Added 9 October 2026
detective
/dɪˈtɛktɪv/ noun
In Latin: inquīsītor Wiktionary
noun Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about detective at Wordnik → Where our words come from →
- A police officer who investigates crimes.
- An investigator engaged or employed in obtaining information not easily available to the public.
Origin
The adjective is from Classical Latin dētēct-, past participial stem of dētegō (“to detect”), + -ive. By surface analysis, detect + -ive. Noun sense 1 is an ellipsis of detective policeman, detective officer, or a similar construction. The later more general noun sense 2 was derived by extension. The verb is also from the noun. Noun sense 3 (“a work of detective fiction”) is a semantic loan from Dutch detective and Russian детекти́в (detektív), both from English.
From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)