bureaucratic

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *péh₂wr̥

Proto-Hellenic *pāwər

Ancient Greek πῦρ (pûr)

Proto-Indo-European *-rós

Proto-Hellenic *-rós

Ancient Greek -ρός (-rós)

Ancient Greek πῠρρός (pŭrrhós)bor.

Latin burrus

Latin burra

Old French *bure

Proto-Indo-European *-lós

Proto-Indo-European *-elós

Proto-Italic *-elos

Latin -lus

Latin -ellus

Old French -el

Old French burel

French bureau

Proto-Indo-European *kret-

Ancient Greek κρᾰ́τος (krắtos)

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂

Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂

Proto-Indo-European *-i-eh₂

Proto-Hellenic *-íā

Ancient Greek -ῐ́ᾱ (-ĭ́ā)

Ancient Greek -κρᾰτῐ́ᾱ (-krătĭ́ā)lbor.

French -cratie

French bureaucratie

French bureaucrate

Proto-Indo-European *-kos

Proto-Indo-European *-ikos

Proto-Italic *-ikos

Latin -icuslbor.

Old French -ique

Middle French -ique

French -ique

▲

French bureaucratie

▲

French -ique

French bureaucratiquebor.

English bureaucratic

Borrowed from French bureaucratique, from bureaucrate (“bureaucrat”) or bureaucratie (“bureaucracy”) + -ique (“-ic”), equivalent to bureaucrat +‎ -ic or bureau +‎ -cratic.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌbjʊəɹəˈkɹætɪk/

  • Audio (Berkshire, Southern England):

    (file)

• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˌbjʊɹəˈkɹætɪk/, [ˌbjʊɹəˈkɹæɾɪk]

  • Audio (Colorado):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ætɪk

Adjective

bureaucratic (comparative more bureaucratic, superlative most bureaucratic)

1. Of or pertaining to bureaucracy or the actions of bureaucrats.
   • 2014 March 2, Jan Morris, “Lawrence in Arabia: War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle East by Scott Anderson, review: A skilful account of T. E. Lawrence and his role in the painful birth of an emerging Middle East [print version: A rock in Arabia's shifting sands, 1 March 2014, p. R26]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Review)‎^[1]:

     [T. E.] Lawrence said that in the end he felt himself to be fighting not for the imperial British but for the rebellious Arabs. All too often he conflicted with British bureaucratic fustiness.

   • 2017 December 8, Steven Erlanger, “Brexit Talks Headed for a Second, More Difficult Phase”, in The New York Times‎^[2]:

     European Union is legalistic, bureaucratic and runs by precedent.

   • 2025 March 27, Jessica Glenza, “RFK Jr plans 10,000 job cuts in restructuring of US health department”, in The Guardian‎^[3]:

     “We aren’t just reducing bureaucratic sprawl. We are realigning the organization with its core mission and our new priorities in reversing the chronic disease epidemic,” Kennedy said on Thursday morning.

Derived terms

• antibureaucratic
• bureaucratical
• bureaucratic centralism
• bureaucratic inertia
• bureaupathic
• contrabureaucratic
• debureaucratic
• extrabureaucratic
• multibureaucratic
• nonbureaucratic
• postbureaucratic
• probureaucratic, pro-bureaucratic
• technobureaucratic
• unbureaucratic

Related terms

• bureaucracy
• bureaucrat
• bureaucratese
• bureaucratically

Translations

of or pertaining to bureaucracy

• Asturian: burocráticu
• Belarusian: бюракраты́чны (bjurakratýčny)
• Catalan: burocràtic (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 官僚 (zh) (guānliáo)

• Czech: byrokratický
• Danish: bureaukratisk
• Dutch: bureaucratisch (nl)
• Estonian: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: byrokraattinen (fi), virkavaltainen
• Galician: burocrático (gl) m
• Georgian: ბიუროკრატიული (biuroḳraṭiuli)
• German: bürokratisch (de)
• Greek: γραφειοκρατικός (el) m (grafeiokratikós)
• Hindi: शासनिक (śāsnik)
• Hungarian: bürokratikus (hu)
• Indonesian: birokratis (id)
• Irish: maorlathach
• Italian: burocratico (it)
• Kazakh: төрешілдік (töreşıldık)
• Latvian: birokrātisks
• Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can
• Macedonian: бирокра́тски (birokrátski)
• Malay:

  Jawi: بيروکراتيک (ms)

  Rumi: birokratik (ms)

• Polish: biurokratyczny (pl), biuralistyczny (pejorative)
• Portuguese: burocrático (pt)
• Romanian: birocratic (ro) m
• Russian: бюрократи́ческий (ru) (bjurokratíčeskij)
• Spanish: burocrático (es)
• Swedish: byråkratisk (sv)
• Turkish: bürokratik (tr)
• Ukrainian: бюрократи́чний (uk) (bjurokratýčnyj)

See also

• administrative