polis

• enPR: pŏʹlĭs, IPA^(key): /ˈpɒ.lɪs/
• enPR: pōʹlĭs, IPA^(key): /ˈpoʊ.lɪs/
• Rhymes: -ɒlɪs

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek πόλις (pólis, “fortified town; city state”).

polis (plural poleis or polises)

1. (historical) A Greek city-state.
   • 2006, Karen Armstrong, The Great Transformation, Atlantic Books 2007, page 161:

     By the end of the century, poleis had been established throughout the Hellenic world, all bearing a marked family resemblance.

• -polis

Borrowed from Scots polis. Doublet of police, policy, and polity.

• pollis

polis (countable and uncountable, plural polises)

1. (uncountable, Scotland, Ireland, Geordie) The police.
   • 1994 [1993], Irvine Welsh, Trainspotting, London: Minerva, →ISBN, page 328:

     Even in his Ma's womb, you would have had to define Spud less as a foetus, more as a set of dormant drug and personality problems. He'd probably draw the polis onto them through knocking a saltcellar out of the Little Chef.

2. (countable, Scotland, Ireland, Geordie) A police officer.

• Oxford Dictionaries Online. "polis". 2015.
• Bill Griffiths, editor (2004), “polis”, in A Dictionary of North East Dialect, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear: Northumbria University Press, →ISBN.

• spoil

• IPA^(key): [poˈlis]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: pol‧is

polis (definite accusative polisi, plural polislər)

1. police (an organisation that enforces the law)

   polis idarəsi ― police department

   polis şöbəsi ― police station, police district

   polis əməkdaşı ― police employee

2. police (member of the police force)

• IPA^(key): /ˈpoː.lis/

polis m (plural polisoù)

1. police

polis m (plural polised)

1. police officer

Borrowed from English police.

• IPA^(key): /poˈlis/ [poˈl̪is̪]
• Hyphenation: po‧lis

polís (Badlit spelling ᜉᜓᜎᜒᜐ᜔)

1. a police officer; a cop
2. a civil force granted the legal authority for law enforcement and maintaining public order

International learned borrowing Ancient Greek πόλις (pólis, “fortified town; city state”).

• IPA^(key): [ˈpolɪs]

polis f (indeclinable)

1. polis (ancient Greek city-state)

• “polis”, in Kartotéka Novočeského lexikálního archivu (in Czech)
• “polis”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2026

• IPA^(key): /ˈpoː.lɪs/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: po‧lis

From French police (from Italian polizza, q.v.).

polis f (plural polissen, diminutive polisje n)

1. insurance policy
2. insurance plan

• verzekeringspolis
• woekerpolis

• → Indonesian: polis

International learned borrowing from Ancient Greek πόλις (pólis) since the 1970s (probably via English polis).

polis f (plural poleis, no diminutive)

1. (historical) a polis; an ancient, especially Ancient Greek, city state or city

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek πόλις (pólis, “fortified town; city state”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈpolis/, [ˈpo̞lis̠]
• Rhymes: -olis
• Syllabification^(key): po‧lis
• Hyphenation^(key): po‧lis

polis

1. (historical) polis; Greek city-state

   Hypernym: kaupunkivaltio (“city-state”)

   • 2011, Paavo Castrén, Uusi antiikin historia, Otava, page 117:

     Kreikkalainen polis tuli sekä etruski- että latinalaisten yhteisöjen esikuvaksi – –.

     The Greek polis came to be a role model for Estruscan and Latin communities alike – –

• -polis
• politiikka

• Audio (France (Brétigny-sur-Orge)):

  (file)

polis

1. inflection of polir:
   1. first/second-person singular present indicative
   2. first/second-person singular past historic
   3. second-person singular imperative

polis m pl

1. masculine plural of poli

polis

1. masculine plural of poli

• poils

From French police.

• IPA^(key): /polis/

• Audio:

  (file)

polis

1. police officer

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /ˈpolis/ [ˈpo.lɪs]
• Rhymes: -olis
• Syllabification: po‧lis

From Dutch polis (“insurance policy”), from French police (“policy”), from Italian polizza, from Ancient Greek ἀπόδειξις (apódeixis, “proof”). Compare to Malay polisi (“policy”).

polis (plural polis-polis)

1. insurance policy

polis (plural polis-polis)

1. nonstandard form of poles

• The word is part of false friends between Standard Malay and Indonesian. The Brunei, Malaysia and Singapore usage can be seen in Malay polis.

• “polis”, in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia [Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016

polīs

1. dative/ablative plural of polus

• "polis", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “polis”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “polis”, in William Smith, editor (1848), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray
• “polis”, in William Smith, editor (1854, 1857), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, volume 1 & 2, London: Walton and Maberly

Ultimately from Polish polak, Russian поля́к (polják) (under the influence of Old High German pōl — cf. German, English Pole — and perhaps also of Latvian dialectal bolis, polis (“ox without horns”)), itself derived from Polish pole (“field”), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *pel- (“light (color), gray”).^[1]

• IPA^(key): [pūōlis]

polis m (2nd declension, female equivalent poliete)

1. a Pole, a Polish man, a man born in Poland

   pēc Livonijas kara poļi ieguva Vidzemi un Latgali ― after the Livonian War the Poles obtained Vidzeme and Latgale

2. (genitive plural) Polish; pertaining to Poland and its people

   poļu valoda ― the Polish language

   poļu māksla ― Polish art

• Polija
• polisks
• poļu valoda

• (Baku, schwa-variety) IPA^(key): /ˈpolis/ [ˈpo.lis]

• Audio (Malaysia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -lis, -is
• Hyphenation: po‧lis

Borrowed from English police, from Middle French police, from Latin politia (“state, government”), from Ancient Greek πολιτεία (politeía).

polis (Jawi spelling ڤوليس, plural polis-polis or polis²)

1. (Malaysia, Singapore, Riau) The police, a civil force granted the legal authority for law enforcement and maintaining public order.

   Synonyms: serdadu (Southern Thailand), polisi (Indonesia)

2. (Malaysia, Singapore, Riau) A police officer.

   Synonyms: anggota polis, mata-mata, serdadu (Southern Thailand), polisi (Indonesia)

• The word is part of false friends between Standard Malay and Indonesian due to shared etymology. The Indonesian usage can be seen in Indonesian polis.

polis (plural polis-polis or polis²)

1. (Indonesia) alternative spelling of polisi (“policy”); see Indonesian polis (“policy”)

• "polis" in Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu (PRPM) [Malay Literary Reference Centre (PRPM)] (in Malay), Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2017
• Kamus Bahasa Indonesia-Melayu Riau, Jakarta, Indonesia: Pusat Pembinaan dan Pengembangan Bahasa, Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan Republik Indonesia, 1997, →ISBN, page 308

From Spanish policía and Portuguese polícia and Dutch politie.

polis

1. police
2. policeman

polis

1. police
2. willy wagtail

polis

1. second-person plural present indicative of polir

From French police.

polis f

1. police

Borrowed from Ancient Greek πόλις (pólis).

polis n (plural polisuri)

1. polis

• IPA^(key): /ˈpolɪs/

From the French police.

polis (countable and uncountable, plural polises)

1. (uncountable) police
   • 1987, Robbie Kydd, ...Auld Zimmery, Mariscat Press 1987:

     'Listen then. Yer name's Andy MacPhail. That's whit us three has jist tellt the polis in wir statements. Okay?'

   • 1991, Dr James Begg, Dipper: 20 - Cops and Robbers, Luath Press:

     ‘Aye, Andra,' cam back the reply. 'We micht as weel caa it a day doun here. The hale bluidy place is hotchin wi polis! Come doun an get us at the Auld Raw.'

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 2007, Sheena Blackhall, The Quarry, Lochlands:

     Brian hid contactit his granfaither, Pat, tae see gin the polis computers could raik up onythin ava tae makk eese o in persuadin Bappy Anderson tae pairt wi a kidney.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 2013, Pedro Lenz, translated by Donal McLaughlin, Naw Much of a Talker, Freight Books, page 51:

     Coont yirsel lucky ahm naw cawin the polis. Noo fuck off.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

polis

1. Polish

polis

1. polish
2. adorn, beautify

• http://www.dsl.ac.uk/ - Dictionary of the Scots Language

• IPA^(key): /ˈpolis/ [ˈpo.lis]
• Rhymes: -olis
• Syllabification: po‧lis

polis m pl or f pl

1. plural of poli

Borrowed from Ancient Greek πόλις (pólis, “city-state”).

polis f pl (plural only)

1. polis

• “polis”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025

• Audio:

  (file)

polis c

1. (often in the definite "polisen") police (organization that enforces the law)
2. a police officer

   Synonyms: polisman, (dated, now polisassistent) konstapel (“constable”)

• officer

• polis in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• polis in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• polis in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)
• Svensk MeSH

• polis on the Swedish Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^sv

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /poˈlis/ [poˈlɪs]
• Rhymes: -is
• Syllabification: po‧lis

polís (Baybayin spelling ᜉᜓᜎᜒᜐ᜔) (dated)

1. alternative form of pulis

• English, Leo James (1987), Tagalog-English dictionary, Manila, Philippines: National Book Store, →ISBN, page 1060

From English police.

polis

1. police

From English polish.

polis

1. polish

From Ottoman Turkish پولیس (polis), from French police.

• IPA^(key): /poˈlis/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: po‧lis

polis (definite accusative polisi, plural polisler)

1. (collectively) police (an organisation that enforces the law)
2. (specifically) police officer

   Synonyms: aynasız, polis memuru

• This term is gender-neutral.