politician

English

Alternative forms

• polititian (obsolete)

Etymology

politic +‎ -ian

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ˈpɒl.ɪ.tɪʃ.ən/, X-SAMPA: /"pQl.I.tIS.@n/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

politician (plural politicians)

1. One engaged in politics, especially an elected or appointed government official.

   Politicians should serve the country's interest.

2. Specifically, one who regards elected political office as a career.

   Unlike the other candidates, I'm not a politician.

   • 1996, Tom Clancy, Executive Orders^[1], ISBN 0399142185, page 438:

     I never wanted to be one, and as far as I'm concerned, I'm not a politician now. Am I the best man for this job? Probably not. I am, however, the President of the United States, […]

3. A politically active or interested person.

   Only real politicians are interested in this issue.

   • 1863, “The Fountain Kloof”, in The Sunday at Home^[2], page 211:

     You used to be such a politician. Do you remember the debates we held in Fitzroy's rooms?

4. A sly or ingratiating person.

   There is a politician in every office.

   • 1969, David E. Sanford, My Village, My World^[3], page 90:

     Mrs. Dimitriou blushed at the compliment. "Antonios, you are such a politician," her husband chuckled.

Translations

one engaged in politics

• Arabic: سياسي (ar) (siyāsiyy) m, سياسية (ar) (siyāsíyya) f
• Armenian: քաղաքական գործիչ (hy) (k’aġak’akan gorçič)
• Basque: politikari (eu)
• Belarusian: палітык (be) (palítyk) m
• Bulgarian: политик (bg) (polítik) m
• Burmese: နိုင်ငံရေးသမား (my)
• Catalan: polític m, política f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 政客 (cmn) (zhèngkè), 政治家 (cmn) (zhèngzhìjiā)

• Czech: politik (cs) m, politička (cs) f
• Danish: politiker (da) c
• Dutch: politicus (nl) m, politica (nl) f
• Esperanto: politikisto (eo)
• Estonian: poliitik (et)
• Finnish: poliitikko (fi)
• French: politicien (fr) m, homme politique (fr) m, femme politique (fr) f
• German: Politiker (de) m, Politikerin (de) f
• Greek: πολιτικός (el) (politikós) c
• Hebrew: פוליטיקאי (he) (politiká`i) m, פוליטיקאית (he) (politiká`it) m
• Hindi: राजनीतिज्ञ (hi) (rājnītijgya) m
• Hungarian: politikus (hu)
• Italian: politico (it) m
• Japanese: 政治家 (ja) (せいじか, seijika), 政客 (ja) (せいかく, seikaku)
• Jèrriais: politicien m

• Khmer: អ្នកនយោបាយ (km)
• Korean: 정치인 (ko) (jeongchi-in) (政治人 (ko)), 정치가 (ko) (jeongchiga) (政治家 (ko))
• Lao: ນັກການເມືອງ (lo) (nak kaan-myang)
• Latvian: politiķis m
• Malayalam: രാഷ്ട്രീയക്കാരന്‍ (raashteeyakkaaran)
• Norwegian: politiker (no) m
• Novial: politikiste
• Persian: سیاست‌مدار (fa) (siyâsatmadâr)
• Polish: polityk (pl) m
• Portuguese: político (pt) m
• Romanian: politician (ro)
• Russian: политик (ru) (polítik) m, политический деятель (ru) (politíčeskij déjatel’) m
• Scottish Gaelic: fear-poilitigs (gd) m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: политичар (sh) m

  Roman: političar (sh) m

• Spanish: político (es) m, política (es) f
• Swedish: politiker (sv) c
• Tagalog: politiko
• Thai: นักการเมือง (th) (nák gaan meuang)
• Ukrainian: політик (uk) (polítyk) m
• Vietnamese: chính khách (vi) (政客 (vi)), nhà chính trị (vi) (家政治 (vi))

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Albanian: politikan
• Bulgarian: политик (bg) (politik)
• Cebuano: [[politiko]
• Hawaiian: Loea kalai'aina
• Hiligaynon: politiko
• Indonesian: politikus

• Maori: mema pāremata
• Persian: وارد در سياست
• Romanian: politician
• Slovak: politik m, politička f
• Turkish: devlet adami
• Welsh: gwleidydd, gwleidyddwr
• Yiddish: politikant