detective

See also détective

English

Wikipedia

Pronunciation

• IPA: /dɪˈtɛktɪv/

Noun

detective (plural detectives)

1. (law enforcement) A police officer who looks for evidence as part of solving a crime; an investigator.
   • 1928, Lawrence R. Bourne, chapter 7, Well Tackled!^[1]:

     The detective kept them in view. He made his way casually along the inside of the shelter until he reached an open scuttle close to where the two men were standing talking. Eavesdropping was not a thing Larard would have practised from choice, but there were times when, in the public interest, he had to do it, and this was one of them.

2. A person employed to find information not otherwise available to the public.

Synonyms

• (law enforcement): DT (abbreviation), Det (abbreviation)
• (person employed to find information): consulting detective , private detective, private investigator
• (person employed to find information): dick , private dick :(slang)

Derived terms

Terms derived from detective

consulting detective (law enforcement, UK): detective constable (DC) (law enforcement, UK): detective sergeant (DS) (law enforcement, UK): detective inspector (DI) (law enforcement, UK): detective chief inspector (DCI)

detective story (law enforcement, UK): detective superintendent (DSupt.) (law enforcement, UK): detective chief superintendent (DCS) house detective private detective (law enforcement, UK, archaic): woman detective constable (WDC)

Related terms

Terms etymologically related to detective

detect

detection

detector

Translations

police officer who looks for evidence

• Asturian: detective (ast) m
• Bulgarian: детектив (bg) (detektív) m
• Catalan: detectiu (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 偵探 (cmn), 侦探 (cmn) (zhēntàn)

• Czech: detektiv (cs) m
• Dutch: rechercheur (nl) m, speurder (nl) m
• French: détective (fr) m
• Galician: detective (gl) m
• German: Ermittler (de) m
• Greek: αστυνομικός ερευνητής (el) (astynomikós erevnitís), ερευνητής (el) (erevnitís)
• Hebrew: בלש (he) (balash) m, בלשית (he) (balashyt) f

• Hungarian: nyomozó (hu), detektív (hu)
• Japanese: 探偵 (ja) (たんてい, tantei), 刑事 (ja) (けいじ, keiji)
• Malay: detektif (ms)
• Persian: کارآگاه (fa) (kârâgâh)
• Polish: oficer śledczy (pl) m, detektyw (pl) m and f
• Portuguese: detective (pt) m (Portugal), detetive (pt) m (Brazil)
• Russian: детектив (ru) (dɛtɛktív, detektív) m, сыщик (ru) (sýščik) m, оперативник (ru) (opertívnik) m, следователь (ru) (slédovatelʹ) m
• Spanish: detective (es) m
• Swedish: kriminalpolis (sv) c
• West Frisian: resjersjeur (fy)

person employed to find information

• Bulgarian: разузнавач (bg) (razuznavač) m
• Catalan: detectiu (ca) m
• Czech: detektiv (cs) m
• Dutch: detective (nl) m, speurder (nl) m
• Esperanto: detektivo (eo)
• Estonian: detektiiv (et)
• French: détective (fr), enquêteur (fr)
• Galician: detective (gl) m
• German: Detektiv (de) m, Privatdetektiv (de) m, Privatermittler (de) m
• Greek: ερευνητής (el) (erevnitís), ιδιωτικός ερευνητής (el) (idiotikós erevnitís)

• Hebrew: בלש (he) (balash) m, בלשית (he) (balashyt) f
• Hungarian: magánnyomozó (hu), detektív (hu)
• Japanese: 探偵 (ja) (たんてい, tantei)
• Maltese: spjun (mt) m, spjuna (mt) f
• Polish: detektyw (pl) m and f
• Portuguese: detetive (pt) c
• Russian: сыщик (ru) (sýščik) m, детектив (ru) (dɛtɛktív, detektív) m
• Spanish: detective (es) m
• Swedish: detektiv (sv) c

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Asturian

Noun

detective m and f (plural detectives)

1. detective

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Galician

Noun

detective m (plural detectives)

1. detective

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Portuguese

Noun

detective m (plural detectives)

1. Alternative spelling of detetive.

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Spanish

Etymology

From English detective.

Noun

detective m and f (plural detectives)

1. detective