Almost in Different Languages
Discover 'Almost' in 134 Languages: Dive into Translations, Hear Pronunciations, and Uncover Cultural Insights.
Updated on March 6, 2024
The word 'almost' is a small but powerful term that signifies something not quite complete or entirely true. It's a word that we use frequently in our daily conversations and writing, often to soften the blow of a negative statement or to express hopefulness about a positive one. For example, saying 'I've almost finished my homework' implies that the task is nearly complete, while 'I've almost won the race' expresses the excitement of being so close to victory.
The word 'almost' also has cultural significance in various languages and contexts. For instance, in Spanish, 'almost' is translated as 'casi', while in French, it's 'presque'. These translations not only help us communicate with people from different linguistic backgrounds but also provide insight into how other cultures view the concept of near-completeness or near-achievement.
Moreover, understanding the translation of 'almost' in different languages can be fascinating for language enthusiasts and culturally curious individuals. It's a small word that can tell a big story about how we perceive and express the world around us.
In the following list, you'll find the translation of 'almost' in various languages, from common ones like Spanish and French to more obscure ones like Welsh and Hawaiian. Explore and enjoy!
Almost
Almost in Sub-Saharan African Languages
| Afrikaans | amper | ||
| In Afrikaans, the word "amper" can also refer to a near-miss or a small amount. | |||
| Amharic | ማለት ይቻላል | ||
| Though ማለት ይቻላል directly translates to “it will be possible,” in everyday speech it is used to mean “almost.” | |||
| Hausa | kusan | ||
| The Hausa word 'kusan' also means 'very little' or 'insufficient'. | |||
| Igbo | fọrọ nke nta | ||
| Fọrọ nke nta literally means 'a short distance from the bottom' in Igbo, highlighting the idea of being close but not quite there. | |||
| Malagasy | efa ho | ||
| Efa ho may also mean "already," "almost," or "about to" depending on the context. | |||
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | pafupifupi | ||
| The word “pafupifupi” comes from the root word “pafupi” which means “short”. | |||
| Shona | ndoda | ||
| The word "ndoda" in Shona can also mean "quickly" or "suddenly". | |||
| Somali | ku dhowaad | ||
| The Somali word “ku dhowaad” also means “close to” or “nearby”, but is often used figuratively to imply an impending occurrence. | |||
| Sesotho | hoo e ka bang | ||
| Hoo e ka bang may also be said in a derogatory way to mean "not quite there yet" | |||
| Swahili | karibu | ||
| The word "karibu" in Swahili also means "welcome" and can be used as a greeting. | |||
| Xhosa | phantse | ||
| The word "phantse" can also mean "nearly" or "about to" in Xhosa. | |||
| Yoruba | fere | ||
| "Fere" can also mean "maybe" or "in a similar manner" in Yoruba. | |||
| Zulu | cishe | ||
| The word "cishe" (almost) is a diminutive of the word "cisho" (near). | |||
| Bambara | sinasina | ||
| Ewe | kloẽ | ||
| Kinyarwanda | hafi | ||
| Lingala | mwa moke | ||
| Luganda | -naatera | ||
| Sepedi | nyakile | ||
| Twi (Akan) | aka kakra bi | ||
Almost in North African & Middle Eastern Languages
| Arabic | تقريبيا | ||
| The word "تقريبيا" is derived from the root word "قرب" which means "closeness" or "proximity" | |||
| Hebrew | כִּמעַט | ||
| כמעט "ki-meat" (almost) comes from the root כמעט "ka-ma'at" (a little) and the letter כ "kaf" (like). | |||
| Pashto | تقریبا | ||
| تقریبا also means 'at most' or 'about' in Pashto. | |||
| Arabic | تقريبيا | ||
| The word "تقريبيا" is derived from the root word "قرب" which means "closeness" or "proximity" | |||
Almost in Western European Languages
| Albanian | pothuajse | ||
| The word "pothuajse" is derived from "path" (way) and "hajese" (end/finish), denoting "near the end". | |||
| Basque | ia | ||
| The word 'ia', which means 'almost' in Basque, is used in the negative sense as well, e.g. "ez dut ia dirurik", "I have almost no money." | |||
| Catalan | gairebé | ||
| "Gairebé" is sometimes used to mean "a little bit." | |||
| Croatian | skoro | ||
| The word 'skoro' can also mean 'soon' or 'nearly'. | |||
| Danish | næsten | ||
| In Old Norse, "næsten" meant "to dare to approach". | |||
| Dutch | bijna | ||
| The Dutch word 'bijna' is derived from the Old Dutch 'bi-na', meaning 'near' or 'close by'. | |||
| English | almost | ||
| Almost is derived from the Old English word "ealra-meste," meaning "almost entirely" | |||
| French | presque | ||
| The word "presque" is derived from the Old French word "preisc," meaning "near" or "close to." | |||
| Frisian | hast | ||
| Hast also means 'rather' in some contexts. | |||
| Galician | case | ||
| In Galician, "case" can also mean "home" or "village". | |||
| German | fast | ||
| The German word "fast" can refer to almost, nearly, or soon, and derives from the Old High German adverb "fasto", meaning firmly or securely. | |||
| Icelandic | næstum því | ||
| The adverb "næstum því" can be used in several ways: 1) "nearly" (of time or number); 2) "approximately" (of measurement); 3) "almost" (in all other senses). | |||
| Irish | beagnach | ||
| The word "beagnach" means "almost" in Irish and finds etymological roots in a term meaning "little" or "small" with the infix "-g" resulting in its current form. | |||
| Italian | quasi | ||
| The Italian word 'quasi' is derived from the Latin 'quasi', which means 'as if' or 'nearly'. | |||
| Luxembourgish | bal | ||
| Luxembourgish "bal" is derived from the Proto-Celtic "bellu" for "small" and can also mean "half" or "little". | |||
| Maltese | kważi | ||
| The word "kważi" is probably derived from the Arabic word "qārib" or "qarīb," meaning "near" or "close." | |||
| Norwegian | nesten | ||
| The word "nesten" in Norwegian can also refer to something that is in a state of nearness or proximity. | |||
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | quase | ||
| The word 'quase' derives from the Latin word 'quasi', meaning 'as if' or 'nearly'. In Portuguese, it can also mean 'approximately' or 'about'. | |||
| Scots Gaelic | cha mhòr | ||
| Cha mhòr is used in comparisons to describe the closeness of one thing to another. | |||
| Spanish | casi | ||
| The word **casi** derives from Latin **quasi**, meaning "as if" or "approximately". | |||
| Swedish | nästan | ||
| The word "nästan" also means "nearly" or "as good as" in Swedish. | |||
| Welsh | bron | ||
| 'Bron' also means 'a region' or 'a hill'. | |||
Almost in Eastern European Languages
| Belarusian | амаль | ||
| The word "амаль" has an alternate meaning of "a little bit" or "partially" in Belarusian. | |||
| Bosnian | skoro | ||
| The word 'skoro' also means 'quickly' in Bosnian, derived from the Proto-Slavic word 'skora', meaning 'speed'. | |||
| Bulgarian | почти | ||
| The word почти (pochti) in Bulgarian comes from the Slavic root *pьr-, meaning "to come first" or "in front of," so it originally meant something like "to be the first" to do something. | |||
| Czech | téměř | ||
| "Téměř" is an archaic form of "temný" ("dark"), but it is also related to the verb "tít" ("to press"). | |||
| Estonian | peaaegu | ||
| The word "peaaegu" derives from the Proto-Finnic "*pika-aka" meaning "soon" or "in a short time". | |||
| Finnish | melkein | ||
| "Miltei" is an old word that originally meant "very". The change of meaning occurred around the year 1000. | |||
| Hungarian | majdnem | ||
| The word 'majdnem' is an adverbial form of the archaic word 'majdan' meaning 'later'. | |||
| Latvian | gandrīz | ||
| Latvian "gandrīz" likely originated from the word "gandrīda" which refers to a type of a wooden floor (platform) and means "completely, entirely". | |||
| Lithuanian | beveik | ||
| The word "beveik" may also mean "nearly" or "almost completely". | |||
| Macedonian | за малку | ||
| The phrase "за малку" originated from the expression "за малку пари" ("for little money") and gradually took on its current meaning. | |||
| Polish | prawie | ||
| In addition to its primary meaning, "prawie" can also mean "nearly" and "not quite". | |||
| Romanian | aproape | ||
| "Apropia" also means "vicinity" and comes from the Slavic word "opri" meaning "at, near". | |||
| Russian | почти | ||
| The Russian word "почти" is derived from the Old Slavic word "покъшть", meaning "a little less". It can also be used to mean "approximately", "nearly", or "on the verge of". | |||
| Serbian | скоро | ||
| The word "скоро" can also mean "suddenly, unexpectedly" | |||
| Slovak | takmer | ||
| The word "takmer" in Slovak also means "almost", "as much as", "nearly" or "more or less". | |||
| Slovenian | skoraj | ||
| The Slovene word skoraj is derived from the Proto-Slavic word *skorъ, which also means "quickly" or "soon". | |||
| Ukrainian | майже | ||
| The word "майже" in Ukrainian also has a meaning of "a little bit" | |||
Almost in South Asian Languages
| Bengali | প্রায় | ||
| The word "প্রায়" in Bengali can also mean "nearly", "about", or "more or less". | |||
| Gujarati | લગભગ | ||
| "લગભગ" is derived from the Sanskrit word "लगभग" which literally means "around the body" or "at the side of the body" and is also used in Marathi, Hindi, and Urdu with the same meaning. | |||
| Hindi | लगभग | ||
| लगभग is derived from the Sanskrit word laghata, meaning 'near' or 'proximity'. | |||
| Kannada | ಬಹುತೇಕ | ||
| "ಬಹುತೇಕ" (bahutēka) is derived from the Sanskrit बहुल (bahula), meaning "much, abundant" and तक (taka), meaning "to, up to, nearly". | |||
| Malayalam | മിക്കവാറും | ||
| "മിക്കവാറും" is cognate with "மிக்க" in Tamil, which can also mean "very", "exceedingly", "very much" etc. | |||
| Marathi | जवळजवळ | ||
| This word's base form is "जवळ" (close), and "जवळजवळ" can also mean "close at hand" or "nearly". | |||
| Nepali | लगभग | ||
| The Nepali word "लगभग" also means "nearly" or "approximately". | |||
| Punjabi | ਲਗਭਗ | ||
| The word 'लगभग' is derived from the Sanskrit phrase 'लघु भाग', meaning 'a small portion or part'. | |||
| Sinhala (Sinhalese) | පාහේ | ||
| In Buddhist cosmology, the Sanskrit term 'pāśa,' meaning a rope used for tying an object or animal, evolved into Sinhala 'pāha,' which in turn became 'pāhé.' | |||
| Tamil | கிட்டத்தட்ட | ||
| It shares a root with the word 'கிட்டம்' which means 'near' | |||
| Telugu | దాదాపు | ||
| "దాదాపు" is possibly derived from the word for "group," because people who belong to a group have similar or almost the same qualities. | |||
| Urdu | تقریبا | ||
| تقریبا can also mean "in relation to". | |||
Almost in East Asian Languages
| Chinese (Simplified) | 几乎 | ||
| “几乎”原意为“几乎全部”，指达到一定程度但没有完全达到，引申为“接近”的意思。 | |||
| Chinese (Traditional) | 幾乎 | ||
| The word 幾 originally meant “a few, several,” from which its sense of “almost, on the verge of” derived, which then evolved into a classifier for approximations. | |||
| Japanese | ほとんど | ||
| The word "ほとんど" (almost) can also mean "most" or "the majority" in Japanese. | |||
| Korean | 거의 | ||
| ‘거의’ originated from ‘거러니’, which meant ’barely, a tiny bit’ originally. | |||
| Mongolian | бараг л | ||
| The root word 'бараг' means 'side' or 'direction', so 'бараг л' literally means 'to the side' or 'in a different direction'. | |||
| Myanmar (Burmese) | နီးပါး | ||
Almost in South East Asian Languages
| Indonesian | hampir | ||
| The word "hampir" also means "nearly" or "close to" in Indonesian. | |||
| Javanese | meh | ||
| In Javanese, 'meh' also means 'too much' or 'excessive'. | |||
| Khmer | ស្ទើរតែ | ||
| The Khmer word ស្ទើរតែ (almost) is related to the word ទាល់ (to reach), implying that something is close to being reached but not quite there yet. | |||
| Lao | ເກືອບທັງຫມົດ | ||
| คำว่า "ເກືອບທັງຫມົດ" ยังมีความหมายว่า "เกือบจะ" หรือ "ใกล้จะ" ได้อีกด้วย | |||
| Malay | hampir | ||
| The word "hampir" is derived from the Javanese word "empir" meaning "to come close to or arrive at". | |||
| Thai | เกือบ | ||
| “เกือบ” (pronounced “gueap”) is a versatile word in Thai, meaning not only “almost” but also “nearly,” “close to,” and “about to.” | |||
| Vietnamese | hầu hết | ||
| The word "hầu hết" can also mean "most" or "the majority" in Vietnamese. | |||
| Filipino (Tagalog) | halos | ||
Almost in Central Asian Languages
| Azerbaijani | təxminən | ||
| "Təxminən" derives from Arabic and also means "approximately, about". | |||
| Kazakh | дерлік | ||
| The word "дерлік" can also mean "about" or "approximately". | |||
| Kyrgyz | дээрлик | ||
| Дээрлик has a literal meaning of 'like the top,' referring to the uppermost point of something or almost reaching the top. | |||
| Tajik | қариб | ||
| The word "қариб" in Tajik is derived from Arabic, where it also means proximity. | |||
| Turkmen | diýen ýaly | ||
| Uzbek | deyarli | ||
| In addition to its common meaning of "almost," "deyarli" can also mean "really" or "very much" in Uzbek slang. | |||
| Uyghur | ئاساسەن دېگۈدەك | ||
Almost in Pacific Languages
| Hawaiian | ʻaneʻane | ||
| ʻAneʻane is cognate with other Polynesian words meaning "to touch," "nearly," or "almost." | |||
| Maori | tata | ||
| Maori word 'tata' also means 'to touch' or 'to reach out'. | |||
| Samoan | toeitiiti | ||
| Toeitiiti can also mean "nearly". It derives from toe, meaning near or almost, and ititi, which is small, short or little. | |||
| Tagalog (Filipino) | halos | ||
| "Halos" can also mean "nearly" in Tagalog. | |||
Almost in American Indigenous Languages
| Aymara | niya | ||
| Guarani | haimete | ||
Almost in International Languages
| Esperanto | preskaŭ | ||
| The Esperanto word "preskaŭ" derives from the Slavic word "preko" meaning "across" or "over" and originally meant "very, much, completely". | |||
| Latin | fere | ||
| Fere derives from an Indo-European root meaning "to travel," thus signifying "almost" due to its implied association with "going a short distance." | |||
Almost in Others Languages
| Greek | σχεδόν | ||
| σχεδόν, in modern Greek, means “nearly” or “approximately,” and derives from the Ancient Greek σχεδόν which meant “off-hand,” “out of the cuff,” or “improvised” | |||
| Hmong | yuav luag | ||
| The Hmong word "yuav luag" means "almost" or "nearly," and is often used to describe a state of almost reaching or achieving something. | |||
| Kurdish | hema hema | ||
| The term 'hema hema', meaning 'almost,' has roots in ancient Persian, where 'hama' signifies a collective or entirety. | |||
| Turkish | neredeyse | ||
| "Neredeyse" sözcüğü "yer nerede" ifadesinden türemiştir ve "neredeyse orada" anlamına gelir. | |||
| Xhosa | phantse | ||
| The word "phantse" can also mean "nearly" or "about to" in Xhosa. | |||
| Yiddish | כּמעט | ||
| כּמעט sometimes also means 'approximately, maybe, about' | |||
| Zulu | cishe | ||
| The word "cishe" (almost) is a diminutive of the word "cisho" (near). | |||
| Assamese | প্ৰায় | ||
| Aymara | niya | ||
| Bhojpuri | लगभग | ||
| Dhivehi | ކިރިޔާ | ||
| Dogri | लगभग | ||
| Filipino (Tagalog) | halos | ||
| Guarani | haimete | ||
| Ilocano | nganngani | ||
| Krio | lɛk | ||
| Kurdish (Sorani) | زۆرینە | ||
| Maithili | प्रायः | ||
| Meiteilon (Manipuri) | ꯈꯖꯤꯛꯇꯪ ꯋꯥꯠꯄ | ||
| Mizo | teuh | ||
| Oromo | xiqqoo hanqata | ||
| Odia (Oriya) | ପ୍ରାୟ | ||
| Quechua | yaqa | ||
| Sanskrit | प्रायशः | ||
| Tatar | диярлек | ||
| Tigrinya | ዳርጋ | ||
| Tsonga | kwalomu | ||