An officer is a

person A person (: people or persons, depending on context) is a being who has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations suc ...

who has a position of

authority Authority is commonly understood as the legitimate power of a person or group of other people. In a civil state, ''authority'' may be practiced by legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government,''The New Fontana Dictionary of M ...

in a

hierarchical organization A hierarchical organization or hierarchical organisation (see spelling differences) is an organizational structure where every entity in the organization, except one, is subordinate to a single other entity. This arrangement is a form of hierarchy ...

. The term derives from

Old French Old French (, , ; ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France approximately between the late 8th [2-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ...

''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," from Latin ''officium'' "a service, a duty" the late Latin from ''officiarius'', meaning "official."

Examples

Ceremonial and other contexts

*Officer, and/or Grand Officer, are both a grade, class, or rank of within certain

chivalric order An order of chivalry, order of knighthood, chivalric order, or equestrian order is a society, fellowship and college of knights, typically founded during or inspired by the original Catholic military orders of the Crusades ( 1099–1291) and pai ...

s and

orders of merit The Order of Merit () is an order of merit for the Commonwealth realms, recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or the promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by Edward VII, admission into the order re ...

, e.g.

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

(France),

Order of the Holy Sepulchre Order of the Holy Sepulchre or Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre may refer to: * Order of the Holy Sepulchre (Catholic), chivalric order belonging to the Holy See (the Roman Catholic Church) * Order of the Holy Sepulchre (Orthodox), chivalric ...

(

Holy See The Holy See (, ; ), also called the See of Rome, the Petrine See or the Apostolic See, is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City. It encompasses the office of the pope as the Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop ...

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

( UK), Order of Leopold (

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

) *

Great Officer of State Government in medieval monarchies generally comprised the king's companions, later becoming the royal household, from which the officers of state arose. These officers initially had household and governmental duties. Later some of these offic ...

* Merchant marine officer or licensed mariner *

Officer of arms An officer of arms is a person appointed by a sovereign or state with authority to perform one or more of the following functions: * to control and initiate armorial matters; * to arrange and participate in ceremonies of state; * to conserve ...

Officer in The Salvation Army An officer in The Salvation Army is a Salvationist who is an ordained minister of the Christian faith, but who fulfills many other roles not usually filled by clergy of other denominations. They do so having been trained, ordained and commissi ...

, and other state decorations

Corporations

Bank officer A bank officer is an employee of a bank endowed with the legal capacity to agree to and sign documents on behalf of the institution. The title is usually held by branch managers, assistant managers, loan officers, and other experienced personnel ...

*Corporate officer, a

corporate title Corporate titles or business titles are given to corporate officers to show what duties and responsibilities they have in the organization. Such titles are used by publicly and privately held for-profit corporations, cooperatives, non-profit org ...

Chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

(CEO) **

Chief financial officer A chief financial officer (CFO) is an officer of a company or organization who is assigned the primary responsibility for making decisions for the company for projects and its finances; i.a.: financial planning, management of financial risks, ...

(CFO) **

Chief operating officer A chief operating officer (COO), also called chief operations officer, is an executive in charge of the daily operations of an organization (i.e. personnel, resources, and logistics). COOs are usually second-in-command immediately after the C ...

(COO) *

Executive officer An executive officer is a person who is principally responsible for leading all or part of an organization, although the exact nature of the role varies depending on the organization. In many militaries and police forces, an executive officer ...

Education

*Chief academic officer, a

provost Provost may refer to: Officials Ecclesiastic * Provost (religion), a high-ranking church official * Prince-provost, a high-ranking church official Government * Provost (civil), an officer of local government, including the equivalent ...

Sabbatical officer In the United Kingdom, a sabbatical officer is a full-time officer elected by the members of a students' union (or similar body such as students' association, students' representative council or guild of students), commonly at a higher education e ...

Law enforcement

Bylaw enforcement officer A bylaw enforcement officer (also called municipal law enforcement or municipal enforcement) is an employee of a municipality, county or regional district, charged with the Law enforcement, enforcement of local ordinance—By-law, bylaws, Law, l ...

Corrections officer A prison officer (PO) or corrections officer (CO), also known as a correctional law enforcement officer or less formally as a prison guard, is a uniformed law enforcement official responsible for the custody, supervision, safety, and regulation ...

Customs officer A customs officer is a law enforcement official who enforces customs laws. Canada Canadian customs officers are members of the Canada Border Services Agency. It was created in 2003 and preceded by the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency (1999-20 ...

Environmental Health Officer An environmental health officer (EHO), also referred to as an environmental health practitioner (EHP) or public health inspector, is a person responsible for carrying out measures to protect public health, which includes the administration and en ...

Officer of the court In common law jurisdictions, the generic term officer of the court is applied to all those who, in some degree in the function of their professional or similar qualifications, have a part in the legal system. Officers of the court may include ent ...

Parking enforcement officer A parking enforcement officer (PEO),United State ...

Police officer A police officer (also called policeman or policewoman, cop, officer or constable) is a Warrant (law), warranted law employee of a police, police force. In most countries, ''police officer'' is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. ...

Police community support officer A police community support officer (PCSO; ), or as written in legislation Community Support Officer (CSO; ), is a uniformed member of police staff in England and Wales, a role created by Section 38(2) of the Police Reform Act 2002, which was giv ...

Security officer A security guard (also known as a security inspector, security officer, factory guard, or protective agent) is a person employed by a government or private party to protect the employing party's assets (property, people, equipment, money, etc.) ...

Military

Officer (armed forces) An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an Military, armed force or Uniformed services, uniformed service. Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer (NCO), or a warra ...

Commanding officer The commanding officer (CO) or commander, or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually give ...

Petty officer A petty officer (PO) is a non-commissioned officer in many navies. Often they may be superior to a seaman, and subordinate to more senior non-commissioned officers, such as chief petty officers. Petty officers are usually sailors that have ...

Politics and government

* Chief Medical Officer *

Foreign Service Officer A Foreign Service officer (FSO) is a commissioned member of the United States Foreign Service. FSOs formulate and implement the foreign policy of the United States. They spend most of their careers overseas as members of U.S. embassies, cons ...

, a diplomatic officer * Internal Service Officer, a diplomatic officer * Presiding Officer (disambiguation) * Returning officer

Shipping industry

Captain (nautical) A sea captain, ship's captain, captain, master, or shipmaster, is a high-grade licensed mariner who holds ultimate command and responsibility of a merchant vessel. The captain is responsible for the safe and efficient operation of the ship, in ...

, the person in charge of a merchant ship * Chief Engineering Officer, the person in charge of the technical department on a merchant ship *Chief officer or

chief mate A chief mate (C/M) or chief officer, usually also synonymous with the first mate or first officer, is a licensed mariner and head of the deck department of a merchant ship. The chief mate is customarily a watchstander and is in charge of the ship ...

, typically the person in charge of the deck department of a merchant ship * Coastguard Rescue Officer, a rescue officer employed by

HM Coastguard His Majesty's Coastguard (HMCG) is the section of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency responsible, through the Secretary of State for Transport to Parliament, for the initiation and co-ordination of all maritime search and rescue (SAR) within th ...

*Second officer or

second mate A second mate (2nd mate) or second officer (2/O) is a licensed member of the deck department of a merchant ship holding a Second Mates Certificate of Competence, by an authorised governing state of the International Maritime Organization (IMO). ...

, typically the navigator and medical officer on a merchant ship *Third officer or

third mate A third mate (3/M) or third officer is a licensed member of the deck department of a merchant ship. The third mate is a watchstander and customarily the ship's safety officer and fourth-in-command (fifth on some ocean liners). The position i ...

, typically the safety officer on a merchant ship * Second Engineering Officer, the person in charge of the engine room on a merchant ship * Third Engineering Officer, an Engineering Officer of the Watch

References

{{reflist Management occupations Positions of authority