From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
US origin, 1881.[ 1] [ 2]
pencil pusher plural pencil pushers
( informal , often derogatory ) routine office work ; someone involved mainly in paperwork .
Synonyms: office worker bureaucrat desk jockey paper-pusher pen-pusher 2012 The Sins of the Mother , Random House, →ISBN 285 :“ [ …] I don't have her creative genius or her version. I'm a numbers man, like my father. A pencil pusher , as Amanda said.” With no balls, he added silently.
2013 Busted , Random House, →ISBN The internal investigator for the Macon Police Department had the dour, lifeless personality of a career pencil pusher .
one who does office work
Bulgarian: писар (bg) m ( pisar )
Catalan: pixatinters (ca) m ( literally “ ink pisser ” )
Chinese:
Mandarin: 管帳員 / 管帐员 ( guǎnzhàngyuán )
Czech: kancelářská krysa (cs) f ( literally “ office rat ” )
Danish: ni-til-femmer c papirnusser (da) c
Estonian: paberimäärija
Finnish: kynänpyörittäjä ( literally “ pencil circler ” ) , konttorirotta (fi)
French: gratte-papier (fr) m ( literally “ paper scratcher ” )
German: Bleistiftstemmer ( literally “ weightlifter with pencils ” ) , Sesselfurzer (de) ( literally “ chair farter ” ) , Bürohengst (de) m ( literally “ office stallion ” )
Hindi: please add this translation if you can
Japanese: サラリーマン (ja) ( literally “ salary man ” )
Norwegian: kontorrotte m or f ( literally “ office rat ” )
Polish: gryzipiórek (pl) m ( literally “ pen chomper ” ) , biurokrata (pl) f zarękawek (pl) m urzędas (pl) m
Romanian: conțopist (ro) m scriptolog (ro) m
Russian: канцеля́рская кры́са (ru) f ( kanceljárskaja krýsa , literally “ office rat ” ) , черни́льная душа́ (ru) f ( černílʹnaja dušá , literally “ ink soul ” )
Slovak: kancelárska krysa f ( literally “ office rat ” )
Spanish: chupatintas (es) m ( literally “ ink sucker ” ) , cagatintas (es) m ( literally “ ink shitter ” ) , tinterillo (es) m plumífero (es) m
Swedish: kontorsråtta (sv) c ( literally “ office rat ” )
^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024 ) “pencil ”, in Online Etymology Dictionary ^ Eric Partridge (2005 ) “pencil-pusher”, in Tom Dalzell and Terry Victor, editors, The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English 2 (J–Z) , London, New York, N.Y.: Routledge , →ISBN page 1462 . 
