How to say “police” in 48 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.
- полиция[pɐˈlʲit͡sɨjə] Russian
- شرطة/ʃur.tˤa/ Arabic
- 警察/t͡ɕiŋ²¹⁴⁻²¹ ʈ͡ʂʰä³⁵/ Chinese
- 경찰[ˈkjɘ(ː)ŋt͡ɕʰa̠ɭ] Korean
- पुलिस/pʊ.lɪs/ Hindi
- αστυνομία/astinoˈmia/ Greek
“police” in German: polizei · Italian: polizia · Portuguese: polícia · Chinese: 警察 · Korean: 경찰 · Russian: полиция · Arabic: شرطة · Hindi: पुलिस
It is commonest in Chinese, where 警察 is the 76th most used word.
Police in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans polisie/ˌpʊə̯ˈli.si/ #536
- Albanian polici/poliˈt͡si/ #976
- Arabic شرطة/ʃur.tˤa/ #404
- Armenian ոստիկանություն/vostikɑnuˈtʰjun/ #1,133
- Basque polizia/poˈlis̻iˌa/ #248
- Bengali পুলিশ/puliʃ/ #212
- Bosnian policija/polǐt͡sija/ #489
- Bulgarian полицай[poliˈt͡saj] police officer, policeman #708
- Catalan policia[pu.liˈsi.ə] #250
- Chinese 警察/t͡ɕiŋ²¹⁴⁻²¹ ʈ͡ʂʰä³⁵/ police; police force #76
- Croatian policija/polǐt͡sija/ #504
- Czech policie[ˈpolɪt͡sɪjɛ] #580
- Danish politiet/poliˈtiːˀəð/ #321
- Dutch politie/poː.ˈli.(t)si/ #308
- English detective/dɪˈtɛktɪv/ A police officer tasked with collecting… #893
- Esperanto polico/poˈlit͡so/ police, constabulary #652
- Estonian politsei/ˈpolitsei̯/ #462
- Finnish poliisi/ˈpoliːsi/ #409
- French flics/flik/ police officer; copper; pig; rozzer #900
- Galician policía/pʊliˈθiɐ/ #282
- German polizei[ˌpo.liˈt͡saɪ̯] police; law enforcement #401
- Greek αστυνομία/astinoˈmia/ #373
- Hebrew משטרה/miʃ.taˈʁa/ #978
- Hindi पुलिस/pʊ.lɪs/ the police #266
- Hungarian rendőrség[ˈrɛndøːrʃeːɡ] #572
- Icelandic lögreglan/ˈlœɣrɛklan/ #503
- Indonesian polisi/poˈlisi/ #210
- Italian polizia/po.litˈt͡si.a/ #319
- Korean 경찰[ˈkjɘ(ː)ŋt͡ɕʰa̠ɭ] police; policing #406
- Latvian policija/ˈpolit͡sija/ #719
- Lithuanian policija/poːˈlʲɪt͡sʲɪjɐ/ #422
- Macedonian полиција[pɔˈlit͡si(j)a] #411
- Malay polis/ˈpolis/ The police, a civil force granted the legal… #200
- Malayalam പോലീസ്/poːliːsɨ̆/ #131
- Norwegian politiet/pʊlɪˈtiːə/ #307
- Persian پلیس[pʰolíːs] #539
- Polish policja/pɔˈli.t͡sja/ #632
- Portuguese polícia/puˈli.sjɐ/ #259
- Russian полиция[pɐˈlʲit͡sɨjə] #650
- Serbian policija/polǐt͡sija/ #514
- Slovak polícia/pɔliːt͡sia/ #416
- Slovenian policija/pɔlit͡síːja/ #280
- Swedish polisen/pɔˈliːsɛn/ #321
- Tagalog pulis/puˈlis/ police officer; policeman; policewoman #171
- Telugu పోలీసు/poːliːsu/ #154
- Turkish polis/poˈlis/ #285
- Ukrainian поліція[poˈlʲit͡sʲijɐ] #729
- Urdu پولس/pʊ.liːs/ #772
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), Catalan (upc_ona (ca_ES), CC BY-SA 4.0), Estonian (news (et_EE), CC BY 4.0) and Slovenian (artur (sl_SI), CC BY 4.0).
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.