prime minister

See also: prime-minister and Prime Minister

English

Etymology

Calque of French premier ministre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌpɹaɪm ˈmɪnɪstə(ɹ)/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

prime minister (plural prime ministers)

Sir Winston Churchill, a prime minister of the United Kingdom

1. The chief member of the cabinet and head of the government, especially in a parliamentary democracy; often the leader of the majority party.

   This is a list of all prime ministers since Churchill.

   Yesterday we had a visit from the Prime Minister / prime minister. (See usage notes below.)

   Hypernyms: see Thesaurus:government minister

Usage notes

• When referring to a particular prime minister, prime minister is capitalised according to some style guides, but it should only be capitalised when used before a person's name according to others:

  A The Prime Minister issued a statement today.

  B The prime minister issued a statement today.

  B Prime Minister Johnson issued a statement today.

• When referring to a prime minister by title and name together, British usage is, e.g., “the Prime Minister, Tony Blair” or “Tony Blair, the Prime Minister”, while North American usage is “Prime Minister Tony Blair”.

Synonyms

• PM (initialism)
• premier

Derived terms

• deputy prime minister
• prime ministerial
• prime ministership

Related terms

• premiership

Translations

chief member of the cabinet and head of the government

• Afrikaans: eerste minister
• Albanian: kryeministër (sq) m, kryeministri (sq) m (definite), kryeministre (sq) f
• Arabic: رَئِيس وُزَرَاء m (raʔīs wuzarāʔ), رَئِيسَة وُزَرَاء f (raʔīsat wuzarāʔ), رَئِيس حُكُومَة m (raʔīs ḥukūma), رَئِيسَة حُكُومَة f (raʔīsat ḥukūma)

  Hijazi Arabic: رَئيس وُزَراء m (raʔīs wuzarāʔ)

• Armenian: վարչապետ (hy) (varčʻapet)
• Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܪܹܝܫ ܫܲܪܝܼܪܹ̈ܐ m (rēš šārīre)
• Asturian: primer ministru m
• Azerbaijani: baş nazir
• Basque: lehen ministro
• Belarusian: прэм'е́р-міні́стр m (premʺjér-minístr), прэм'е́р-міні́стар m (premʺjér-minístar), прэм'е́р-міні́стрка f (premʺjér-minístrka), прэм'е́р-міні́старка f (premʺjér-minístarka), прэм'е́р m (premʺjér), прэм'е́рка f (premʺjérka)
• Bengali: প্রধানমন্ত্রী (bn) (prodhanomontri), উজিরে আজম (bn) (ujire ajom)
• Bulgarian: мини́стър-председа́тел m (minístǎr-predsedátel), мини́стър-председа́телка f (minístǎr-predsedátelka), премие́р (bg) m (premiér), премие́рка f (premiérka)
• Burmese: ဝန်ကြီးချုပ် (my) (wankri:hkyup)
• Buryat: юрэнхы һайд (jurenxy hajd)
• Catalan: primer ministre m
• Chichewa: nduna yaikulu
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 首相 (sau² soeng³) (of the UK, Japan, etc.), 總理／总理 (zung² lei⁵) (of Australia, New Zealand, Canada, etc.)

  Hakka: 首相 (sú-siong)

  Hokkien: 首相 (zh-min-nan) (siú-siòng) (of the UK, Japan, etc.), 總理／总理 (zh-min-nan) (chóng-lí) (of Australia, New Zealand, Canada, etc.)

  Mandarin: 首相 (zh) (shǒuxiàng) (of the UK, Japan, etc.), 總理／总理 (zh) (zǒnglǐ) (of Australia, New Zealand, Canada, etc.)

• Czech: premiér (cs) m, premiérka (cs) f, ministerský předseda (cs) m, ministerská předsedkyně f
• Danish: statsminister (da) c, premierminister c
• Dhivehi: ބޮޑުވަޒީރު (boḍuvazīru)
• Dutch: eerste minister (nl) m, premier (nl) m, minister-president (nl) m
• Esperanto: ĉefministro, ministroprezidanto, premiero
• Estonian: peaminister (et)
• Faroese: forsætisráðharri m
• Finnish: pääministeri (fi)
• French: premier ministre (fr) m, première ministre (fr) f, chef du gouvernement (fr) m or f
• Galician: primeiro ministro m
• Georgian: პრემიერ-მინისტრი (ṗremier-minisṭri), პრემიერი (ṗremieri)
• German: Premierminister (de) m, Premierministerin (de) f
• Greek: πρωθυπουργός (el) m (prothypourgós), πρωθυπουργίνα (el) f (prothypourgína)

  Ancient: τριστάτης m (tristátēs)

• Greenlandic: ministeriuneq
• Gujarati: વડાપ્રધાન (vaḍāpradhān)
• Hausa: firaminista (ha)
• Hebrew: רֹאשׁ־מֶמְשָׁלָה (he) m (rosh-memshalá)
• Hindi: प्रधान मंत्री (hi) m or f by sense (pradhān mantrī), वज़ीर-ए-आज़म m (vazīr-e-āzam)
• Hungarian: miniszterelnök (hu)
• Icelandic: forsætisráðherra m
• Indonesian: perdana menteri (id)
• Interlingua: prime ministro
• Irish: príomh-aire m
• Italian: primo ministro m, prima ministra f
• Japanese: 首相 (ja) (しゅしょう, shushō)
• Kannada: ಪ್ರಧಾನ ಮಂತ್ರಿ (pradhāna mantri)
• Kazakh: премьер-министр (premer-ministr), бас министр (bas ministr)
• Khmer: នាយករដ្ឋមន្ត្រី (niəyŭəkrŏətmŭəntrəy), អធិការបតី (km) (ʼaʼthikaaraʼpaʼdəy)
• Korean: 총리(總理) (ko) (chongni), 수상(首相) (ko) (susang), 각하(閣下) (ko) (gakha) (honorific)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: serokwezîr (ku)

• Kyrgyz: баш-министр (baş-ministr), премьер-министр (premyer-ministr)
• Lao: ນາຍົກລັດຖະມົນຕີ (nā nyok lat tha mon tī)
• Latvian: premjerministrs m, premjerministre f, ministru prezidents m, ministru prezidente f
• Lithuanian: premjeras m, premjerė f, ministras pirmininkas m, ministrė pirmininkė f
• Macedonian: премие́р m (premiér), премие́рка f (premiérka)
• Malay: perdana menteri (ms)
• Maltese: prim m, prim ministru m
• Manx: ard-vinishter m
• Maori: pirimia
• Marathi: पंतप्रधान m (pantapradhān)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: ерөнхий сайд (jörönxii sajd), тэргүүн сайд (tergüün sajd) (historical, current in China)

  Mongolian: ᠶᠡᠷᠦᠩᠬᠡᠢ
  ᠰᠠᠶᠢᠳ (yerüŋkei sayid), ᠲᠡᠷᠢᠭᠦᠨ
  ᠰᠠᠶᠢᠳ (terigün sayid)

• Nepali: प्रधान मन्त्री (pradhān mantri)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: statsminister (no) m

  Nynorsk: statsminister m

• Occitan: primièr ministre m
• Pashto: لومړی وزير m (lumṛay wazīr)
• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: نَخُسْت‌وَزیر (fa) (naxost-vazir), نُخُسْت‌وَزیر (fa) (noxost-vazir), وَزیرِ اَعْظَم (vazir-e a'zam)

• Polish: premier (pl) m (male or female)
• Portuguese: primeiro-ministro (pt) m, premiê (pt) m or f, premier (pt) m or f, primeira-ministra (pt) f
• Punjabi:

  Gurmukhi: ਪਰਧਾਨ ਮੰਤਰੀ m (pardhān mantrī)

  Shahmukhi: پَرْدھان مَنْتَری m (pardhān mantarī)

• Romanian: prim-ministru (ro) m, premier (ro) m
• Russian: премье́р-мини́стр (ru) m (premʹjér-minístr) (male or female), премье́р (ru) m (premʹjér) (male or female), второ́е лицо́ (ru) n (vtoróje licó, literally “the second person”), глава́ прави́тельства m or f (glavá pravítelʹstva) (head of government)
• Samogitian: mėnėstros pėrmėninks m
• Sanskrit: प्रधान मंत्री m (pradhāna maṃtrī)
• Scots: prime meinster
• Scottish Gaelic: prìomhair m
• Semai: perdane menteri
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: премѝје̄р m, премѝје̄рка f

  Roman: premìjēr (sh) m, premìjērka (sh) f

• Shan: ဝုၼ်ႇၵျီးၶျုၵ်ႈ (wùn kjíi khjūk)
• Slovak: predseda vlády m, predsedkyňa vlády f, premiér m, premiérka f
• Slovene: premier m, premierka f
• Spanish: primer ministro m, presidente del Gobierno m, primera ministra f
• Swahili: waziri mkuu
• Swedish: premiärminister (sv) c, statsminister (sv) c
• Tagalog: punong ministro
• Tajik: сарвазир (sarvazir), нахуствазир (naxustvazir), вазири аъзам (vaziri aʾzam)
• Tamil: பிரதமர் (ta) (piratamar)
• Tatar: премьер-министр (prem’yer-ministr)
• Telugu: ప్రధాని (pradhāni), ప్రధాన మంత్రి (pradhāna mantri)
• Thai: นายกรัฐมนตรี (th) (naa-yók-rát-tà-mon-dtrii), อัครมหาเสนาบดี (th) (àk-krá-má-hǎa-sěe-naa-bɔɔ-dii), นายกฯ (th) (naa-yók) (colloquial)
• Tok Pisin: praim minista
• Tongan: palemia
• Turkish: başbakan (tr)
• Turkmen: premýer-ministr, baş ministr
• Ukrainian: прем'є́р-міні́стр (uk) m (premʺjér-minístr), прем'є́р-міні́стрка f (premʺjér-minístrka), прем'є́р (uk) m (premʺjér), прем'є́рка f (premʺjérka)
• Urdu: وَزِیرِ اَعْظَم m (vazīr-i a'zam), پَرْدھان مَنْتَری m (pardhān mantarī)
• Uyghur: باش ۋەزىر (bash wezir), باش مىنىستر (bash ministr)
• Uzbek: bosh ministr, bosh vazir
• Vietnamese: thủ tướng (vi) (首相)
• Volapük: please add this translation if you can
• Walloon: prumî minisse (wa) m, prumire minisse f
• Welsh: prif weinidog m
• Yiddish: פּרעמיער m (premyer), פּרעמיערשע f (premyershe)

See also

• head of government