Afrikaans ondersoeker | ||
Albanian hetuesi | ||
Amharic መርማሪ | ||
Arabic محقق | ||
Armenian քննիչ | ||
Assamese তদন্তকাৰী | ||
Aymara yatxatiri | ||
Azerbaijani müstəntiq | ||
Bambara sɛgɛsɛgɛlikɛla | ||
Basque ikertzailea | ||
Belarusian следчы | ||
Bengali তদন্তকারী | ||
Bhojpuri जांचकर्ता के ह | ||
Bosnian istražitelj | ||
Bulgarian следовател | ||
Catalan investigador | ||
Cebuano imbestigador | ||
Chinese (Simplified) 研究者 | ||
Chinese (Traditional) 研究者 | ||
Corsican investigatore | ||
Croatian istraživač | ||
Czech vyšetřovatel | ||
Danish efterforsker | ||
Dhivehi އިންވެސްޓިގޭޓަރެވެ | ||
Dogri जांचकर्ता | ||
Dutch onderzoeker | ||
English investigator | ||
Esperanto enketisto | ||
Estonian uurija | ||
Ewe numekula | ||
Filipino (Tagalog) imbestigador | ||
Finnish tutkija | ||
French enquêteur | ||
Frisian ûndersiker | ||
Galician investigador | ||
Georgian გამომძიებელი | ||
German ermittler | ||
Greek ανακριτής | ||
Guarani investigador rehegua | ||
Gujarati તપાસકર્તા | ||
Haitian Creole anketè | ||
Hausa mai bincike | ||
Hawaiian mea ʻimi noiʻi | ||
Hebrew חוֹקֵר | ||
Hindi अन्वेषक | ||
Hmong neeg tshawb nrhiav | ||
Hungarian nyomozó | ||
Icelandic rannsakanda | ||
Igbo onye nchoputa | ||
Ilocano imbestigador | ||
Indonesian peneliti | ||
Irish imscrúdaitheoir | ||
Italian investigatore | ||
Japanese 捜査官 | ||
Javanese penyidik | ||
Kannada ತನಿಖಾಧಿಕಾರಿ | ||
Kazakh тергеуші | ||
Khmer អ្នកស៊ើបអង្កេត | ||
Kinyarwanda ushinzwe iperereza | ||
Konkani तपासक | ||
Korean 조사자 | ||
Krio invɛstigatɔ | ||
Kurdish lêkolîner | ||
Kurdish (Sorani) لێکۆڵەر | ||
Kyrgyz тергөөчү | ||
Lao ນັກສືບສວນ | ||
Latin hunc quaesitorem | ||
Latvian izmeklētājs | ||
Lingala molukiluki | ||
Lithuanian tyrėjas | ||
Luganda omunoonyereza | ||
Luxembourgish enquêteur | ||
Macedonian истражител | ||
Maithili अन्वेषक | ||
Malagasy naman'ny fiangonana | ||
Malay penyiasat | ||
Malayalam അന്വേഷകൻ | ||
Maltese investigatur | ||
Maori he kaiwhakataki | ||
Marathi अन्वेषक | ||
Meiteilon (Manipuri) ꯏꯅꯚꯦꯁ꯭ꯇꯤꯒꯦꯇꯔ ꯑꯣꯏꯅꯥ ꯊꯕꯛ ꯇꯧꯔꯤ꯫ | ||
Mizo chhuitu a ni | ||
Mongolian мөрдөн байцаагч | ||
Myanmar (Burmese) စုံစမ်းစစ်ဆေးရေးမှူး | ||
Nepali अन्वेषक | ||
Norwegian etterforsker | ||
Nyanja (Chichewa) wofufuza | ||
Odia (Oriya) ଅନୁସନ୍ଧାନକାରୀ | ||
Oromo qorataa | ||
Pashto پلټونکی | ||
Persian محقق | ||
Polish badacz | ||
Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) investigador | ||
Punjabi ਜਾਂਚਕਰਤਾ | ||
Quechua investigador nisqa | ||
Romanian anchetator | ||
Russian следователь | ||
Samoan tagata sailiili | ||
Sanskrit अन्वेषकः | ||
Scots Gaelic rannsaiche | ||
Sepedi monyakišiši | ||
Serbian истражитељ | ||
Sesotho mofuputsi | ||
Shona muongorori | ||
Sindhi جاچ پڙتال ڪندڙ | ||
Sinhala (Sinhalese) විමර්ශකයා | ||
Slovak vyšetrovateľ | ||
Slovenian preiskovalec | ||
Somali baaraha | ||
Spanish investigador | ||
Sundanese penyidik | ||
Swahili mchunguzi | ||
Swedish forskare | ||
Tagalog (Filipino) investigator | ||
Tajik муфаттиш | ||
Tamil புலனாய்வாளர் | ||
Tatar тикшерүче | ||
Telugu పరిశోధకుడు | ||
Thai ผู้ตรวจสอบ | ||
Tigrinya መርማሪ ምዃኑ’ዩ። | ||
Tsonga mulavisisi | ||
Turkish araştırmacı | ||
Turkmen sülçi | ||
Twi (Akan) nhwehwɛmufo | ||
Ukrainian слідчий | ||
Urdu تفتیش کار | ||
Uyghur تەھقىقلىگۈچى | ||
Uzbek tergovchi | ||
Vietnamese người điều tra | ||
Welsh ymchwilydd | ||
Xhosa umphandi | ||
Yiddish אויספארשער | ||
Yoruba oluwadi | ||
Zulu umphenyi |
| Language | Etymology / Notes |
|---|---|
| Afrikaans | The Afrikaans word "ondersoeker" can also mean "researcher" or "examiner". |
| Albanian | "Hetuesi" is derived from Latin "investigatus" (to pursue), and also denotes a researcher or scholar. |
| Amharic | The word "መርማሪ" in Amharic can also refer to a spy or a detective. |
| Arabic | The word "محقق" can also mean "verifier" or "researcher" in Arabic. |
| Armenian | The word "քննիչ" can also mean "inspector" or "examiner" in Armenian. |
| Azerbaijani | The Azerbaijani word "müstəntiq" is derived from the Arabic word "mustanṭiqq", which means "one who asks questions". |
| Basque | The Basque word "ikertzailea" (investigator) also means "thinker" or "researcher". |
| Belarusian | The word |
| Bengali | The word "তদন্তকারী" (investigator) is derived from the Sanskrit root "तपस्" (tapas), meaning "heat, fervor, or asceticism". It can also mean "one who investigates" or "one who inquires". |
| Bosnian | "Istraga" means investigation, while "straga" refers to fear, hence "istraga" is fear-based investigation." |
| Bulgarian | In Russian, the word "следователь" also means "researcher". |
| Catalan | The Catalan word "investigador" comes from the Latin word "investigare", meaning "to track or search out". |
| Cebuano | In the Cebuano language, "imbestigador" can also colloquially refer to a person who is nosey or prying, or someone who is making inquiries out of curiosity or gossip rather than for a specific purpose. |
| Chinese (Simplified) | 研究者 (yanjiuzhe) means researcher and used to describe someone engaged in scientific research. |
| Chinese (Traditional) | 研究者 (yánjiūzhě) is composed of two Chinese characters: 研究 (yánjiū), meaning 'research', and 者 (zhě), indicating a person who does something. |
| Corsican | In Corsican, "investigatore" can also refer to a police officer or a detective. |
| Croatian | The Croatian word 'istraživač' derives from the Old Church Slavonic word 'istražiti', meaning 'to search out' or 'to examine'. |
| Czech | The word "vyšetřovatel" derives from the verb "vyšetřovat", meaning "to investigate" or "to research". |
| Danish | "Efterforsker" is the Danish word for "investigator", derived from the German word "erforschen", meaning "to explore" or "to investigate." |
| Dutch | The Dutch word "onderzoeker" can also mean "researcher". |
| Esperanto | The word 'enketisto' derives from the Greek word 'egkyklistes', meaning 'inquiring person'. |
| Estonian | The word "uurija" can also be used to refer to a "researcher" or someone engaged in "scientific inquiry" in the Estonian context. |
| Finnish | The word "tutkija" is derived from the verb "tutkia", meaning "to investigate" or "to research". |
| French | The French word "enquêteur" is derived from the Latin word "inquirere," meaning "to inquire" or "to seek information." |
| Frisian | The term 'ûndersiker' is thought to be a loan word or an archaism of 'onderzoeker' in Dutch. |
| Galician | O termo "investigador" deriva do latín "investigare", que significa "procurar" ou "descubrir". |
| German | "Ermittler" comes from the verb "ermitteln" meaning "to find out" or "to determine". |
| Greek | The word "ανακριτής" in Greek is derived from the verb "ανακρίνω", which means "to examine" or "to interrogate". |
| Gujarati | The Gujarati word "તપાસકર્તા" (investigator) is derived from Persian, where it means, primarily, "police officer". |
| Haitian Creole | The word "anketè" comes from the French word "enquêteur" meaning "investigator". |
| Hausa | 'Mai bincike' also means 'researcher'. |
| Hawaiian | The Hawaiian word "mea ʻimi noiʻi" can also refer to a researcher or scientist. |
| Hebrew | The Hebrew term "חוקר," meaning "investigator," originates in the root word חקר (chakar) that signifies probing into something deeply. |
| Hindi | The word 'अन्वेषक' is derived from the Sanskrit root 'अनु' (anu), meaning 'after' or 'along with', and 'विष' (visha), meaning 'to enter' or 'to investigate'. |
| Hungarian | The word "nyomozó" also means "detective" and its etymology may derive from the Old Hungarian word "nyom" meaning "track" or "trace". |
| Icelandic | "Rannsakanda" is derived from "rannsaka," meaning "to search or investigate thoroughly." |
| Igbo | The Igbo word "onye nchoputa" is derived from "choputa," meaning "to seek diligently" or "to investigate"} |
| Indonesian | The Indonesian word "peneliti" has the alternate meaning of "researcher". |
| Irish | The Irish word 'imscrúdaitheoir' is derived from the Latin 'investigáre' meaning 'to track down' or 'to pursue'. |
| Italian | As an Italian surname, _Investigatore_ literally means “investigator,” but is derived not from the verb _investigare_ but from _investigatore_, a derivative of _investigia_, which in Latin denoted the footprints or tracks left by animals. |
| Japanese | 捜査官 originally meant a samurai who acted as an assistant to a feudal lord in Japan. |
| Javanese | "Penyadapan" in Javanese can also mean "listening in on"} |
| Kannada | ತನಿಖಾಧಿಕಾರಿ can also refer to a detective or a police officer in charge of an investigation. |
| Kazakh | The word "тергеуші" in Kazakh also means "researcher" or "examiner." |
| Korean | 조사자 can also mean "examining magistrate" or "inquest officer" |
| Kurdish | The word 'lêkolîner' is derived from the Persian word 'lêkolîn' which means 'to investigate' and the Kurdish suffix '-êr' which means 'one who does'. |
| Kyrgyz | The Kyrgyz word "тергөөчү" can also mean "auditor" or "inspector". |
| Lao | The Lao word "ນັກສືບສວນ" (nak suep sa wan) literally means "person who follows after" or "stalker", and it can also be used to refer to a detective or private investigator. |
| Latin | The term, which means "investigator" in Latin, is derived from the word "huncus," meaning "criminal". Its meaning expanded to include both prosecutor and investigator over time. |
| Latvian | The Latvian word "izmeklētājs" literally translates to "one who searches through", referring to an investigator's role in examining and searching for evidence. |
| Lithuanian | The archaic form "tyras" means "clear", and "tyrinėti" means "to make clear, purify, investigate". The root *tir- is also found in "tyras" ("clean, bright, pure"), "tyrumas" ("purity"), "tiryba" ("examination, investigation"), "tyrėjas" ("investigator, researcher"), "tyrinėti" ("to investigate"), and "tyrinėjimas" ("research work, investigation"). In Indo-European languages, this root meant "to cross through" and "to run". It exists today in Lithuanian in "tirpdyti" ("to melt"), and in English "through, thorough", and "torrent". |
| Luxembourgish | The word "Enquêteur" derives from the Old French word "enquesteur", meaning "one who inquires or investigates". |
| Macedonian | "Истражител" is also used in the context of mining, where it refers to a person who explores and extracts minerals. |
| Malay | The word "penyiasat" in Malay literally means "someone who unravels a mystery". |
| Malayalam | The word "അന്വേഷകൻ" derives from Sanskrit "anveṣaka", meaning "a seeker, a searcher, a hunter, an investigator". |
| Maltese | The word "investigatur" is also used to denote a judicial or police investigator in Maltese. |
| Maori | The Maori term 'he kaiwhakataki' also refers to a person who brings about a transformation or change, reflecting the investigative and transformational aspects of this role. |
| Marathi | The Marathi word 'अन्वेषक' (anvešak) also means 'researcher' or 'explorer'. |
| Nepali | The word "अन्वेषक" also means "explorer" or "researcher" in Nepali. |
| Norwegian | "Etterforsker" is an Old Norse word that is used to describe a person who investigates something. |
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | "Wofufuza" also means "one who is always prying" in Nyanja. |
| Pashto | "پلټونکی" (investigator) is derived from the Pashto verb "پلټول" (to search or investigate) and the suffix "-ونکی" (agent noun suffix). It can also refer to someone who conducts research or an inquiry. |
| Persian | محقق "muhaqqiq" is borrowed from Arabic, where it originally means a scholar of religious law. |
| Polish | The word "badacz" in Polish is derived from the Proto-Slavic word "badati", meaning "to look at" or "to observe." |
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | The Portuguese word "investigador" also means "researcher" or "inquirer" and is derived from the Latin word "investigare" (to track or search out). |
| Punjabi | The term also refers to a person who examines or tests the quality of something. |
| Romanian | The Romanian word "anchetator" is derived from the French word "enquêteur", which in turn comes from the Latin word "inquisitor". |
| Russian | The word "следователь" derives from the Russian verb "следовать" (to follow) and initially referred to an official who tracked down fugitives. |
| Samoan | The word "tagata sailiili" in Samoan comes from the words "saili" (to seek) and "ili" (to pursue), signifying the pursuit of knowledge and truth. |
| Scots Gaelic | The word "rannsaiche" in Scots Gaelic is also used to refer to a "search" or "inquisition". |
| Serbian | The Serbian word "истражитељ" can also mean "explorer" or "researcher". |
| Sesotho | "Mofuputsi" also refers to a detective or someone who gathers information. |
| Shona | The word "muongorori" can also refer to a detective or secret agent. |
| Sinhala (Sinhalese) | In Sanskrit, the word 'vimarsakaya' literally means 'one who thinks' or 'one who deliberates'. |
| Slovak | The Slovak word "vyšetrovateľ" can be traced back to the verb "vyšetriť", meaning "to inquire" or "to investigate", as well as the suffix "-vateľ", denoting an agent or performer of an action, making its literal meaning "one who investigates". |
| Slovenian | "Preiskovalec" is a derivative of "preiskati" ("to investigate") which is in turn a compound of the prefix "pre-" ("before") and "iskati" ("to search"). |
| Somali | The word "baaraha" in Somali is derived from the Arabic word "baaraha", meaning "to search" or "to investigate". |
| Spanish | The word "investigador" in Spanish can also mean "researcher" or "inquirer". |
| Sundanese | The Sundanese word "penyidik" also means "secret keeper". |
| Swahili | "Mchunguzi" also means "researcher" in Swahili. |
| Swedish | The word "forskare" is derived from the Old Norse word "forskoðari", meaning "one who goes before" or "a pioneer". |
| Tagalog (Filipino) | The word 'imbestiga' means investigate in Filipino, but can also refer to the act of investigating, and can be used as a noun. |
| Tajik | The Tajik word "муфаттиш" ("investigator") is derived from the Persian word "مفتی" ("mufti"), which refers to an Islamic scholar who issues legal opinions. |
| Thai | "ผู้ตรวจสอบ" is derived from the verb "ตรวจสอบ" (to verify), which in turn comes from the Sanskrit word "परीक्ष" (parīkṣā), meaning "examination" or "test." |
| Turkish | The word araştırmacı is derived from the Arabic word 'araştırma' meaning 'study' or 'research'. |
| Ukrainian | The word "слідчий" is derived from the verb "слідити", which means "to follow" or "to track". |
| Urdu | In Urdu, تفتیش کار is also an official who manages the revenue of his division, or a military officer of the old army. |
| Uzbek | The word "tergovchi" also means "researcher" in Uzbek. |
| Vietnamese | The word "người điều tra" comes from the Chinese "调查", which means "to investigate". In Vietnamese, it is often used to refer to a person who investigates crimes or other incidents. |
| Welsh | "Ymchwilydd" can be used humorously to refer to a curious child, with the connotation that they are poking around looking for something interesting. |
| Xhosa | The Xhosa word "umphandi" is also used in the sense of "discoverer" or "explorer". |
| Yiddish | In Yiddish, "אויספארשער" can also mean "researcher" or "scholar." |
| Yoruba | The Yoruba word "oluwadi" is a compound of the words "olu" (chief, head) and "iwa" (character), implying that an investigator possesses strong personal qualities. |
| Zulu | In Nguni languages, 'umphenyi' can also refer to someone who gathers or seeks information, not necessarily as part of an official investigation. |
| English | The word "investigator" is derived from the Latin word "investigare", meaning "to track or search out". |