prisoner

English

Etymology

From Middle English prisoner, from Old French prisonier (compare Medieval Latin prisōnārius), equivalent to prison +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɪzənə/, /ˈpɹɪznə/
• (Canada, US) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɪzənəɹ/
• Rhymes: -ɪzənə(ɹ)

Noun

prisoner (plural prisoners)

1. A person incarcerated in a prison, while on trial or serving a sentence.
2. Any person held against their will.
   • 1915, Emerson Hough, The Purchase Price, chapterI:

     Captain Edward Carlisle, soldier as he was, martinet as he was, felt a curious sensation of helplessness seize upon him as he met her steady gaze, her alluring smile ; he could not tell what this prisoner might do.

Related terms

• imprison
• prison

Translations

person incarcerated in a prison

• Arabic: سَجِين‎‎ m (sajīn)
• Asturian: presu m, prisioneru m
• Belarusian: вя́зень m (vjázjenʹ), зняво́лены m (znjavóljeny)
• Breton: prizoniad (br) m
• Bulgarian: затворник (bg) m (zatvornik)
• Burmese: ထောင်သား (my) (htaungsa:)
• Catalan: pres (ca) m, presoner (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 囚犯 (zh) (qiúfàn)

• Czech: vězeň (cs) m
• Danish: fange (da) c
• Dutch: gevangene (nl) m, f
• Esperanto: malliberulo, kaptito, prizonulo
• Faroese: fangi m
• Finnish: vanki (fi)
• French: prisonnier (fr) m
• Galician: preso m, prisioneiro m
• Georgian: პატიმარი (ṗaṭimari), ტუსაღი (ṭusaɣi)
• German: Gefangener (de) m, Gefangene f
• Greek: κρατούμενος (el) m (kratoúmenos), φυλακισμένος (el) m (fylakisménos)
• Hungarian: rab (hu), fogoly (hu)
• Icelandic: fangi (is) m, bandingi m
• Indonesian: tahanan (id)
• Irish: cime m
• Italian: prigioniero (it) m
• Japanese: 囚人 (ja) (しゅうじん, shūjin), (prisoner of war) 捕虜 (ja) (ほりょ, horyo)
• Korean: 죄수 (ko) (joesu), 죄인 (ko) (joein)
• Kurdish:

  Kurmanji: girtî (ku), zindanî (ku), êsîr (ku), dîl (ku), bendî (ku)

  Sorani:

• Latin: captus (la) m
• Luxembourgish: Prisonnéier m, Gefaangenen m
• Macedonian: затвореник m (zatvorenik)
• Malay: banduan
• Maori: herehere
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Old Norse: bandingi m
• Persian: زندانی‎‎ (fa) (zendâní)
• Polish: więzień (pl) m
• Portuguese: prisioneiro (pt) m, preso (pt) m
• Romanian: pușcăriaș (ro) m
• Russian: заключённый (ru) m (zaključónnyj), заключённая (ru) m (zaključónnaja), ареста́нт (ru) m (arestánt), ареста́нтка (ru) f (arestántka)
• Scottish Gaelic: prìosanach m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: затвореник m, затвореница f, кажњеник m, заробљеник m

  Roman: zatvorenik (sh) m, zatvorenica (sh) f, kažnjenik (sh) m, zarobljenik (sh) m

• Slovak: väzeň m
• Slovene: zapornik (sl) m, zapornica f, jetnik m, jetnica f
• Spanish: prisionero (es) m, preso (es) m
• Swahili: habusu (sw), mfungwa (sw)
• Swedish: fånge (sv) c, fängelsekund c, intern (sv) c
• Tagalog: bilanggo (tl), kalabos
• Thai: นักโทษ (th) (nák-tôot)
• Tibetan: བཙོན་པ (btson pa)
• Turkish: mahkum (tr)
• Tuvan: кара-бажыңнаттырган (kara-bažıŋnattırgan)
• Ukrainian: в'я́зень (uk) m (vʺjázenʹ), арешта́нт (uk) m (areštánt)
• Volapük: (♂♀) fanäböpäb, (♂) hifanäböpäb, (♀) jifanäböpäb, fanäb (vo)

figurative: any person held against his or her will

• Asturian: presu m, prisioneru m
• Catalan: pres (ca) m, presoner (ca) m
• Czech: zajatec (cs) m, vězeň (cs) m
• Finnish: vanki (fi)
• French: prisonnier (fr) m
• Galician: preso m, prisioneiro m
• German: Gefangener (de) m, Gefangene f
• Greek: κρατούμενος (el) m (kratoúmenos), φυλακισμένος (el) m (fylakisménos), δέσμιος (el) m (désmios)
• Japanese: とりこ (ja) (toriko)
• Polish: jeniec (pl) m
• Portuguese: prisioneiro (pt) m, preso (pt) m

• Russian: пле́нный (ru) m (plénnyj) esp. POW, пле́нник (ru) m (plénnik), у́зник (ru) m (úznik)
• Scottish Gaelic: prìosanach
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: заробљеник m, uznik (sh) m

  Roman: zarobljenik (sh) m, узник m

• Slovene: ujetnik (sl) m, ujetnica f
• Spanish: prisionero (es) m, preso (es) m
• Swedish: fånge (sv) c
• Turkish: esir (tr), tutsak (tr)
• Ukrainian: в'я́зень (uk) m (vʺjázenʹ)
• Volapük: (♂♀) fanäban, (♂) hifanäban, (♀) jifanäban

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 Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Icelandic: ^{(please verify)} fangi (is) m
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} prigioniero (it) m
• Kurdish: ^{(please verify)} به‌ندی‌‎‎

• Norwegian: ^{(please verify)} fange (no)
• Old English: ^{(please verify)} hæft
• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} preso m

Anagrams

• Perrinos, erpornis

---

Middle English

Etymology 1

Form prisounen +‎ -er.

Noun

prisoner (plural prisoners)

1. one who imprisons (others); a jailer

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Old French prisonier; equivalent to prisoun +‎ -er.

Alternative forms

• prisonere, prysonere, prysoner, presoner
• (Cornwall) prisner

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /priˈzoːnər/, /ˈprizɔnər/

Noun

prisoner (plural prisoners or prisoneres)

1. prisoner
2. captive, prisoner of war

Descendants

• English: prisoner