GeezerVison

English

Etymology

From Middle English professhennalle, professhynalle; equivalent to profession +‎ -al.

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation, General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /pɹəˈfɛʃ.ə.nəl/, [pɹəˈfɛʃ.nəl]
- Audio (US): (file)
(Australia, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /pɹəˈfeʃ.ə.nəl/, [pɹəˈfeʃ.nəl]

Noun

professional (plural professionals)

A person who belongs to a profession.
A white-collar worker, especially one with a specialized, high-earning job such as a doctor or engineer.
- 1987 June 18, Alena Heitlinger, Reproduction, Medicine and the Socialist State, Springer, →ISBN, page 104:
  […]extra income earned this way is normally used for buying consumer goods, such as a cottage, car, boat, and so on, irrespective of whether the recipient is a professional or a tradesman.
- 2014 June 3, Mark Garnett, Philip Lynch, Exploring British Politics, Routledge, →ISBN, page 517:
  They devised their own categories in which the working class formed a smaller proportion of the electorate:
  • I Salariat (managers, administrators, professionals, semi-professionals)
- 2017 February 23, Nina Michalikova, New Eastern European Immigrants in the United States, Springer, →ISBN, page 110:
  Russian immigrants had the highest percentage of professionals or managers (49 percent)
A person who earns their living from a specified activity.
- 2024 September 4, Vitali Vitaliev, “A salute to Ukraine's 'Second Army'”, in RAIL, number 1017, page 49:
  My son, a Canada-based IT professional who often travels to Ukraine, told me about the exhilarating atmosphere on those Ukraine-bound trains, bringing home hundreds of the unwilling refugees, mostly women and children (including the babies, born in exile on the way to meet their Ukrainian fighter fathers for the first time). The difference between Ukrainian refugees and other reluctant exiles is that Ukrainians are desperate to return.
(euphemistic) A prostitute.
There was this nice lady who flirted with me at the bar, but it turned out that she was a professional.
A reputation known by name.
An expert.
- 1934, Rex Stout, Fer-de-Lance, Bantam, published 1992, →ISBN, page 97:
  I have learned that there is a person attached to a golf club called a professional. Find out who fills that post at the Green Meadow Club; […] invite the professional, urgently, to dine with us this evening.
One of four categories of sociologist propounded by Horowitz: a sociologist who is actively concerned with promoting the profession of sociology.

Translations

person who belongs to a profession

Armenian: մասնագետ (hy) (masnaget)
Azerbaijani: peşəkar, professional (az)
Belarusian: прафесійны m (prafjesijny), прафесіянал m (prafjesijanal)
Bulgarian: професионалист m (profesionalist)
Catalan: professional (ca)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 專業人士 / 专业人士 (zhuānyè rénshì)
Dutch: beroeps (nl), professional (nl) m
Esperanto: isto (eo)
Finnish: ammattilainen (fi)
Galician: profesional (gl) m or f
German: Fachkraft (de) f, professionell (de) m
Greek: επαγγελματίας (el) m or f (epangelmatías)
Hungarian: szakember (hu), szaki (hu), professzionális (hu) sg
Icelandic: fagmaður m
Irish: gairmí m
Italian: professionista (it)
Japanese: プロフェッショナル (ja) (purofesshonaru), プロ (ja) (puro)
Korean: 프로페셔널 (ko) (peuropesyeoneol), 프로 (ko) (peuro)
Kyrgyz: кесипкөй (kesipköy)
Malay: profesional
Māori: mātanga, tūngaio, pūngaio
Mongolian: мэргэжилтэн (mn) (mergežilten), мэргэжлийн хүн (mergežliin xün)
Norwegian: profesjonell (no) m
Occitan: professional (oc) m
Polish: profesjonalny (pl) m
Portuguese: profissional (pt) m or f
Romanian: profesionist (ro) m
Russian: профессиона́л (ru) m (professionál), профессиона́лка (ru) f (professionálka)
Slovak: odborník (sk) m, odborníčka (sk) f, profesionál m, profesionálka f
Spanish: profesional (es) m or f, profesionista m or f (Mexico)
Swedish: yrkesperson c
Tagalog: manunungkulan, propesyonál
Thai: มืออาชีพ (mʉʉ-aa-chîip)
Ukrainian: професійний (uk) m (profesijnyj), професіональний m (profesional'nyj), професіонал m (profesional)
Welsh: proffesiynol (cy) m

person who earns their living from a specified activity

Arabic: مُحْتَرِف m (muḥtarif), مُحْتَرِفَة f (muḥtarifa)
Egyptian Arabic: محترف m (muḥtaref), محترفة f (muḥtarefa)
Armenian: մասնագետ (hy) (masnaget)
Azerbaijani: peşəkar
Catalan: professional (ca) m or f
Czech: profesionál (cs) m
Dutch: beroeps (nl), professional (nl) m
Finnish: ammattilainen (fi), ammattimies (fi)
German: Profi (de) m, Professioneller m, Professionelle f
Greek: επαγγελματίας (el) m or f (epangelmatías)
Hungarian: profi (hu)
Polish: zawodowiec (pl) m, profesjonalista (pl) m
Portuguese: profissional (pt) m or f
Russian: профессиона́л (ru) m (professionál), профессиона́лка (ru) f (professionálka)
Slovak: profesionál m, profesionálka f, odborník (sk) m, odborníčka (sk) f
Spanish: profesional (es) m or f, profesionista m or f (Mexico)
Swedish: proffs (sv) n
Thai: มืออาชีพ (mʉʉ-aa-chîip)

expert

Armenian: մասնագետ (hy) (masnaget)
Azerbaijani: peşəkar
Bulgarian: специалист (bg) m (specialist)
Catalan: professional (ca)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 專家 / 专家 (zh) (zhuānjiā)
Czech: profesionál (cs) m
Dutch: deskundige (nl), expert (nl) m
Finnish: ammattilainen (fi), ekspertti (fi), asiantuntija (fi)
French: professionnel (fr) m, professionnelle (fr) f
German: Profi (de) m
Greek: επαγγελματίας (el) m or f (epangelmatías), επιτηδευματίας (el) m or f (epitidevmatías)
Hungarian: profi (hu), szakértő (hu), szakember (hu), szaki (hu)
Japanese: プロフェッショナル (ja) (purofesshonaru), プロ (ja) (puro), 専門家 (ja) (せんもんか, senmonka)
Kazakh: кәсіпқой (käsipqoy)
Korean: 프로페셔널 (ko) (peuropesyeoneol), 프로 (ko) (peuro), 전문가(專門家) (ko) (jeonmun'ga)
Kyrgyz: кесипкөй (kesipköy)
Māori: pūngaio, pūkenga, mātanga
Mongolian: мэргэжилтэн (mn) (mergežilten)
Polish: profesjonalista (pl) m, zawodowiec (pl) m
Portuguese: profissional (pt) m or f
Russian: профессиона́л (ru) m (professionál), профессиона́лка (ru) f (professionálka), специали́ст (ru) m (specialíst), специали́стка (ru) f (specialístka), экспе́рт (ru) m (ekspért)
Slovak: odborník (sk) m, odborníčka (sk) f
Swedish: proffs (sv) n, expert (sv) c

Adjective

professional (comparative more professional, superlative most professional)

Of, pertaining to, or in accordance with the (usually high) standards of a profession.
The doctor is very professional in his manner.

You should get professional advice about your tax liability.
- 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter II, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:
  His forefathers had been, as a rule, professional men—physicians and lawyers; his grandfather died under the walls of Chapultepec Castle while twisting a tourniquet for a cursing dragoon; an uncle remained indefinitely at Malvern Hill; […].
(by extension) Expert.
Of an occupation, paid, especially so as to provide a livelihood.
Antonym: amateur

a professional musician, a professional footballer
- 2019 March 18, Steven Pifer, Five years after Crimea’s illegal annexation, the issue is no closer to resolution‎^[1], The Center for International Security and Cooperation, archived from the original on 24 June 2026:
  The little green men were clearly professional soldiers by their bearing, carried Russian weapons, and wore Russian combat fatigues, but they had no identifying insignia. Vladimir Putin originally denied they were Russian soldiers; that April, he confirmed they were.
(often pejorative) Engaging in persistent behaviour that is exaggeratedly implied to be a full-time, paid occupation.
Don't listen to him, he's a professional bullshitter.

As a professional optimist, I always look on the bright side.