prime minister

See also: prime-minister and Prime Minister

English

Etymology

Latin primus+ minister

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈpɹaɪm mɪnɪstə(ɹ)/
(enunciated) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹaɪm ˈmɪnɪstə(ɹ)/

Noun

prime minister (plural prime ministers)

In a parliamentary democracy, the chief member of the cabinet and head of the government; 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

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 (raʾīs wuzarāʾ), رَئِيس حُكُومَة‎ m (raʾīs ḥukūma)
Hijazi Arabic: رَئيس وُزَراء‎ m (raʾīs wuzarāʾ)
Armenian: վարչապետ (hy) (varčʿapet)
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) (prôdhanômôntrī), উজিরে আজম (bn) (uzire azôm)
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.)
Mandarin: 首相 (zh) (shǒuxiàng) (of the UK, Japan, etc.), 總理／总理 (zh) (zǒnglǐ) (of Australia, New Zealand, Canada, etc.)
Min Nan: 首相 (zh-min-nan) (siú-siòng) (of the UK, Japan, etc.), 總理 (zh-min-nan), 总理 (chóng-lí) (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
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 (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)
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 (premʹyer-ministr)
Lao: ນາຍົກລັດຖະມົນຕີ (nā nyok lat tha mon tī)
Latvian: premjerministrs m, premjerministre f
Lithuanian: premjeras m, premjerė f, ministras pirmininkas m, ministrė pirmininkė f
Macedonian: премие́р m (premiér), премие́рка f (premiérka)
Malay: perdana menteri
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 (yerüŋkei̯ 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 wazír)
Persian: نخست وزیر‎ (fa) (noxost vazir), وزیر اعظم‎ (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
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), второе лицо (ru) n (vtoroje lico), 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)
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)
Tongan: palemia
Turkish: başbakan (tr)
Turkmen: premýer-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: وزیر اعظم‎ m (vazīr-e-āzam), پردھان منتری‎ m
Uyghur: باش ۋەزىر‎ (bash wezir), باش مىنىستر‎ (bash ministr)
Uzbek: bosh ministr, bosh vazir
Vietnamese: thủ tướng (vi)
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)