police; police officer
HSK level
警察 is written with 33 strokes (警: 19, 察: 14). The animation replays automatically.
警察 (jǐngchá) is a noun meaning 'police' — both the institution and an individual police officer.
It is neutral in register and used in everyday speech, news, and official contexts alike. A key point for English speakers: the same word covers both the singular officer ('a policeman') and the collective force ('the police'), disambiguated only by measure words or context — 一个警察 is one officer, while 警察来了 can mean 'the police came.' In casual speech people often add 叔叔 (shūshu) to make 警察叔叔 ('officer,' literally 'police uncle'), a friendly form children use.
Note that 公安 (gōng'ān, 'public security') is the formal institutional name in mainland China, while 警察 is the ordinary word. To call the police you 报警 (bàojǐng), using the related 警 character rather than 警察 itself.
Character by character
Memory hook: One who 警 (warns/alerts) and 察 (observes) is the police.
警察 appears in 2 Fluentide podcast episodes at natural native speed — each with the full Chinese script, pinyin, and line-by-line English translation.
有问题就找警察帮忙。
Yǒu wèntí jiù zhǎo jǐngchá bāngmáng.
If there's a problem, ask the police for help.
spoken
警察很快就到了现场。
Jǐngchá hěn kuài jiù dào le xiànchǎng.
The police arrived at the scene quickly.
neutral
他从小就想当警察。
Tā cóngxiǎo jiù xiǎng dāng jǐngchá.
He's wanted to be a police officer since childhood.
spoken
遇到危险，请立即报警。
Yùdào wēixiǎn, qǐng lìjí bàojǐng.
If you encounter danger, call the police immediately.
formal
公安 ('public security') is the formal institutional name in mainland China. 警察 is the everyday word for the officers themselves; 公安 refers to the bureau or system.
民警 ('people's police') is a formal term used in official and news contexts for rank-and-file officers. 警察 is the plain, universal word.
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