి/ˈudjoːɡi/ an officer, a functionary #1,121
- Ukrainian офіцер[ɔfʲiˈt͡sɛr] #2,335
- Urdu افسر/əf.səɾ/ #795
- Vietnamese tướng[tɨəŋ˧˦] general officer #800
The speaker reads the word in the voice the LangX app uses for that language — synthesised, not a recording of a native speaker, so treat it as a guide. A row without a button has no reading we are free to use, or none we trust, yet. Voices for Bengali (google (bn_BD), CC BY-SA 4.0), Estonian (news (et_EE), CC BY 4.0), Slovenian (artur (sl_SI), CC BY 4.0) and Vietnamese (vais1000 (vi_VN), CC BY 4.0).
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.