Anybody in Different Languages
Discover 'Anybody' in 134 Languages: Dive into Translations, Hear Pronunciations, and Uncover Cultural Insights.
Updated on March 6, 2024
The word 'anybody' is a common English term used to refer to an unspecified person or people. It carries a sense of inclusivity, encompassing any individual who might be relevant to a given situation. This word has great cultural importance, as it reflects the value we place on the individual in Western societies. It's no surprise, then, that many languages have their own equivalent term.
Moreover, understanding the translation of 'anybody' in different languages can provide valuable insights into the cultures that use them. For instance, in Spanish, 'alguien' is the word of choice, while in French, 'quelqu'un' is used. These translations not only convey the same meaning as 'anybody', but also offer a glimpse into the unique linguistic and cultural traditions of the Spanish and French-speaking worlds.
With this in mind, let's explore some of the many translations of 'anybody' in languages from around the globe.
Anybody
Anybody in Sub-Saharan African Languages
| Afrikaans | enigiemand | ||
| The Afrikaans word 'enigiemand' is a calque loan of 'anyone', which is derived from Old English 'ānīgmān'. Its literal meaning thus is 'one-who (is) like' or 'one-of-the-same-kind' | |||
| Amharic | ማንም | ||
| "ማንም" can also be translated to "no one" when used in a negative sense. | |||
| Hausa | kowa | ||
| "Kowa" in Hausa can also mean "everyone" or "all." | |||
| Igbo | onye obula | ||
| "Onye obula" comes from "onye" (person) and "o bula" (can find), so it literally means "a person that can be found". | |||
| Malagasy | na iza na iza | ||
| "Na iza na iza" may also mean "everyone" or "each other" depending on the context. | |||
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | aliyense | ||
| The word "aliyense" can be used to express indifference or disregard for someone, as in "aliyense afuna kumva" (anybody can understand). | |||
| Shona | chero munhu | ||
| The word "chero munhu" can also mean "every person" or "everyone" in the Shona language. | |||
| Somali | qofna | ||
| The word "qofna" in Somali can also mean "person" or "human being". | |||
| Sesotho | mang kapa mang | ||
| "Mang kapa mang" originates from the phrase "mangangapa mangangapa", which means "to grope or search blindly". | |||
| Swahili | mtu yeyote | ||
| "Mtu yeyote" literally means "any person" in Swahili. | |||
| Xhosa | nabani na | ||
| "Nabani na?" is derived from the Nguni phrase "ubani na," meaning "who then?" | |||
| Yoruba | enikeni | ||
| Eni-eni, 'eni' meaning 'person' and 'eni' meaning 'one', so 'a single person', 'individual' and so 'anybody'. | |||
| Zulu | noma ngubani | ||
| The Zulu word "noma ngubani" can also mean "whoever" or "anyone" | |||
| Bambara | mɔgɔ o mɔgɔ | ||
| Ewe | ame sia ame | ||
| Kinyarwanda | umuntu uwo ari we wese | ||
| Lingala | moto nyonso | ||
| Luganda | omuntu yenna | ||
| Sepedi | mang le mang | ||
| Twi (Akan) | obiara | ||
Anybody in North African & Middle Eastern Languages
| Arabic | اي شخص | ||
| In Arabic, the word "اي شخص" also refers to a "certain person" or an "anonymous individual". | |||
| Hebrew | מִישֶׁהוּ | ||
| The Hebrew word "מִישֶׁהוּ" is derived from the Aramaic "מַן שֵׁם הוּא" meaning "what is his/her name?" | |||
| Pashto | هر یو | ||
| The word "هر یو" means "anybody" in Pashto and is a combination of the words "هر" (any) and " یو" (person). | |||
| Arabic | اي شخص | ||
| In Arabic, the word "اي شخص" also refers to a "certain person" or an "anonymous individual". | |||
Anybody in Western European Languages
| Albanian | kushdo | ||
| "Kushdo" is a contraction of the Albanian phrase "cil kush do," meaning "whoever it may be." | |||
| Basque | edonor | ||
| The word "edonor" also means "the whole of it, all of it". | |||
| Catalan | ningú | ||
| The word "ningú" in Catalan, meaning "nobody," originates from the Latin "nec unus," meaning "not one." | |||
| Croatian | itko | ||
| Croatian "itko" (anybody) derives from "it" (that) and "tko" (who), similar to Latin "aliquis" (somebody). | |||
| Danish | nogen | ||
| The Danish word "nogen" can also be used to refer to "some" or "several". | |||
| Dutch | iemand | ||
| The word "iemand" is a contraction of the archaic phrase "hiet yemand," meaning "they call someone." | |||
| English | anybody | ||
| The word "anybody" originally also meant "a person's body." | |||
| French | n'importe qui | ||
| The French phrase "n'importe qui" literally translates to "not import who". | |||
| Frisian | ien | ||
| The Frisian word "ien" is a variant of "ein" (one) and its plural form "ienen" means "some(body)". | |||
| Galician | ninguén | ||
| Ninguén, in Galician, is cognate with the Latin "nemo" and the Spanish "nadie" and literally means "no one". | |||
| German | irgendjemand | ||
| The word "irgendjemand" is composed of "irgend" (any) and "jemand" (someone), hence "anybody". | |||
| Icelandic | einhver | ||
| In old Icelandic, "einhver" only meant "someone", not "anyone". "Anybody" was "hverr". In modern Icelandic, "einhver" has taken on the meaning of "anyone" as well, while "hverr" has come to mean "each one". | |||
| Irish | éinne | ||
| The Irish word 'éinne' shares the same root as the Welsh word 'un', meaning 'one', and originally meant 'a certain person'. | |||
| Italian | qualcuno | ||
| The Italian word "qualcuno" literally translates to "some one" | |||
| Luxembourgish | iergendeen | ||
| The word "iergendeen" is cognate to German "irgendjemand" and Old English "ærgæn ða". | |||
| Maltese | xi ħadd | ||
| "Xi Hadd" in Maltese, like in Arabic, can also refer to "someone" or "a certain someone." | |||
| Norwegian | enhver | ||
| The word "enhver" is a compound of "en" (one) and "hver" (every), and can also mean "each". | |||
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | qualquer pessoa | ||
| The word "qualquer pessoa" (literally "any person") is used in both Portuguese dialects to refer to a non-specific person, but only in Portugal it also means "everyone". | |||
| Scots Gaelic | duine sam bith | ||
| The term "duine sam bith" literally translates to "person of all life". | |||
| Spanish | cualquiera | ||
| The Spanish word "cualquiera" originally meant "any of the two" and is derived from the Latin phrase "qualis quera," meaning "of what kind (of the two)" | |||
| Swedish | vem som helst | ||
| Vem som helst originated as a legal term referring to any person mentioned in a contract or document, regardless of their specific identity or presence. | |||
| Welsh | unrhyw un | ||
| The term 'unrhyw un' originally meant 'a person of no account' before becoming a word for 'anybody'. | |||
Anybody in Eastern European Languages
| Belarusian | хто-небудзь | ||
| The word "хто-небудзь" comes from the Proto-Slavic word "kto-negъdь", meaning "someone" or "whoever". | |||
| Bosnian | bilo ko | ||
| In Croatian, "bilo ko" can also mean "the first person who" or "whoever." | |||
| Bulgarian | някой | ||
| The word "някой" can also mean "someone" or "a person". | |||
| Czech | někdo | ||
| The word "někdo" is derived from the Old Church Slavonic word "нѣкто" (někto), meaning "someone" or "no one". | |||
| Estonian | keegi | ||
| The origin of the word 'keegi' is unknown and has no cognates in the Uralic language family or even the entire Finno-Ugrian languages | |||
| Finnish | ketään | ||
| "Ketään" is a contraction of "kenenkään" (genitive of "kukaan", meaning 'no one') and "kään" (meaning 'either'), so it literally means 'not anyone' or 'no one either'. | |||
| Hungarian | bárki | ||
| The word "bárki" originally meant "whoever" and comes from the Ancient Turkic stem *bary- meaning "all". | |||
| Latvian | kāds | ||
| The word “kāds” originally meant “certain” (a specific person); the current meaning developed in the 16th century. | |||
| Lithuanian | kas nors | ||
| In the Samogitian dialect of Lithuanian, "kas nors" can also mean "someone you know." | |||
| Macedonian | никого | ||
| The word "никого" in Macedonian originates from the Slavic root "ni", meaning "not", and "kogo", meaning "who", forming the negation "not anybody". | |||
| Polish | ktoś | ||
| "Ktoś" is an indefinite pronoun in Polish that can be translated to "unknown person," "someone," or "anybody." | |||
| Romanian | cineva | ||
| The word "cineva" is derived from the Latin phrase "si quis", meaning "if anyone" or "whether anyone". | |||
| Russian | кто-нибудь | ||
| The word "кто-нибудь" comes from two words: "кто" (who) and "нибудь" (someone), and it can also mean "someone" or "a person" in Russian. | |||
| Serbian | било ко | ||
| The Serbian word "било ко" is derived from the Proto-Slavic word "byti", meaning "to be". | |||
| Slovak | ktokoľvek | ||
| "Ktokoľvek" can also mean "anonymous" or "no one" in Slovak. | |||
| Slovenian | kdorkoli | ||
| Kdorkoli is a compound of 'kdor' (whoever) and 'koli' (any). | |||
| Ukrainian | будь-хто | ||
| The Ukrainian noun “будь-хто” means “anyone or anybody,” literally means “be whoever,” with “будь” meaning “be” and “хто” meaning “who.” | |||
Anybody in South Asian Languages
| Bengali | যে কেউ | ||
| "যে কেউ" can also mean "any part, or direction". | |||
| Gujarati | કોઈપણ | ||
| The Gujarati word "કોઈપણ" (koipan) is derived from the Sanskrit word "kapi" meaning "monkey" and "anya" meaning "other", suggesting the idea of "any other person or thing". | |||
| Hindi | कोई | ||
| In Sanskrit, "कोई" also refers to the "essence" or "principle" underlying something. | |||
| Kannada | ಯಾರಾದರೂ | ||
| The word 'ಯಾರಾದರೂ' literally means 'whose body' in Kannada. | |||
| Malayalam | ആരെങ്കിലും | ||
| Marathi | कुणीही | ||
| The word "कुणीही" in Marathi is derived from the Sanskrit word "कोऽपि", meaning "any one of the many". | |||
| Nepali | कोही पनि | ||
| The Nepali word कोही पनि ('anybody') can also mean 'anyone' or 'whoever'. | |||
| Punjabi | ਕੋਈ ਵੀ | ||
| The Punjabi word “koi vee” is derived from the Sanskrit word “kah-ve”, which means “what”. The Punjabi word can also mean “nobody”. | |||
| Sinhala (Sinhalese) | ඕනෑම කෙනෙක් | ||
| Tamil | யாராவது | ||
| In Tamil, 'யாராவது' can also mean 'some people' or 'a group of people'. | |||
| Telugu | ఎవరైనా | ||
| The word "ఎవరైనా" is a combination of the words "ఎవరు" (who) and "అయినా" (any), and can also be used to refer to a person's identity or a person's existence. | |||
| Urdu | کوئی | ||
| 'کوئی' is derived from Sanskrit 'कश्चित्' (kaschit), which means 'one of many' or 'some'. It can also mean 'somehow' or 'in some way'. | |||
Anybody in East Asian Languages
| Chinese (Simplified) | 任何人 | ||
| 任何人 (Pinyin: rènhéren) literally means "any man" and does not include women | |||
| Chinese (Traditional) | 任何人 | ||
| 任何人 originates from the phrase '任何人等' (anyone etc.), suggesting it means 'anybody and everyone'. | |||
| Japanese | 誰でも | ||
| The word "誰でも" comes from the ancient Japanese words for "person" (だれ) and "all" (でも). | |||
| Korean | 아무도 | ||
| 아무도 is thought to have originated from the Middle Korean word 아무이, meaning “nothing or nothing else.” | |||
| Mongolian | хэн ч байсан | ||
| The Mongolian word 'хэн ч байсан' is a phrase meaning 'anybody' in English and is often used with a negative connotation to indicate that the speaker believes the person referred to has little or no importance. | |||
| Myanmar (Burmese) | ဘယ်သူမဆို | ||
Anybody in South East Asian Languages
| Indonesian | siapa saja | ||
| The term 'siapa saja' in Indonesian is derived from the word 'siapa', which means 'who', and the word 'saja', which has multiple meanings including 'only' or 'just' | |||
| Javanese | sopo wae | ||
| The Javanese word "sopo wae" is also used to refer to someone whose name is unknown or has been forgotten. | |||
| Khmer | នរណាម្នាក់ | ||
| "នរណាម្នាក់" has Sanskrit origins and is cognate with the Thai word "ใคร" (who). In archaic Khmer, the word also meant "the soul of a deceased person". | |||
| Lao | ຜູ້ໃດກໍ່ຕາມ | ||
| Malay | sesiapa sahaja | ||
| The word "sesiapa sahaja" in Malay can also be used to refer to "everyone" or "any person". | |||
| Thai | ใครก็ได้ | ||
| The word "ใครก็ได้" (krai-kor-dai) is a compound of the words "ใคร" (krai, who) and "ก็ได้" (kor-dai, can). | |||
| Vietnamese | bất kỳ ai | ||
| The Vietnamese word "bất kỳ ai" literally means "not any who," or "anyone who is not," which implies that the subject of the sentence is not specified or does not matter. | |||
| Filipino (Tagalog) | kahit sino | ||
Anybody in Central Asian Languages
| Azerbaijani | hər kəs | ||
| "Hər kəs" originates from Persian word "har kas", meaning "each person" or "each individual". | |||
| Kazakh | кез келген | ||
| The word "кез келген" in Kazakh can also mean "everyone" or "whomever." | |||
| Kyrgyz | эч ким | ||
| "Эч ким" means "nobody" in Kyrgyz. | |||
| Tajik | касе | ||
| The word "касе" can also mean "person" or "individual" in Tajik. | |||
| Turkmen | her kim | ||
| Uzbek | hech kim | ||
| In colloquial speech, "hech kim" can also be used to refer to a specific person whose name the speaker doesn't know or doesn't want to reveal. | |||
| Uyghur | ھەر قانداق ئادەم | ||
Anybody in Pacific Languages
| Hawaiian | kekahi | ||
| The word "kekahi" can also refer to "sometimes" or "once" in Hawaiian. | |||
| Maori | tangata katoa | ||
| "Tangata katoa" literally translates to "all people" and can also refer to humanity as a whole. | |||
| Samoan | soʻo seisi | ||
| Soʻo seisi, the Samoan word for "anybody," can also refer to a particular or specific person or thing. | |||
| Tagalog (Filipino) | kahit sino | ||
| The Tagalog word "kahit sino" is derived from the root word "sino," meaning "who," and the affix "ka-" or "kahit-" which in this context conveys an idea of indefiniteness, uncertainty, or any person. | |||
Anybody in American Indigenous Languages
| Aymara | khitis | ||
| Guarani | oimeraẽva | ||
Anybody in International Languages
| Esperanto | iu ajn | ||
| Esperanto iu ajn derives from the phrase "any one," an old English idiom meaning "anybody." | |||
| Latin | aliorum | ||
| Aliorum also means "of others" and is the plural form of "alter," meaning "the other." | |||
Anybody in Others Languages
| Greek | οποιοσδήποτε | ||
| The word "οποιοσδήποτε" is derived from the Greek words "οποιος" ( οποιοσ = "of any kind") and "δηποτε" ( δηποτε = "at any time"), and can also mean "of any kind" or "at any time", in addition to "anybody". | |||
| Hmong | tus twg los tus | ||
| The term "tus twg los tus" in Hmong can refer to "all of you" or "anybody," depending on the context. | |||
| Kurdish | herçi kes | ||
| The Kurdish word "herçi kes" likely derives from the Persian "har kas", meaning "each person" or "everybody". | |||
| Turkish | kimse | ||
| The word "kimse" is derived from the Persian words "kim" (who) and "kes" (person), and it can also mean "nobody" in Turkish. | |||
| Xhosa | nabani na | ||
| "Nabani na?" is derived from the Nguni phrase "ubani na," meaning "who then?" | |||
| Yiddish | אַבי ווער | ||
| The word "אַבי ווער" is thought to have come from a German phrase meaning "anyone who". | |||
| Zulu | noma ngubani | ||
| The Zulu word "noma ngubani" can also mean "whoever" or "anyone" | |||
| Assamese | যিকোনো ব্যক্তি | ||
| Aymara | khitis | ||
| Bhojpuri | केहू के भी | ||
| Dhivehi | ކޮންމެ މީހަކުވެސް | ||
| Dogri | कोई भी | ||
| Filipino (Tagalog) | kahit sino | ||
| Guarani | oimeraẽva | ||
| Ilocano | siasinoman | ||
| Krio | ɛnibɔdi | ||
| Kurdish (Sorani) | هەرکەسێک | ||
| Maithili | कियो | ||
| Meiteilon (Manipuri) | ꯀꯅꯥꯒꯨꯝꯕꯥ ꯑꯃꯠꯇꯗꯥ꯫ | ||
| Mizo | tu pawh | ||
| Oromo | nama kamiyyuu | ||
| Odia (Oriya) | ଯେକେହି | ||
| Quechua | pipas | ||
| Sanskrit | anybody | ||
| Tatar | теләсә кем | ||
| Tigrinya | ዝኾነ ሰብ | ||
| Tsonga | un’wana na un’wana | ||