post office

See also: post-office and postoffice

English

Alternative forms

• postoffice, (archaic) post-office

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpəʊst ˌɒfɪs/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpoʊst ˌɔfɪs/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /ˈpoʊst ˌɑfɪs/

Noun

post office (countable and uncountable, plural post offices)

2. (countable) A place (building, office, shop, or counter) concerned with the business of delivering letters, post or mail and selling stamps, etc.

   Synonyms: postal outlet, postal station

   • 1955 June, Rev. A. W. V. Mace, “An Irish Journey—2”, in Railway Magazine, page 393:

     We were over the border here, into Northern Ireland, and the post office had a very English atmosphere. It was pleasant, too, much as we enjoyed the hospitality of the Republic, to be buying stamps with the Queen's head on them, and to be posting our cards in a red pillar-box, instead of a green one.

3. (countable) An organization that delivers letters.
   • 1815, Jane Austen, Emma, volume II, chapter 16:

     “The post-office is a wonderful establishment!” said she.—“The regularity and despatch of it! If one thinks of all that it has to do, and all that it does so well, it is really astonishing!”

4. (Canada, US, uncountable) A party game involving the exchange of kisses.

   Synonym: postman's knock

Derived terms

• post office box
• post-office order
• sub-post office
• travelling post office

Descendants

• Bislama: postofis

Translations

place

• Afrikaans: poskantoor
• Albanian: postë (sq) f
• Amharic: ፖስታ ቤት (posta bet), ፖስታ (posta)
• Arabic: مَكْتَب الْبَرِيد m (maktab al-barīd), بَرِيد m (barīd)

  Egyptian Arabic: بريد m (barīd), بوسطة f (busṭa)

  South Levantine Arabic: بريد m (barīd), بوسطة f (bosṭa)

• Armenian: փոստ (hy) (pʻost), փոստային բաժանմունք (pʻostayin bažanmunkʻ), (Western Armenian) նամակատուն (hy) (namakatun)
• Assamese: ডাকঘৰ (dakoghor)
• Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܒܹܝܬ ܒܝܼܠܕܵܪܵܐ m (bēt bīldara)
• Azerbaijani: poçt (az), poçt idarəsi, poçt şöbəsi
• Belarusian: пашто́вае аддзяле́нне n (paštóvaje addzjaljénnje), по́шта f (póšta), пашта́мт m (paštámt)
• Bengali: ডাক বিভাগ (ḍak bibhag), ডাকঘর (bn) (ḍakoghor)
• Bislama: postofis
• Bulgarian: по́ща (bg) f (póšta)
• Burmese: စာတိုက် (my) (catuik)
• Catalan: oficina de correus f, oficina postal f
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 郵局 / 邮局 (jau⁴ guk^6-2), 郵政局 / 邮政局 (jau⁴ zing³ guk^6-2)

  Dungan: юҗү (i͡užü)

  Gan: 郵政局 / 邮政局 (iu⁴ ziin⁴ qiuh⁷)

  Hokkien: 郵便局 / 邮便局 (zh-min-nan) (û-piān-kio̍k)

  Mandarin: 郵局 / 邮局 (zh) (yóujú), 郵便局 / 邮便局 (zh) (yóubiànjú) (Taiwan)

  Wu: 郵局 / 邮局 (⁶yeu-jioq; ⁶yeu-jiuq), 郵政局 / 邮政局 (⁶yeu-zen-jiuq; ⁶yeu-zen-jioq)

• Cornish: lytherva f, sodhva an post f
• Czech: pošta (cs) f
• Danish: posthus n, postkontor (da)
• Dutch: postkantoor (nl) n, posterij (nl) f
• Esperanto: poŝtejo (eo), poŝtoficejo (eo)
• Estonian: postkontor
• Faroese: posthús n
• Finnish: posti (fi), postitoimisto (fi)
• French: bureau de poste (fr) m
• Georgian: ფოსტა (posṭa)
• German: Postamt (de) n, Post (de) f
• Greek: ταχυδρομείο (el) n (tachydromeío)
• Gujarati: પોસ્ટ ઓફિસ (posṭ ophis)
• Hausa: fasa'ofis
• Hebrew: דואר / דֹּאַר (he) m (dó'ar)
• Hindi: डाकघर (hi) m (ḍākghar), पोस्ट-ऑफ़िस m (posṭ-ŏfis), डाकख़ाना m (ḍākxānā)
• Hungarian: posta (hu)
• Icelandic: pósthús (is) n
• Ido: posto-kontoro (io)
• Indonesian: kantor pos (id)
• Irish: oifig an phoist f, oifig poist f
• Italian: ufficio postale (it) m, posta (it) f
• Japanese: 郵便局 (ja) (ゆうびんきょく, yūbinkyoku)
• Kanakanabu: iuci
• Kannada: ಅಂಚೆ ಕಚೇರಿ (kn) (añce kacēri), ಅಂಚೆಮನೆ (kn) (añcemane)
• Kazakh: пошта (poşta)
• Khmer: ប្រៃសណីយ៍ (km) (praysaʼnii), ប៉ុស្តិ៍ (km) (poh), ប្រអប់ប្រៃសណីយ៍ (prɑʼɑp praysaʼnii)
• Korean: 우체국(郵遞局) (ko) (ucheguk), 우편국(郵便局) (upyeon'guk) (North Korea), 체신소(遞信所) (ko) (chesinso) (North Korea)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: پۆستخانە (postxane), پۆستە (poste)

  Northern Kurdish: postexane (ku), postxane

• Kyrgyz: почта (ky) (pocta)
• Lao: ໄປສະນີ (pai sa nī), ຫ້ອງການໄປສະນີ (lo) (hǭng kān pai sa nī)
• Latin: diribitorium n
• Latvian: pasta nodaļa f
• Lithuanian: pašto skyrius m, paštas (lt) m
• Macedonian: пошта f (pošta)
• Malay: kantor pos (ms), pejabat pos (ms)
• Malayalam: പോസ്റ്റ് ഓഫീസ് (pōsṟṟŭ ōphīsŭ), താപാലാപ്പീസ് (tāpālāppīsŭ)
• Maori: tari poutapeta
• Mòcheno: post f
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: шууангийн салбар (šuuangiin salbar)

• Navajo: naaltsoos ndahageehígi, naaltsoos báhooghan, naaltsoos nehegeehégi
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: postkontor n, posthus n

• Occitan: pòsta (oc) f, ofici postal m
• Odia: ଡାକ ଘର (or) (ḍāka ghara)
• Oromo: mana poostaa
• Pannonian Rusyn: пошта f (pošta)
• Pashto: پوسته خانه (ps) f (posta xāna)
• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: اِدارِهٔ پُسْت (edâre-ye post), پُسْتْخانِه (postxâne), چاپارْخانِه (čâpârxâne)

• Plautdietsch: Postaumt n
• Polish: poczta (pl) f
• Portuguese: estação de correios f, correio (pt) m
• Punjabi: ਡਾਕਖ਼ਾਨਾ m (ḍākxānā), ਪੋਸਟ ਆਫ਼ਿਸ (posaṭ āfis)
• Romanian: oficiu poștal n
• Russian: почто́вое отделе́ние n (počtóvoje otdelénije), по́чта (ru) f (póčta), почта́мт (ru) m (počtámt), (main post office) главпочта́мт (ru) m (glavpočtámt)
• Scottish Gaelic: oifis a' phuist f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: по̏шта f

  Roman: pȍšta (sh) f

• Sinhalese: තැපැල් කන්තෝරුව (tæpæl kantōruwa)
• Slovak: pošta f
• Slovene: pošta (sl) f
• Spanish: correos (es) m pl, casa de correos f, oficina de correos (es) f, estafeta (es) f, oficina postal f, posta (es) f, cartería (es) f
• Swahili: posta (sw)
• Swedish: postkontor (sv) n
• Tagalog: koreo
• Tajik: почта (tg) (počta), почтахона (počtaxona)
• Tamil: அஞ்சலகம் (ta) (añcalakam)
• Telugu: పోస్టాఫీసు (pōsṭāphīsu)
• Thai: ที่ทำการไปรษณีย์ (tîi-tam-gaan-bprai-sà-nii), ไปรษณีย์ (th) (bprai-sà-nii)
• Tibetan: སྦྲག་ཁང (sbrag khang)
• Turkish: postane (tr)
• Turkmen: poçta
• Ukrainian: пошто́ве відді́лення n (poštóve viddílennja), по́шта (uk) f (póšta), пошта́мт m (poštámt)
• Urdu: ڈاک خانَہ m (ḍāk xāna), پوسْٹ آفِس m (posṭ āfis), ڈاک گَھر m (ḍāk ghar)
• Uyghur: پوچتا (pochta), پوچتىخانا (pochtixana)
• Uzbek: pochtaxona (uz), pochtamt (uz), pochta (uz)
• Vietnamese: sở bưu điện (所郵電), phòng bưu điện (房郵電), bưu cục (vi), bưu điện (vi)
• Volapük: potöp (vo)
• Welsh: swyddfa bost (cy) f
• Yami: ibingkiok

organization

• Amharic: ፖስታ (posta)
• Arabic: بَرِيد m (barīd)
• Armenian: փոստ (hy) (pʻost)
• Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܒܝܼܠܕܵܪܵܐ m (bīldara)
• Belarusian: по́шта f (póšta)
• Bulgarian: по́ща (bg) f (póšta)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 郵局 / 邮局 (zh) (yóujú)

• Czech: pošta (cs) f
• Danish: postvæsen n
• Estonian: post (et)
• Finnish: posti (fi)
• French: poste (fr) f
• Georgian: ფოსტა (posṭa)
• German: Post (de) f
• Greek: ταχυδρομείο (el) n (tachydromeío)
• Japanese: 郵便局 (ja) (ゆうびんきょく, yūbinkyoku)
• Korean: 우체국(郵遞局) (ko) (ucheguk), 우편국(郵便局) (upyeon'guk) (North Korea), 체신소(遞信所) (ko) (chesinso) (North Korea)
• Macedonian: пошта f (pošta)
• Norman: poste f
• Polish: poczta (pl) f
• Portuguese: correios (pt) m pl
• Romanian: poștă (ro) f
• Russian: по́чта (ru) f (póčta)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: по̏шта f

  Roman: pȍšta (sh) f

• Slovak: pošta f
• Slovene: pošta (sl) f
• Thai: ไปรษณีย์ (th) (bprai-sà-nii)
• Ukrainian: по́шта (uk) f (póšta)

Further reading

• post office on Wikipedia.Wikipedia