Standard Lemma guide

password

noun · verb · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • General-American: /ˈpæs.wɜɹd/
  • Southern-England: /ˈpɑːs.wɜːd/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Northern-England: /ˈpæs.wɜːd/
  • rhymes with -æswɜː(ɹ)d
  • rhymes with -ɑːswɜː(ɹ)d
  • CMU ARPABET: P AE1 S W ER2 D Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A word relayed to a person to gain admittance to a place or to gain access to information.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Qualifier: security

Topics: government, military, politics, war

Examples

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

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

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.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: computing, cryptography, engineering, mathematics, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, sciences

Examples

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

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

verb

Meaning 3

To protect with a password.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive

Topics: computing, engineering, mathematics, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

a secret word or phrase known only to a restricted group

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • he forgot the password

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: watchword, word, parole, countersign

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: secret, arcanum, positive identification

History

Etymology

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

Across languages

Translations

243 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: wagwoord — word used to gain admittance
  • Albanian: fjalëkalim — word used to gain admittance
  • Albanian: parullë — word used to gain admittance
  • Arabic: كَلِمَةُ سِرّ (kalimatu sirr) — word used to gain admittance
  • Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܡܸܠܲܬ ܦܣܵܣܵܐ (millat psāsā) — word used to gain admittance
  • Armenian: գաղտնաբառ (gaġtnabaṙ) — word used to gain admittance
  • Azerbaijani: parol — word used to gain admittance
  • Belarusian: паро́ль (parólʹ) — word used to gain admittance
  • Bengali: পাসওয়ার্ড (paśōẇarḍo) — word used to gain admittance
  • Bulgarian: паро́ла (paróla) — word used to gain admittance
  • Burmese: စကားဝှက် (ca.ka:hwak) — word used to gain admittance
  • Catalan: contrasenya — word used to gain admittance
  • Chinese Mandarin: 密碼 /密码 (mìmǎ) — word used to gain admittance
  • Chinese Mandarin: 口令 (kǒulìng) — word used to gain admittance
  • Czech: heslo — word used to gain admittance
  • Danish: kodeord — word used to gain admittance
  • Danish: løsen — word used to gain admittance
  • Danish: feltråb — word used to gain admittance
  • Dutch: wachtwoord — word used to gain admittance
  • Esperanto: pasvorto — word used to gain admittance
  • Estonian: salasõna — word used to gain admittance
  • Estonian: parool — word used to gain admittance
  • Finnish: tunnussana — word used to gain admittance
  • Finnish: salasana — word used to gain admittance
  • French: mot de passe — word used to gain admittance
  • French: mot d'ordre — word used to gain admittance
  • West-Frisian: wachtwurd — word used to gain admittance
  • Galician: contrasinal — word used to gain admittance
  • Georgian: პაროლი (ṗaroli) — word used to gain admittance
  • German: Codewort — word used to gain admittance
  • German: Passwort — word used to gain admittance
  • German: Parole — word used to gain admittance
  • German: Kennwort — word used to gain admittance
  • Greek: συνθηματικό (synthimatikó) — word used to gain admittance
  • Greek: κωδικός (kodikós) — word used to gain admittance
  • Ancient Greek: σύνθημα (súnthēma) — word used to gain admittance
  • Hebrew: סִיסְמָה (sismá) — word used to gain admittance
  • Hindi: पासवर्ड (pāsvarḍ) — word used to gain admittance
  • Hungarian: jelszó — word used to gain admittance
  • Icelandic: lykilorð — word used to gain admittance
  • Indonesian: kata sandi — word used to gain admittance
  • Irish: focal faire — word used to gain admittance
  • Irish: pasfhocal — word used to gain admittance
  • Italian: parola d'ordine — word used to gain admittance
  • Italian: parola chiave — word used to gain admittance
  • Japanese: パスワード (pasuwādo) — word used to gain admittance
  • Japanese: 合言葉 (aikotoba) — word used to gain admittance
  • Kazakh: құпиясөз (qūpiäsöz) — word used to gain admittance
  • Khmer: ការពាក្យសម្ងាត់ (kaa piək sɑmngat) — word used to gain admittance
  • Khmer: ពាក្យទាក់ទងគ្នា (piək tĕək tɔɔng kniə) — word used to gain admittance
  • Khmer: ពាក្យសំគាល់ (piək sɑmkŏəl) — word used to gain admittance
  • Khmer: ពាក្យសំងាត់ (piək sɑmngat) — word used to gain admittance
  • Korean: 암호 (amho) — word used to gain admittance
  • Korean: 군호 (gunho) — word used to gain admittance
  • Korean: 패스워드 (paeseuwodeu) — word used to gain admittance
  • Korean: 비밀번호 (bimilbeonho) — word used to gain admittance
  • Korean: 비번 (bibeon) — word used to gain admittance
  • Korean: 열쇠글 (yeolsoegeul) — word used to gain admittance
  • Northern Kurdish: parole — word used to gain admittance
  • Northern Kurdish: şîfre — word used to gain admittance
  • Kyrgyz: пароль (parol) — word used to gain admittance
  • Lao: ລະຫັດຜ່ານ (la hat phān) — word used to gain admittance
  • Latvian: parole — word used to gain admittance
  • Lithuanian: slaptažodis — word used to gain admittance
  • Macedonian: јавка (javka) — word used to gain admittance
  • Macedonian: лозинка (lozinka) — word used to gain admittance
  • Macedonian: паро́ла (paróla) — word used to gain admittance
  • Malay: kata laluan — word used to gain admittance
  • Māori: kupu karanga — word used to gain admittance
  • Māori: kupu whakahipa — word used to gain admittance
  • Māori: kupuhipa — word used to gain admittance
  • Māori: kupuuru — word used to gain admittance
  • Middle English: wacche word — word used to gain admittance
  • Mongolian: нууц үг (nuuc üg) — word used to gain admittance
  • Norwegian Bokmål: passord — word used to gain admittance
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: passord — word used to gain admittance
  • Old English: lēafnesword — word used to gain admittance
  • Pashto: د شپې نوم (de špe num) — word used to gain admittance
  • Iranian Persian: گُذَرْواژِه (gozarvâže) — word used to gain admittance
  • Iranian Persian: کَلِمِهٔ عُبور (kaleme-ye obur) — word used to gain admittance
  • Iranian Persian: رَمْزِ عُبور (ramz-e obur) — word used to gain admittance
  • Iranian Persian: اِسْمِ رَمْز (esm-e ramz) — word used to gain admittance
  • Polish: hasło — word used to gain admittance
  • Polish: parol — word used to gain admittance
  • Portuguese: senha — word used to gain admittance
  • Portuguese: palavra-passe — word used to gain admittance
  • Romanian: parolă — word used to gain admittance
  • Russian: паро́ль (parólʹ) — word used to gain admittance
  • Sanskrit: पारणशब्द (pāraṇaśabda) — word used to gain admittance
  • Scottish Gaelic: facal-faire — word used to gain admittance
  • Serbo-Croatian: ло̀зӣнка — word used to gain admittance
  • Serbo-Croatian: ге̏сло — word used to gain admittance
  • Serbo-Croatian: lòzīnka — word used to gain admittance
  • Serbo-Croatian: gȅslo — word used to gain admittance
  • Slovak: heslo — word used to gain admittance
  • Slovene: geslo — word used to gain admittance
  • Spanish: contraseña — word used to gain admittance
  • Spanish: santo y seña — word used to gain admittance
  • Swahili: nywila — word used to gain admittance
  • Swedish: lösen — word used to gain admittance
  • Swedish: lösenord — word used to gain admittance
  • Tajik: калимаи убур (kalima-yi ubur) — word used to gain admittance
  • Tajik: парол (parol) — word used to gain admittance
  • Tajik: гузарвожа (guzarvoža) — word used to gain admittance
  • Tajik: рамзи убур (ramz-i ubur) — word used to gain admittance
  • Tajik: исми рамз (ism-i ramz) — word used to gain admittance
  • Tamil: கடவுச்சொல் (kaṭavuccol) — word used to gain admittance
  • Tatar: пароль (parolʹ) — word used to gain admittance
  • Tatar: серсүз (sersüz) — word used to gain admittance
  • Thai: รหัสผ่าน (rá-hàt-pàan) — word used to gain admittance
  • Thai: รหัส (rá-hàt) — word used to gain admittance
  • Tibetan: གསང་ཚིག (gsang tshig) — word used to gain admittance
  • Turkish: parola — word used to gain admittance
  • Turkmen: parol — word used to gain admittance
  • Ukrainian: паро́ль (parólʹ) — word used to gain admittance
  • Ukrainian: паро́ля (parólja) — word used to gain admittance
  • Ukrainian: га́сло (háslo) — word used to gain admittance
  • Urdu: پاسْوَرْڈ (pāsvarḍ) — word used to gain admittance
  • Urdu: پاس وَرْڈ (pās varḍ) — word used to gain admittance
  • Urdu: پار لَفْظ (pār lafz) — word used to gain admittance
  • Urdu: شَناخْتی لَفْظ (śanāxtī lafz) — word used to gain admittance
  • Urdu: خُفِیَہ لَفْظ (xufiya lafz) — word used to gain admittance
  • Urdu: گُزَر لَفْظ (guzar lafz) — word used to gain admittance
  • Urdu: کَلْمَۂ شَناخْت (kalma-yi śanāxt) — word used to gain admittance
  • Uzbek: parol — word used to gain admittance
  • Vietnamese: mật khẩu — word used to gain admittance
  • Afrikaans: wagwoord — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Albanian: fjalëkalim — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Arabic: كَلِمَةُ مُرُور (kalimatu murūr) — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Arabic: كَلِمَةُ سِرّ (kalimatu sirr) — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Armenian: գաղտնաբառ (gaġtnabaṙ) — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Azerbaijani: parol — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Basque: pasahitza — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Belarusian: паро́ль (parólʹ) — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Bengali: পাসওয়ার্ড (paśōẇarḍo) — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Breton: ger-tremen — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Bulgarian: паро́ла (paróla) — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Burmese: စကားဝှက် (ca.ka:hwak) — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Catalan: contrasenya — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Chinese Mandarin: 密碼 /密码 (mìmǎ) — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Czech: heslo — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Danish: kodeord — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Danish: adgangskode — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Danish: password — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Dutch: wachtwoord — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Esperanto: pasvorto — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Estonian: salasõna — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Estonian: parool — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Faroese: loyniorð — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Finnish: salasana — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • French: mot de passe — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • West-Frisian: wachtwurd — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Galician: contrasinal — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Georgian: პაროლი (ṗaroli) — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • German: Passwort — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Greek: κωδικός (kodikós) — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Greek: συνθηματικό (synthimatikó) — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Greek: κωδικός πρόσβασης (kodikós prósvasis) — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Greenlandic: isissutissaq — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Hebrew: סִיסְמָה (sismá) — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Hindi: पासवर्ड (pāsvarḍ) — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Hungarian: jelszó — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Icelandic: lykilorð — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Icelandic: leyniorð — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Icelandic: aðgangsorð — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Ido: pasovorto — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Indonesian: kata sandi — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Indonesian: sandi — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Interlingua: contrasigno — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Irish: focal faire — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Irish: pasfhocal — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Italian: parola chiave — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Italian: password — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Italian: parola d'ordine — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Italian: parola d'accesso — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Japanese: パスワード (pasuwādo) — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Japanese: 合言葉 (aikotoba) — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Kazakh: құпиясөз (qūpiäsöz) — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Korean: 암호 (amho) — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Korean: 비밀번호 (bimilbeonho) — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Korean: 통과암호 (tonggwaamho) — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Korean: 패스워드 (paeseuwodeu) — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Northern Kurdish: şîfre — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Kyrgyz: пароль (parol) — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Lao: ລະຫັດຜ່ານ (la hat phān) — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Latvian: parole — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Lithuanian: slaptažodis — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Luxembourgish: Passwuert — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Macedonian: јавка (javka) — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Macedonian: лозинка (lozinka) — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Macedonian: паро́ла (paróla) — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Malagasy: tenimiafina — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Malay: kata laluan — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Marathi: पासवर्ड (pāsvarḍa) — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Marathi: परवलीचा शब्द (paravlīcā śabda) — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Eastern Mari: пароль (paroĺ) — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Mongolian: нууц үг (nuuc üg) — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Mongolian: код (kod) — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Norwegian Bokmål: passord — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: passord — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Iranian Persian: گُذَرْواژِه (gozarvâže) — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Polish: hasło — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Portuguese: senha — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Portuguese: palavra-passe — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Portuguese: password — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Portuguese: palavra-chave — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Romanian: parolă — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Russian: паро́ль (parólʹ) — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Sanskrit: पारणशब्द (pāraṇaśabda) — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Scottish Gaelic: facal-faire — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Serbo-Croatian: јавка — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Serbo-Croatian: ло̀зӣнка — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Serbo-Croatian: ге̏сло — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Serbo-Croatian: за́по̄рка — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Serbo-Croatian: паро́ла — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Serbo-Croatian: javka — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Serbo-Croatian: lòzīnka — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Serbo-Croatian: gȅslo — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Serbo-Croatian: zápōrka — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Serbo-Croatian: paróla — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Slovak: heslo — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Slovene: geslo — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Spanish: contraseña — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Spanish: palabra clave — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Swahili: nywila — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Swedish: lösenord — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Tagalog: password — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Tajik: калимаи убур (kalima-yi ubur) — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Tajik: парол (parol) — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Tajik: гузарвожа (guzarvoža) — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Tamil: கடவுச்சொல் (kaṭavuccol) — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Tamil: பாஸ்வேர்ட் (pāsvērṭ) — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Tatar: серсүз (sersüz) — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Thai: รหัสผ่าน (rá-hàt-pàan) — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Tibetan: གསང་ཚིག (gsang tshig) — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Turkish: şifre — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Turkmen: parol — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Ukrainian: паро́ль (parólʹ) — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Ukrainian: паро́ля (parólja) — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Ukrainian: га́сло (háslo) — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Uzbek: parol — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Vietnamese: mật khẩu — computing: string of characters known only to a user
  • Welsh: cyfrinair — computing: string of characters known only to a user
Real reading context

password in complete knowledge articles