Word.ws English Dictionary

'tec

'tec noun: a detective.

Noun

'tec (plural 'tecs)

  1. (slang) A detective.
    • "In the morning the blessed 'tecs will be out in all the stations, no doubt. And if they once got hold of her, for one reason or another she would be lost to him indeed."1907, Joseph Conrad, The Secret Agent
    • "You're a marvel, that's wot you are," ses the 'tec, shaking his 'ead. "Have one with me."1909, W.W. Jacobs, Self-Help

Proper noun capitalized: 'Tec

'Tec

  1. (slang) Detective Comics (an American comic book series)
    • Of course, the Batman’s debut in ’Tec #27 is tame by comparison2006, Mark Voger, The Dark Age: Grim, Great & Gimmicky Post-Modern Comics
    • Batman was, of course, meant to fill the role of its traditional contrast with Detective -- if 'Tec is about crime stories, then Batman is a full-on superhero adventure2014 August 1, Chris Sims, “Ask Chris #205: The Worst Story From The Best Writer”, in ComicsAlliance

Forms of 'tec

Noun
plural'tecs
alternative formtec
Proper noun
alternative formTec

Origin of 'tec

A clipping of detective.

Clipping of detective. C.f. 'tec (“detective”).

Questions about 'tec

What does 'tec mean?
'tec means a detective.
What part of speech is 'tec?
'tec can be a noun or a proper noun.
What is the plural of 'tec?
The plural of 'tec is 'tecs.

Words near 'tec in the dictionary

  1. 'tatie
  2. 'taties
  3. 'tato
  4. 'tatoe
  5. 'tatoes
  6. 'tec
  7. 'tecs
  8. 'ten-shun
  9. 'tend
  10. 'tend to one's knitting
  11. 'tended

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: 'tec (page history and authors); 'Tec (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “'tec.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/%27tec. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.