police
po·lice/pəˈliːs/noun, verb
police is spelled P-O-L-I-C-E: 6 letters and 2 syllables (po·lice). It appears 214 times per million words in written English, the 471st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, police means “A constituted body of officers representing the civil authority of government, empowered to maintain public order and safety, enforce the law, and…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in police?
| Letters | 6: P-O-L-I-C-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: po·lice |
| In writing | 214 times per million words; the 471st 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 police?
Police appears 214 times per million words in written English, the 471st 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 police?
- /pəˈliːs/
- /pəˈlis/
- [pʰə̆ˈliˑs]
Police has 2 syllables, split po·lice in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-uk-police.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-police.wav, En-us-police.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of police
- polices present, singular, he/she/it
- policing participle, present
- policed participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does police mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A constituted body of officers representing the civil authority of government, empowered to maintain public order and safety, enforce the law, and prevent, detect, and investigate crime.
There are nine Principles of Police: ... 7 To maintain at all times a relationship with the public that gives reality to the historic tradition that the police are the public and that the public are the police; the police being only members
- 2
CanadaUSA department of local (usually municipal) government responsible for general law enforcement.
The Cook County Sheriff's Department has jurisdiction across most of Chicago but focuses on the unincorporated area and tasks like prisoner transport, leaving the rest to the Chicago Police Department.
- 3
UKA branch of the Home Office responsible for general law enforcement within a specific territory.
Scotland Yard is, technically speaking, only the metropolitan police for Greater London but because of their importance they have special jurisdiction for some crimes across the United Kingdom.
- 4
AustraliaAny of the formally enacted law enforcement agencies at various levels of government.
- 5
The staff of such a department or agency, particularly its officers; (regional, chiefly US, Caribbean, Jamaica, Scotland, countable) an individual police officer.
Pearlman: Very clever, Lester. You got it all figured, huh? Freamon: Me? I'm just a police.
- 6
derogatoryPeople who try to enforce norms or standards as if granted authority similar to the police.
Who called the fashion police?
- 7
slangCleanup of a military facility, as a formal duty.
- 8
archaicSynonym of administration, the regulation of a community or society.
verb
- 1
To enforce the law and keep order among (a group).
Extra security was hired to police the crowd at the big game.
- 2
slangTo clean up an area.
ELIAS: Police up your extra ammo and frags, don't leave nothing for the dinks.
- 3
To enforce norms or standards upon.
to police a person's identity
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Police in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense local or general law enforcement agency:
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 police come from?
From Middle French police, from Latin polītīa (“state, government”), from Ancient Greek πολιτεία (politeía). Doublet of policy, polis (“police”), and polity.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).