How to say “officer” in 39 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.
It is commonest in Tagalog, where pulis is the 171st most used word.
- Afrikaans generaal general, general officer #399
- Albanian oficer #876
- Arabic شرطي policeman, police officer #648
- Bengali কর্মকর্তা official, officer #1,460
- Bosnian oficir #2,489
- Bulgarian полицай police officer, policeman #708
- Chinese 警官 police officer; constable #330
- Croatian časnik #2,197
- Czech důstojník #2,106
- Dutch agent a police officer #399
- English detective A police officer tasked with collecting… #893
- Esperanto oficiro #1,844
- Estonian ohvitser #1,125
- Finnish komentaja commander, commanding officer #1,667
- French flics police officer; copper; pig; rozzer #900
- German polizist police officer; policeman #1,542
- Hebrew קצין commissioned officer #1,286
- Hindi अधिकारी officer, one with authority #1,024
- Hungarian rendőr police officer, policeman #1,265
- Indonesian detektif a police officer who looks for evidence as… #754
- Italian poliziotto policeman, police officer, cop, copper,… #1,025
- Korean 사령관 commanding officer, commander #2,226
- Latvian policists police officer, policeman #1,561
- Lithuanian pareigūnas official, officer #1,152
- Macedonian офицер #1,771
- Malay pegawai officer; official #533
- Malayalam ഓഫിസർ #2,104
- Norwegian kaptein captain; a military officer rank between… #443
- Persian افسر #770
- Russian офицер #1,388
- Serbian oficir #2,220
- Slovak dôstojník #796
- Slovenian častnik #1,042
- Swedish assistent an assistant, a clerical officer #1,885
- Tagalog pulis police officer; policeman; policewoman #171
- Telugu ఉద్యోగి an officer, a functionary #1,121
- Ukrainian офіцер #2,335
- Urdu افسر #795
- Vietnamese tướng general officer #800
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.