constable

See also: Constable

English

Etymology

From Middle English constable, cunstable, constabil, connestable, cunestable, from Old French conestable, from Latin comes stabulī (“officer of the stables”). For the sense-development; compare marshal. Doublet of connétable.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkʌn.stə.bəl/, /ˈkɒn.stə.bəl/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkɑn.stə.bəl/
• (Australia) IPA^(key): /ˈkan.stə.bəl/

Noun

constable (plural constables)

1. One holding the lowest rank in most Commonwealth police forces. (See also chief constable.)
   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 19, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

     As soon as Julia returned with a constable, Timothy, who was on the point of exhaustion, prepared to give over to him gratefully. The newcomer turned out to be a powerful youngster, fully trained and eager to help, and he stripped off his tunic at once.

2. (UK, law) A police officer or an officer with equivalent powers.
3. (historical) An officer of a noble court in the Middle Ages, usually a senior army commander. (See also marshal).
4. The warden of a castle.
5. (US) An elected or appointed public officer, usually at municipal level, responsible for maintaining order or serving writs and court orders.
6. (Channel Islands) An elected head of a parish (also known as a connétable)
7. A large butterfly, Dichorragia nesimachus, family Nymphalidae, of Asia.

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:police officer

Derived terms

• assistant chief constable
• Burton Constable
• Constable Burton
• constablery
• constableship
• constabless
• constablewick
• constabulary
• cst., CST (abbreviation)
• deputy chief constable
• hog constable
• Melton Constable
• outrun the constable
• overrun the constable
• police constable
• special constable
• subconstable
• underconstable

Descendants

• → Czech: konstábl
• → Irish: constábla
• → Malay: konstabel
• → Polish: konstabl
• → Russian: консте́бль (konstéblʹ)
• → Swahili: konstebo
• → Tagalog: konstable

Translations

police officer rank

• Bulgarian: полицай (bg) m (policaj)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 警員 / 警员 (ging² jyun⁴)

  Mandarin: 警官 (zh) (jǐngguān), 警員 / 警员 (zh) (jǐngyuán)

• Czech: konstábl (cs) m
• Finnish: konstaapeli (fi); nuorempi konstaapeli, vanhempi konstaapeli
• French: constable (fr)
• Greek: αστυφύλακας (el) (astyfýlakas), χωροφύλακας (el) (chorofýlakas)
• Hindi: आरक्षी m (ārakṣī)
• Indonesian: jagabaya (id)
• Irish: constábla m
• Italian: appuntato (carabinieri) m, agente (polizia) m
• Japanese: 捕方 (torikata)
• Malay: konstabel
• Māori: kātipa
• Persian: آژان (fa) (âžân)
• Polish: konstabl m
• Portuguese: agente (pt) m
• Russian: консте́бль (ru) m (konstéblʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: maor-sìthe m
• Swahili: konstebo
• Swedish: konstapel (sv) c
• Tagalog: konstable
• Vietnamese: quản đốc (vi)
• Welsh: cwnstabl m

a police officer or an officer with equivalent powers

• Bulgarian: полицай (bg) m (policaj)
• Esperanto: konstablo
• Latin: vigil (la) m
• Polish: konstabl m

officer of a noble court

• Armenian:

  Middle Armenian: գունդստապլ (gundstapl)

• Bulgarian: конетабъл m (konetabăl)
• Czech: konstábl (cs) m
• Finnish: konnetaabeli (fi)
• French: connétable (fr) m or f
• Italian: conestabile (it) m
• Polish: konstabl m
• Portuguese: condestável m
• Russian: консте́бль (ru) m (konstéblʹ), коннетабль (ru) m (konnetablʹ)
• Spanish: condestable m

elected head of a parish

• Bulgarian: please add this translation if you can
• French: connétable (fr) m or f
• Latin: praepositus villae
• Norman: (Guernsey) counnétablle m, (Jersey) connêtabl'ye m

Verb

constable (third-person singular simple present constables, present participle constabling, simple past and past participle constabled)

1. (intransitive, dated) To act as a constable or policeman.

Anagrams

• balconets

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃s.tabl/

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

Noun

constable m or f by sense (plural constables)

1. constable (police title)

Further reading

• “constable”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Middle English

Alternative forms

• conestable, connestabil, connestable, constabil, cunstable
• cunestable (Early Middle English)

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French conestable; compare counte (“count”), stable (“stable”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kun(ə)ˈstaːblə/, /kun(ə)ˈstaːbəl/
• (reduced) IPA^(key): /ˈkun(ə)stablə/, /ˈkun(ə)stabəl/

Noun

constable (plural constables)

1. constable (high commander or officer of a medieval realm)
2. constable (warden of a castle)

Descendants

• English: constable (see there for further descendants)
• Scots: constable
• → Middle Welsh: cwnstabyl
  • Welsh: cwnstabl

References

• “cǒnstāble, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /konsˈtable/ [kõnsˈt̪a.β̞le]
• Rhymes: -able
• Syllabification: cons‧ta‧ble

Adjective

constable m or f (masculine and feminine plural constables)

1. (archaic) steadfast

Further reading

• “constable”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), 24th edition, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 30 October 2026