official language

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

official language (plural official languages)

2. (sociolinguistics) A language afforded an elevated status in a particular country, state, or other jurisdiction, typically for government use.

   Coordinate term: minority language

   • 2018 June 15, Harmeet Kaur, “FYI: English isn’t the official language of the United States”, in CNN‎^[1]:

     A lot of multilingual countries promote an official language, but the United States has never done so with English. In fact, the US has no official language.

   • 2025 March 17, Sahana Mukherjee and Mark Hugo Lopez, “How Americans feel about making English the official language of the U.S.”, in Pew Research Center‎^[2]:

     President Donald Trump recently signed an executive order naming English the official language of the United States.

Translations

language

• Acehnese: bahsa raseumi
• Afrikaans: amptelike taal
• Albanian: gjuha zyrtare f
• Amharic: የስራ ቋንቋ (yäsra ḳʷanḳʷa)
• Arabic: لُغَة رَسْمِيَّة f (luḡa rasmiyya)
• Aragonese: idioma oficial m
• Armenian: պաշտոնական լեզու (paštonakan lezu)
• Asturian: llingua oficial f
• Avar: расмияб мацӏ (rasmijab macʼ)
• Azerbaijani: rəsmi dil, dövlət dili
• Bashkir: рәсми тел (räsmiy til)
• Basque: hizkuntza ofizial
• Belarusian: афіцы́йная мо́ва f (aficýjnaja móva)
• Bengali: দাপ্তরিক ভাষা (daptorik bhaśa)
• Breton: yezh ofisiel f
• Bulgarian: официа́лен ези́к m (oficiálen ezík)
• Catalan: llengua oficial (ca) f
• Chechen: официалан мотт (oficialan mott)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 官方語言 / 官方语言 (gun¹ fong¹ jyu⁵ jin⁴), 正式語文 / 正式语文 (zing³ sik¹ jyu⁵ man⁴)

  Hakka: 官方語言 / 官方语言 (kôn-fông ngî-ngièn)

  Mandarin: 官方語言 / 官方语言 (zh) (guānfāng yǔyán), 正式語文 / 正式语文 (zhèngshì yǔwén)

  Wu: 官方語言 / 官方语言 (¹kuoe-faon ⁶gniu-yi)

• Chuvash: патшалӑх чӗлхи (patšalăh čĕlh̬i)
• Crimean Tatar: resmiy til
• Czech: úřední jazyk m
• Danish: officielt sprog n
• Dhivehi: ރަސްމީ ބަސް (rasmī bas)
• Dutch: ambtstaal f, officiële taal f
• Erzya: масторонь кель (mastoroń keľ)
• Esperanto: oficiala lingvo
• Estonian: ametlik keel
• Extremaduran: lengua oficial
• Finnish: virallinen kieli (fi)
• French: langue officielle (fr) f
• Frisian:

  Saterland Frisian: amtssproake

  West Frisian: offisjele taal c

• Friulian: lenghe uficiâl f
• Galician: lingua oficial f
• Georgian: სახელმწიფო ენა (saxelmc̣ipo ena)
• German: Amtssprache (de) f
• Greek: επίσημη γλώσσα f (epísimi glóssa)
• Haitian Creole: lang ofisyèl
• Hawaiian: ʻōlelo kūhelu
• Hebrew: שָׂפָה רִשְׁמִית (he) f (safá rishmít)
• Hindi: राजभाषा (hi) f (rājbhāṣā)
• Hungarian: hivatalos nyelv
• Icelandic: opinbert tungumál n
• Igbo: asụsụ obodo
• Ilocano: opisial a pagsasao
• Indonesian: bahasa resmi (id)
• Ingush: паччахьалкхен мотт (paččaḥʳalqen mott)
• Interlingua: lingua official
• Irish: teanga oifigiúil f
• Italian: lingua ufficiale f
• Japanese: 公用語 (ja) (こうようご, kōyōgo)
• Javanese: basa resmi
• Kabyle: tutlayt tamaddudt
• Kannada: ರಾಜಭಾಷೆ (kn) (rājabhāṣe)
• Karachay-Balkar: официал тил (ofitsial til)
• Kazakh: ресми тіл (resmiy til)
• Khmer: ភាសាផ្លូវការ (phiəsaa phləw kaa)
• Korean: 공용어(公用語) (ko) (gong'yong'eo)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: زمانی فەرمی (ckb) (zmanî fermî)

• Kyrgyz: расмий тил (rasmiy til)
• Ladino: lingua ofisiala
• Lao: ພາສາລັດຖະການ (phā sā lat tha kān)
• Latvian: valsts valoda f
• Limburgish: officieel taol
• Lithuanian: valstybinė kalba f
• Luxembourgish: offiziell Sprooch f
• Macedonian: службен јазик m (služben jazik)
• Madurese: bhâsa resmi
• Malagasy: fiteny ôfisialy
• Malay: bahasa rasmi
• Malayalam: ഔദ്യോഗിക ഭാഷ (audyōgika bhāṣa)
• Maltese: lingwa uffiċjali f
• Manx: çhengey oikoil
• Marathi: अधिकृत भाषा f (adhikrut bhāṣā), राजभाषा f (rājbhāṣā)
• Mari:

  Eastern Mari: кугыжаныш йылме (kugyžanyš jylme)

• Mazanderani: رسمی زوون
• Mingrelian: სახენწჷფო ნინა (saxenc̣əpo nina)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: албан ёсны хэл (mn) (alban josny xel)

• Neapolitan: lengua ufficiale
• Nepali: आधिकारिक भाषा (ādhikārik bhāṣā)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: offisielt språk n

• Occitan: lenga oficiala f
• Papiamentu: idioma ofisial
• Pashto: رسمي ژبه f (rasmí žëba)
• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: زَبانِ رَسْمی (zabân-e rasmi)

• Pitcairn-Norfolk: ofishol laenghwij
• Polish: język urzędowy (pl) m inan
• Portuguese: língua oficial (pt) f
• Punjabi:

  Western Punjabi: دَفْتَری زُبان (daftarī zubān)

• Quechua: tukri simi
• Romanian: limbă oficială f
• Russian: официа́льный язы́к (ru) m (oficiálʹnyj jazýk)
• Santali: ᱨᱟᱡᱽ ᱯᱟᱹᱨᱥᱤ
• Scots: offeecial leid
• Scottish Gaelic: cànan oifigeil m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: службени језик m

  Latin: službeni jezik m

• Shan: ၽႃႇသႃႇပဵၼ်တၢင်းၵၢၼ် (phàa sàa pǎen táang kǎan)
• Sicilian: lingua ufficiali
• Sindhi: سرڪاري ٻولي (srkāre ḇole)
• Slovak: úradný jazyk m
• Slovene: uradni jezik m
• Spanish: idioma oficial m, lengua oficial f
• Sundanese: basa resmi
• Swahili: lugha rasmi
• Swedish: officiellt språk n
• Tagalog: opisyal na wika
• Tajik: забони расмӣ (zabon-i rasmi)
• Tamil: ஆட்சிமொழி (āṭcimoḻi)
• Tatar: рәсми тел (räsmi tel)
• Telugu: అధికార భాష (adhikāra bhāṣa)
• Thai: ภาษาราชการ (th) (paa-sǎa-râat-chá-gaan), ภาษาทางการ (paa-sǎa-taang-gaan)
• Turkish: resmî dil (tr)
• Udmurt: официальной кыл (oficiaľnoj kyl)
• Ukrainian: офіці́йна мо́ва (uk) f (oficíjna móva)
• Urdu: دَفْتَری زُبان (ur) f (daftarī zubān), دَفْتَری زَبان (ur) f (daftarī zabān)
• Uzbek: davlat tili
• Venetan: łéngua ufisałe
• Vietnamese: ngôn ngữ chính thức
• Walloon: lingaedje oficir
• Welsh: iaith swyddogol f
• Xhosa: ulwimi olusemthethweni
• Yakut: ил тыл (il tïl)