detective
de·tec·tive/dɪˈtɛktɪv/noun, adjective, verb
detective is spelled D-E-T-E-C-T-I-V-E: 9 letters and 3 syllables (de·tec·tive). It appears 16 times per million words in written English, the 5,025th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, detective means “A police officer tasked with collecting evidence and information in order to solve a crime; an investigator” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of detective is detectives.
How many letters and syllables are in detective?
| Letters | 9: D-E-T-E-C-T-I-V-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: de·tec·tive |
| In writing | 16 times per million words; the 5,025th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is detective?
Detective appears 16 times per million words in written English, the 5,025th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce detective?
- /dɪˈtɛktɪv/
- [dɪˈtʰɛktʰɪv]
- /dəˈtɛktɪv/
Detective has 3 syllables, split de·tec·tive in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-detective.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Wodencafe-detective.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of detective
- detectives plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- detectiving participle, present
- detectived participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does detective mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A police officer tasked with collecting evidence and information in order to solve a crime; an investigator.
He worked as a detective with the agency for five years.
- 2
A person employed to find information not otherwise available to the public.
Had they responded this way in France or America, this wouldn't have surprised me, but wasn't everyone in England supposed to be a detective? Wasn't every crime, no matter how complex, solved in a timely fashion by either a professional or
- 3
rareA work of detective fiction.
adjective
- 1
Employed in detecting.
verb
- 1
informalTo be or act as or like a detective.
- 2
informalTo investigate or find information about (someone or something) as or like a detective.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate detective?
Wiktionary records 3 abbreviations of detective: Det, Det., dt.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Detective in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | détective , enquêteur, enquêteuse |
| German | Ermittler, Ermittlerin, Detektiv, Detektivin |
| Portuguese | detetive |
| Spanish | detective, inspector , investigador privado |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does detective come from?
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.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).