# detective

> English word · Noun · IPA /dɪˈtɛktɪv/ · frequency rank #5,025

## Definitions
1. A police officer tasked with collecting evidence and information in order to solve a crime; an investigator.
2. A person employed to find information not otherwise available to the public.

## Etymology
The adjective is from Classical Latin dētēct-, past participial stem of dētegō (“to detect”), + -ive. The noun is an ellipsis of detective policeman, detective officer, or a similar construction.

## Easily confused with
- **directive** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/detective-vs-directive)
- **detection** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/detection-vs-detective)
- **defective** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/defective-vs-detective)
- **detecting** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/detecting-vs-detective)
- **deceptive** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/deceptive-vs-detective)
- **deductive** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/deductive-vs-detective)

## Common misspellings (13)
`ddetective`, `deetctive`, `detcetive`, `detecctive`, `detecitve`, `detectiev`, `detectivve`, `detecttive`, `detectvie`, `detetcive`, `dettective`, `dteective`, `edtective`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/detective