volunteer

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French voluntaire, from Latin voluntārius (“willing, voluntary”); or from voluntary +‎ -eer.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /vɑl.ənˈtɪɹ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /vɒl.ənˈtɪə/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: vol‧un‧teer

Noun

volunteer (plural volunteers)

1. One who enters into, or offers for, any service of their own free will, especially when done without pay.

   The volunteers at the nature reserve meet up ever other Sunday to help its upkeep.

2. (military) One who enters into military service voluntarily, but who, when in service, is subject to discipline and regulations like other soldiers; -- opposed to conscript; specifically, a voluntary member of the organized militia of a country as distinguished from the standing army.
3. (law) A person who acts out of their own will without a legal obligation, such as a donor.
4. (botany, agriculture) A plant that grows spontaneously, without being cultivated on purpose; see volunteer plant in Wikipedia.
5. A native or resident of the American state of Tennessee.

Related terms

• voluntarism
• voluntarist
• volunteership

English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *welh₁-‎ (0 c, 11 e)

Translations

one who voluntarily offers themselves for service

• Albanian: vullnetar (sq) m
• Arabic: مُتَطَوِّع‎ m (mutaṭawwiʿ)
• Armenian: կամավոր (hy) (kamavor)
• Azerbaijani: könüllü (az)
• Bashkir: ирекмән (irekmän)
• Belarusian: добраахво́тнік m (dobraaxvótnik), добраахво́тніца f (dobraaxvótnica), валанцёр m (valancjór)
• Bulgarian: доброво́лец m (dobrovólec)
• Burmese: စေတနာ့ဝန်ထမ်း (my) (ceta.na.wanhtam:)
• Catalan: voluntari (ca) m
• Central Melanau: volentir
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 志願者 (zh), 志愿者 (zh) (zhìyuànzhě)

• Czech: dobrovolník (cs) m
• Danish: frivillig (da)
• Dutch: vrijwilliger (nl) m, vrijwilligster (nl) f
• Estonian: vabatahtlik
• Finnish: vapaaehtoinen (fi)
• French: volontaire (fr) m or f, bénévole (fr) m or f
• Georgian: მოხალისე (moxalise)
• German: Freiwilliger (de) m, Freiwillige (de) f, Ehrenamtlicher (de) m, Ehrenamtliche (de) f
• Greek: εθελοντής (el) m (ethelontís)
• Hebrew: מתנדב‎ m (mitnadev), מתנדבת‎ f (mitnadevet)
• Hindi: स्वयंसेवक (hi) m (svayansevak), वालंटियर (hi) m (vālaṇṭiyar)
• Hungarian: önkéntes (hu)
• Italian: volontario (it) m
• Japanese: ボランティア (ja) (borantia)
• Kazakh: ерікті (erikti)
• Khmer: អ្នកស្ម័គ្រចិត្ត (neak smak cət)
• Korean: 지원자 (jiwonja), 볼런티어 (bolleontieo)
• Kyrgyz: ыктыярчы (ıqtıyarçı)
• Lao: ຜູ້ອາສາສະໝັກ (phū ʼā sā sa mak)

• Latin: volo (la) m, voluntārius m
• Latvian: brīvprātīgais m, brīvprātīgs
• Lithuanian: savanoris m
• Macedonian: доброволец m (dobrovolec), волонтер m (volonter)
• Malay: sukarelawan (ms), volenter
• Maori: kaitūao
• Norman: volontaithe m or f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: frivillig

• Persian: داوطلب‎ (fa) (dâvtalab)
• Polish: wolontariusz (pl) m, ochotnik (pl) m (dated)
• Portuguese: voluntário (pt) m
• Romanian: voluntar (ro) m, voluntară f
• Russian: доброво́лец (ru) m (dobrovólec), волонтёр (ru) m (volontjór)
• Scottish Gaelic: neach-deònach m or f, saor-thoileach m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: добровољац m

  Roman: dobrovoljac (sh) m

• Slovak: dobrovoľník m
• Slovene: prostovoljec m, prostovoljka f
• Spanish: voluntario (es)
• Swedish: frivillig (sv), volontär (sv) c
• Tajik: довталаб (tg) (dovtalab)
• Thai: อาสาสมัคร (th) (aa-sǎa-sà-màk)
• Tibetan: དྭང་བླངས་བྱེད་མཁན (dwang blangs byed mkhan)
• Turkish: gönüllü (tr)
• Turkmen: meýletinçi
• Ukrainian: доброво́лець m (dobrovólecʹ), волонте́р m (volontér)
• Uzbek: koʻngilli (uz)
• Vietnamese: quân tình nguyện, tình nguyện viên
• Welsh: gwirfoddolwr m

voluntary soldier

• Dutch: vrijwilliger (nl) m
• Finnish: vapaaehtoinen (fi)
• French: volontaire (fr) m or f
• Georgian: მოხალისე (moxalise)
• German: Freiwilliger (de) m, Freiwillige (de) f
• Hebrew: מתנדב‎ m (mitnadev), מתנדבת‎ f (mitnadevet)
• Irish: óglach m
• Japanese: 志願兵 (しがんへい, shiganhei)
• Latvian: brīvprātīgais
• Maori: kaitūao

• Portuguese: voluntário (pt) m
• Romanian: voluntar (ro) m
• Russian: доброво́лец (ru) m (dobrovólec), волонтёр (ru) m (volontjór)
• Scottish Gaelic: saor-thoileach m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: волонтер m, добровољац m

  Roman: volonter (sh) m, dobrovoljac (sh) m

• Welsh: gwirfoddolwr m

one who acts without legal obligation

• Arabic: مُتَطَوِّع‎ (mutaṭawwiʿ)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 志願者 (zh), 志愿者 (zh) (zhìyuànzhě)

• Finnish: vapaaehtoinen (fi)
• Georgian: მოხალისე (moxalise)
• Japanese: 志願者 (しがんしゃ, shigansha), 篤志家 (ja) (とくしか, tokushika)
• Latvian: brīvprātīgais, brīvprātīgs

• Portuguese: voluntário (pt) m
• Russian: доброво́лец (ru) m (dobrovólec)
• Scottish Gaelic: saor-thoileach m
• Welsh: gwirfoddolwr m

volunteer plant

• Finnish: villikasvi
• Japanese: 自生植物 (jisē-shokubutsu)

• Slovene: samosevec m, samosevka f

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

• Italian: ^{(please verify)} volontario (it) m

• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} voluntario (es) m

Verb

volunteer (third-person singular simple present volunteers, present participle volunteering, simple past and past participle volunteered)

1. (intransitive) To enlist oneself as a volunteer.
2. (transitive, intransitive) To do or offer to do something voluntarily.

   to volunteer for doing the dishes

3. (transitive) To offer, usually unprompted.

   to volunteer an explanation

4. (intransitive, botany) To grow without human sowing or intentional cultivation.
5. (transitive, informal) To offer the services of (someone else) to do something.

   My sister volunteered me to do the dishes.

Translations

to enlist oneself as a volunteer

• Finnish: ilmoittautua vapaaehtoiseksi
• French: se porter volontaire
• German: sich freiwillig melden
• Hebrew: התנדב‎ m (hitnadev), התנדבה‎ f (hitnadva)
• Italian: offrirsi, offrirsi volontario

• Japanese: 志願する (ja) (しがんする, shigan-suru)
• Tibetan: དྭང་བླངས་བྱས (dwang blangs byas)
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can
• Welsh: gwirfoddoli (cy)

to do or offer to do something voluntarily

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 自告奮勇 (zh), 自告奋勇 (zh) (zìgàofènyǒng)

• Finnish: tehdä vapaaehtoisesti (to do), tarjoutua vapaaehtoiseksi (to offer to do)
• French: être bénévole, être volontaire
• German: anbieten (de), sich anbieten
• Hebrew: התנדב‎ m (hitnadev), התנדבה‎ f (hitnadva)
• Hungarian: vállalkozik (hu), vállal (hu), önkénteskedik

• Japanese: 志願する (ja) (しがんする, shigan-suru)
• Khmer: ស្ម័គ្រចិត្ត (smak cət)
• Lao: ສະໝັກ (sa mak), ສະຫມັກ (sa mak)
• Maori: tūao
• Tibetan: དྭང་བླངས་བྱས (dwang blangs byas)
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can
• Welsh: gwirfoddoli (cy)

botany: to grow without cultivation

• Finnish: kasvaa villinä

• Japanese: 自生する (ja) (じせいする, jisei suru)

References

• “volunteer” in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.