Other forms: officials
Official means approved and announced by the people in authority. The official figures, an official statement, it is not official yet.
It also describes anything to do with a position of authority: official duties, on official business. As a noun, an official is somebody holding a post in an organisation — a council official, match officials, which in sport means the referee and assistants. Note officially, which does two jobs: officially, the road is closed introduces the formal position and often implies that the real one differs, which is a very useful piece of English irony.
1adjectiveofficialApproved or announced by those in authority.
“The official figure is lower than anybody believes.”
synonyms: formal, authorised
2nounholdingSomebody holding a position of authority.
“A council official came out to look at it.”
3adjectiverelatingRelating to a position of authority.
“She was there in an official capacity.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
official is a quality of authority.
Latin officialis comes from officium, a duty or service — the same root as office and officer. Everything official belongs to a duty somebody holds, which is why the word carries authority rather than merely truth.
Proto-Indo-European
*h₃ep-
Latin
officiālis
Old French
official
Middle English
official
English, today
official
From Middle English official, from Old French official, from Latin officiālis, from Latin officium (“duty, service”), by surface analysis, office + -ial.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA