noun
government official; public servant; civil servant
Dated term for a government official or civil servant. In modern Japanese, 公務員 (こうむいん) is the usual word; 官吏 carries a pre-war or formal legal tone.
戦前は、官吏になることがエリートの証だった。
Before the war, becoming a government official was a mark of the elite.
この法律では、官
This law strictly prescribes the service discipline of public officials.