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Where does “police” come from?

Police derives from Middle French police, from Latin politia, from Ancient Greek πόλις meaning city-state, with the abstract noun suffix -σις.

police (English): A civil force granted the legal authority for law...

Definitions

  1. A civil force granted the legal authority for law...

Ancestry of “police”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Frenchpolicegovernance; management
2Latinpolītīa—
3Ancient Greekπολιτείαthe relation in which a citizen stands to the...
4Ancient Greekπολῑ́τηςcitizen
5Ancient Greek-τηςForms nouns representing a state of being; Added...
6Proto-Hellenic-tāts—
7Proto-Indo-European-teh₂tsUsed to form nouns representing state of being
8Proto-Indo-European-teh₂Used to form nouns representing state of being
9Proto-Indo-European-tósCreates verbal adjectives from verb stems

Words derived from “police”

  • policeman
  • policewoman
  • policial
  • policer
  • nonpolice
  • policework
  • pollis
  • antipolice
  • parapolice
  • policelike
  • unpoliceable
  • policeless
  • policeperson
  • policeable
  • policemanlike
  • policeboat
  • policemanly
  • cyberpolice
  • Policespeak
  • policiary
  • po-po
  • unpolicemanly
  • esclop
  • 波麗士
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -tós →