password

English

Alternative forms

• pass-word (archaic)

Etymology

From pass +‎ word; the sentry-passing sense predates the cryptographic sense and was its inspiration.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈpæswɝd/
• (Southern England) IPA^(key): /ˈpɑːswɜː(ɹ)d/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (Northern England) IPA^(key): /ˈpæswɜːd/
• Rhymes: -æswɜː(ɹ)d, -ɑːswɜː(ɹ)d
• Hyphenation: pass‧word

Noun

password (plural passwords)

2. (military, security) A word relayed to a person to gain admittance to a place or to gain access to information.

   Only if a would-be visitor knew the password du jour could he pass; the guards allowed no exceptions.

4. (computing, cryptography) A string of characters used to log in to a computer or network, to access a level in a video game, and so on; archetypally a word but nowadays often an alphanumeric string or a phrase.

   A strong password has a mixture of lowercase and uppercase letters, numbers, and punctuation marks.

Synonyms

• (word used to gain admittance): watchword, underword
• (cryptographic key): passcode, keyword; abbreviations: pw, pwd, pword, pass

Coordinate terms

• (cryptographic key): passkey (coordinate in its sense contrasted with passwords)
• (cryptographic key): passphrase, keyphrase (used either coordinately or hyponymously; equivalent except for containing spaces)

Derived terms

• (computing): counter-password, password child, password salting, password wallet, what is the Wi-Fi password

Translations

word used to gain admittance

• Afrikaans: wagwoord
• Albanian: fjalëkalim m, parullë (sq) f
• Arabic: كَلِمَةُ سِرّ f (kalimatu sirr)
• Armenian: գաղտնաբառ (hy) (gaġtnabaṙ)
• Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܡܸܠܲܬ ܦܣܵܣܵܐ f (millat psāsā)
• Azerbaijani: parol
• Belarusian: паро́ль m (parólʹ)
• Bengali: পাসওয়ার্ড (bn) (paśōẇarḍo)
• Bulgarian: паро́ла (bg) f (paróla)
• Burmese: စကားဝှက် (my) (ca.ka:hwak)
• Catalan: contrasenya (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 密碼 / 密码 (zh) (mìmǎ), 口令 (zh) (kǒulìng)

• Czech: heslo (cs) n
• Danish: kodeord n, løsen n, feltråb n
• Dutch: wachtwoord (nl) n
• Esperanto: pasvorto (eo)
• Estonian: salasõna, parool
• Finnish: salasana (fi), tunnussana (fi)
• French: mot de passe (fr) m, mot d’ordre (fr) m
• Galician: contrasinal m
• Georgian: პაროლი (ṗaroli)
• German: Codewort (de) m, Passwort (de) n, Parole (de) f, Kennwort (de) n
• Greek: συνθηματικό (el) n (synthimatikó), κωδικός (el) m (kodikós)

  Ancient: σύνθημα n (súnthēma)

• Hebrew: סִיסְמָה (he) f (sismá)
• Hindi: पासवर्ड m (pāsvarḍ)
• Hungarian: jelszó (hu)
• Icelandic: lykilorð n
• Indonesian: kata sandi
• Irish: focal faire m, pasfhocal m
• Italian: parola d'ordine (it) f, parola chiave f
• Japanese: パスワード (ja) (pasuwādo), 合言葉 (ja) (あいことば, aikotoba)
• Kazakh: құпиясөз (qūpiäsöz)
• Khmer: ការពាក្យសម្ងាត់ (kaa piək sɑmngat), ពាក្យទាក់ទងគ្នា (piək tĕək tɔɔng kniə), ពាក្យសំគាល់ (piək sɑmkŏəl), ពាក្យសំងាត់ (piək sɑmngat)
• Korean: 암호(暗號) (ko) (amho), 군호(軍號) (gunho) (military), 패스워드 (paeseuwodeu), 비밀번호(秘密番號) (ko) (bimilbeonho) ("secret number", also PIN code), 비번(秘番) (ko) (bibeon) (colloquial), 열쇠글 (yeolsoegeul)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: parole (ku), şîfre (ku)

• Kyrgyz: пароль (ky) (parol)
• Lao: ລະຫັດຜ່ານ (lo) (la hat phān)
• Latvian: parole f
• Lithuanian: slaptažodis (lt) m
• Macedonian: јавка f (javka), лозинка f (lozinka), паро́ла f (paróla)
• Malay: kata laluan (ms)
• Maori: kupu karanga, kupu whakahipa, kupuhipa, kupuuru
• Middle English: wacche word
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: нууц үг (nuuc üg)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: passord (no) n

  Nynorsk: passord n

• Old English: lēafnesword n
• Pashto: د شپې نوم (ps) m (de špe num)
• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: گُذَرْواژِه (fa) (gozarvâže), کَلِمِهٔ عُبور (kaleme-ye obur), رَمْزِ عُبور (ramz-e obur), اِسْمِ رَمْز (fa) (esm-e ramz)

• Polish: hasło (pl) n, parol (pl) m (archaic)
• Portuguese: senha (pt) f, palavra-passe f
• Romanian: parolă (ro) f
• Russian: паро́ль (ru) m (parólʹ)
• Sanskrit: पारणशब्द (pāraṇaśabda)
• Scottish Gaelic: facal-faire m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ло̀зӣнка f, ге̏сло n

  Roman: lòzīnka (sh) f, gȅslo (sh) n

• Slovak: heslo (sk) n
• Slovene: geslo (sl) n
• Spanish: contraseña (es), santo y seña (es)
• Swahili: nywila (sw)
• Swedish: lösen (sv) n, lösenord (sv)
• Tajik: калимаи убур (kalima-yi ubur), парол (parol), гузарвожа (guzarvoža), рамзи убур (ramz-i ubur), исми рамз (ism-i ramz)
• Tamil: கடவுச்சொல் (ta) (kaṭavuccol)
• Tatar: пароль (parol’), серсүз (sersüz)
• Thai: รหัสผ่าน (th) (rá-hàt-pàan), รหัส (th) (rá-hàt)
• Tibetan: གསང་ཚིག (gsang tshig)
• Turkish: parola (tr)
• Turkmen: parol
• Ukrainian: паро́ль (uk) m (parólʹ), паро́ля f (parólja), га́сло n (háslo)
• Urdu: پاسْوَرْڈ m (pāsvarḍ), پاس وَرْڈ m (pās varḍ), پار لَفْظ m (pār lafz), شَناخْتی لَفْظ m (śanāxtī lafz), خُفِیَہ لَفْظ m (xufiya lafz), گُزَر لَفْظ m (guzar lafz), کَلْمَۂ شَناخْت f (kalma-yi śanāxt)
• Uzbek: parol (uz)
• Vietnamese: mật khẩu
• West Frisian: wachtwurd n

computing: string of characters known only to a user

• Afrikaans: wagwoord
• Albanian: fjalëkalim m
• Arabic: كَلِمَةُ مُرُور f (kalimatu murūr), كَلِمَةُ سِرّ f (kalimatu sirr)
• Armenian: գաղտնաբառ (hy) (gaġtnabaṙ)
• Azerbaijani: parol
• Basque: pasahitza
• Belarusian: паро́ль m (parólʹ)
• Bengali: পাসওয়ার্ড (bn) (paśōẇarḍo)
• Breton: ger-tremen
• Bulgarian: паро́ла (bg) f (paróla)
• Burmese: စကားဝှက် (my) (ca.ka:hwak)
• Catalan: contrasenya (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 密碼 / 密码 (zh) (mìmǎ)

• Czech: heslo (cs) n
• Danish: kodeord n, adgangskode (da) c, password (da) n
• Dutch: wachtwoord (nl) n
• Esperanto: pasvorto
• Estonian: salasõna, parool
• Faroese: loyniorð
• Finnish: salasana (fi)
• French: mot de passe (fr) m
• Galician: contrasinal m
• Georgian: პაროლი (ṗaroli)
• German: Passwort (de) n
• Greek: κωδικός (el) m (kodikós), συνθηματικό (el) n (synthimatikó), κωδικός πρόσβασης (el) m (kodikós prósvasis)
• Greenlandic: isissutissaq
• Hebrew: סִיסְמָה (he) f (sismá)
• Hindi: पासवर्ड m (pāsvarḍ)
• Hungarian: jelszó (hu)
• Icelandic: lykilorð n, leyniorð n, aðgangsorð n
• Ido: pasovorto (io)
• Indonesian: kata sandi, sandi (id)
• Irish: focal faire, pasfhocal m
• Italian: parola chiave f, password (it) f, parola d'ordine (it) f, parola d'accesso f
• Japanese: パスワード (ja) (pasuwādo), 合言葉 (ja) (aikotoba)
• Kazakh: құпиясөз (qūpiäsöz)
• Korean: 암호(暗號) (ko) (amho), 비밀번호(秘密番號) (ko) (bimilbeonho), 통과암호(通過暗號) (tonggwaamho) (North Korea)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: şîfre (ku)

• Kyrgyz: пароль (ky) (parol)
• Lao: ລະຫັດຜ່ານ (lo) (la hat phān)
• Latvian: parole f
• Lithuanian: slaptažodis (lt) m
• Luxembourgish: Passwuert n
• Macedonian: јавка f (javka), лозинка f (lozinka), паро́ла f (paróla)
• Malagasy: tenimiafina
• Malay: kata laluan (ms)
• Marathi: पासवर्ड m (pāsvarḍa), परवलीचा शब्द m (paravlīcā śabda)
• Mari:

  Eastern Mari: пароль (paroĺ)

• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: нууц үг (nuuc üg), код (mn) (kod)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: passord (no) n

  Nynorsk: passord n

• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: گُذَرْواژِه (fa) (gozarvâže)

• Polish: hasło (pl) n
• Portuguese: senha (pt) f, palavra-passe f, password (pt) f, palavra-chave (pt) f
• Romanian: parolă (ro) f
• Russian: паро́ль (ru) m (parólʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: facal-faire m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: јавка f, ло̀зӣнка f, ге̏сло n, за́по̄рка f, паро́ла f

  Roman: javka f, lòzīnka (sh) f, gȅslo (sh) n, zápōrka (sh) f, paróla (sh) f

• Sanskrit: पारणशब्द (pāraṇaśabda)
• Slovak: heslo (sk) n
• Slovene: geslo (sl)
• Spanish: contraseña (es) f, palabra clave m
• Swahili: nywila (sw)
• Swedish: lösenord (sv) n
• Tagalog: password
• Tajik: калимаи убур (kalima-yi ubur), парол (parol), гузарвожа (guzarvoža)
• Tamil: கடவுச்சொல் (ta) (kaṭavuccol)
• Tatar: серсүз (sersüz)
• Thai: รหัสผ่าน (th) (rá-hàt-pàan)
• Tibetan: གསང་ཚིག (gsang tshig)
• Turkish: şifre (tr)
• Turkmen: parol
• Ukrainian: паро́ль (uk) m (parólʹ), паро́ля f (parólja), га́сло n (háslo)
• Uzbek: parol (uz)
• Vietnamese: mật khẩu
• Welsh: cyfrinair
• West Frisian: wachtwurd n

See also

• passphrase

Verb

password (third-person singular simple present passwords, present participle passwording, simple past and past participle passworded)

1. (computing, transitive) To protect with a password.

Usage notes

• To password protect is the more common expression.

See also

• login
• passphrase
• PIN

Danish

Etymology

First attested in 1983, borrowed from English password.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈpʰɑːsˌwœːd̥]

Noun

password n (singular definite passwordet, plural indefinite password or passwords)

1. (computing) password

Inflection

Declension of password

neuter gender	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	password	passwordet	password passwords	passwordene
genitive	passwords	passwordets	passwords passwords'	passwordenes

Synonyms

• adgangskode, kodeord

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from English password.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpas.sword/
• Rhymes: -assword

Noun

password f (invariable)

1. (computing) password

   Synonyms: codice, (uncommon) parola d'ordine

Portuguese

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English password.

Pronunciation

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /paˈswoɾ.dɨ/ [paˈswoɾ.ðɨ]

Noun

password f (plural passwords)

1. (Portugal, computing) password (secret string of characters used to access a system)

   Synonyms: palavra-passe, senha

Further reading

• “password”, in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2025

Spanish

Noun

password m (plural passwords)

1. password

Tagalog

Pronunciation

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /ˈpaswoɾd/ [ˈpas.woɹd̪]
• Rhymes: -aswoɾd
• Syllabification: pass‧word

Noun

password (Baybayin spelling ᜉᜐ᜔ᜏᜓᜇ᜔ᜇ᜔)

1. Alternative spelling of pasword

Further reading

• “password”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, Manila, 2018