Bean in Different Languages
Discover 'Bean' in 134 Languages: Dive into Translations, Hear Pronunciations, and Uncover Cultural Insights.
Bean
Afrikaans boontjie | ||
Albanian fasule | ||
Amharic ባቄላ | ||
Arabic فاصوليا | ||
Armenian լոբի | ||
Assamese বীন | ||
Aymara jawasa | ||
Azerbaijani lobya | ||
Bambara shɛfan | ||
Basque babarruna | ||
Belarusian фасоля | ||
Bengali শিম | ||
Bhojpuri बीन के बा | ||
Bosnian grah | ||
Bulgarian боб | ||
Catalan mongeta | ||
Cebuano bean | ||
Chinese (Simplified) 豆 | ||
Chinese (Traditional) 豆 | ||
Corsican fasgiolu | ||
Croatian grah | ||
Czech fazole | ||
Danish bønne | ||
Dhivehi ބިސް | ||
Dogri बीन | ||
Dutch boon | ||
English bean | ||
Esperanto fabo | ||
Estonian uba | ||
Ewe bean | ||
Filipino (Tagalog) bean | ||
Finnish papu | ||
French haricot | ||
Frisian bean | ||
Galician feixón | ||
Georgian ლობიო | ||
German bohne | ||
Greek φασόλι | ||
Guarani habas rehegua | ||
Gujarati બીન | ||
Haitian Creole pwa | ||
Hausa wake | ||
Hawaiian pīni | ||
Hebrew אפונה | ||
Hindi सेम | ||
Hmong taum | ||
Hungarian bab | ||
Icelandic baun | ||
Igbo agwa | ||
Ilocano bean | ||
Indonesian kacang | ||
Irish pónaire | ||
Italian fagiolo | ||
Japanese 豆 | ||
Javanese kacang buncis | ||
Kannada ಹುರುಳಿ | ||
Kazakh бұршақ | ||
Khmer សណ្តែក | ||
Kinyarwanda ibishyimbo | ||
Konkani बीन हें झाड | ||
Korean 콩 | ||
Krio bin | ||
Kurdish fasûlî | ||
Kurdish (Sorani) فاسۆلیا | ||
Kyrgyz буурчак | ||
Lao ຖົ່ວ | ||
Latin faba | ||
Latvian pupa | ||
Lingala nzungu ya nzungu | ||
Lithuanian pupelė | ||
Luganda ekinyeebwa | ||
Luxembourgish boun | ||
Macedonian грав | ||
Maithili बीन | ||
Malagasy tsaramaso | ||
Malay kacang | ||
Malayalam കാപ്പിക്കുരു | ||
Maltese fażola | ||
Maori pīni | ||
Marathi बीन | ||
Meiteilon (Manipuri) ꯕꯤꯟ꯫ | ||
Mizo bean a ni | ||
Mongolian буурцаг | ||
Myanmar (Burmese) ပဲမျိုးစုံ | ||
Nepali सिमी | ||
Norwegian bønne | ||
Nyanja (Chichewa) nyemba | ||
Odia (Oriya) ବିନ୍ | ||
Oromo baaqelaa | ||
Pashto لوبیا | ||
Persian لوبیا | ||
Polish fasola | ||
Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) feijão | ||
Punjabi ਬੀਨ | ||
Quechua habas | ||
Romanian fasole | ||
Russian фасоль | ||
Samoan pi | ||
Sanskrit ताम्बूलम् | ||
Scots Gaelic bean | ||
Sepedi nawa ya | ||
Serbian пасуљ | ||
Sesotho linaoa | ||
Shona bhinzi | ||
Sindhi بيڪ | ||
Sinhala (Sinhalese) බෝංචි | ||
Slovak fazuľa | ||
Slovenian fižol | ||
Somali digir | ||
Spanish frijol | ||
Sundanese kacang | ||
Swahili maharagwe | ||
Swedish böna | ||
Tagalog (Filipino) bean | ||
Tajik лӯбиё | ||
Tamil பீன் | ||
Tatar фасоль | ||
Telugu బీన్ | ||
Thai ถั่ว | ||
Tigrinya ፋጁል | ||
Tsonga bean | ||
Turkish fasulye | ||
Turkmen noýba | ||
Twi (Akan) bean | ||
Ukrainian квасоля | ||
Urdu بین | ||
Uyghur پۇرچاق | ||
Uzbek loviya | ||
Vietnamese hạt đậu | ||
Welsh ffa | ||
Xhosa imbotyi | ||
Yiddish בעבל | ||
Yoruba ìrísí | ||
Zulu ubhontshisi |
Etymology & Notes
| Language | Etymology / Notes |
|---|---|
| Afrikaans | 'Boontjie' is possibly a corruption of 'bone' (bean) as it was originally pronounced in old English or Dutch |
| Albanian | "Fasule" is cognate with Italian "fagiuolo", French "haricot", and Spanish "fréjol". |
| Amharic | The Amharic word "ባቄላ" (baqela) is derived from the Geez word "baqillu," which in turn is likely derived from the ancient Egyptian word "bq.t," meaning "bean." |
| Arabic | The word "فاصوليا" is derived from the Greek word "φάσηλος", which means "kidney bean". |
| Armenian | "Լոբի" (bean) comes from the Proto-Indo-European "*lēp-", meaning "to peel or hull." |
| Azerbaijani | The word "lobya" shares its root with the word "lobio", meaning "green bean" in Georgian. |
| Basque | The Basque word "babarruna" may be rooted in the ancient word "babar" meaning "food" and the suffix "-una" indicating "abundance." |
| Belarusian | The word "фасоля" is related to the Greek word "φασόλι" (bean), as well as the Belarusian word "боб" (pod). |
| Bengali | The word 'শিম' may also refer to the string of a musical instrument or the edge of a piece of cloth. |
| Bosnian | The word "grah" in Bosnian can also mean "hail" or "a sudden attack". |
| Bulgarian | The word "боб" also refers to a Bulgarian folk dance. |
| Catalan | The word "mongeta" in Catalan derives from the Arabic word "múng" meaning "bean" and also referred to a type of small bean used for making a specific dish. |
| Cebuano | Bean in Cebuano can also mean 'to bewitch' or 'to cast a spell' |
| Chinese (Simplified) | "豆" (bean) is also used as a classifier for things like peas, lentils, and soybeans. |
| Chinese (Traditional) | The character for 'bean' (豆) can also refer to small objects like peas or millet and was a measure of weight for one grain in ancient China. |
| Corsican | The Corsican word “fasgiolu” comes from the Latin “phaseolus”, which refers to a variety of beans that were already known in ancient Rome. |
| Croatian | The word 'grah' can also refer to a variety of legumes and peas, including chickpeas, lentils, and fava beans. |
| Czech | Slovo "fazole" pochází z latinského "phaseolus" a původně znamenalo jen zahradní fazol obecný, teprve později získalo význam pro různé druhy bobů. |
| Danish | The Danish word "bønne" is derived from the Old Norse "baun", which also meant "bone". |
| Dutch | The Dutch word "boon" can also refer to a blessing or a favor bestowed upon someone. |
| Esperanto | The Esperanto word "fabo" can also mean "fable" or "myth". |
| Estonian | 'Uba' also refers to the seeds of some plants other than beans (e.g. peas). |
| Finnish | The word "papu" also refers to the fruit of the bean plant and the seed coat of the bean, and it is related to the word "papu" in Estonian and the word "bób" in Polish, all of which mean "bean." |
| French | "Haricot", coming from "harigot", was initially "ragout", then anything cut in pieces, such as "ragout". |
| Frisian | It is also used as a term of endearment in the diminutive form "beentsje". |
| Galician | The Galician word "feixón" originates from the Latin word "phaseolus", meaning "bean". |
| Georgian | The word "ლობიო" is used both for beans in general and specifically for a variety of green beans common in Georgia and Turkey. |
| German | The word "Bohne" is related to the Old Low German word "bona" and ultimately to the Latin word "fabam" (bean). |
| Greek | Φασόλι derives from the Medieval Latin word "faseolus", which is the origin of the English word "bean". In Medieval Greek it also meant "kidney" and was later applied to the bean due to its shape. |
| Gujarati | The Gujarati word "બીન" (bean) derives from the Sanskrit word "वीन" (vina), referring to a stringed instrument, and also has alternate meanings including "without" and "other". |
| Haitian Creole | The word "pwa" in Haitian Creole can also refer to a type of soup or stew made with beans. |
| Hausa | The Hausa word “wake” can also refer to a type of soup or stew made with beans. |
| Hawaiian | In Hawaiian, "pīni" can refer to the seed of a plant, a pearl, or a small bead. |
| Hebrew | The word "אפונה" is derived from the Greek word "αφρός", meaning "foam" or "scum", possibly referring to the plant's white flowers or seed pods. |
| Hindi | The Hindi word "सेम" can also refer to a type of long pod containing multiple seeds, or to the seeds themselves. |
| Hmong | Hmong “taum” (bean) is a borrowing from the Chinese “dòu” (bean), both words ultimately stemming from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *“br-ti.” |
| Hungarian | The Hungarian word "bab" also refers to a kind of flatbread, which is similar to the pita bread. |
| Icelandic | The Icelandic word 'baun' can also refer to the 'ball' of a foot or the 'sole' of a shoe. |
| Igbo | The Igbo word 'agwa' also means 'seed' or 'kernel'. |
| Indonesian | The Indonesian word "kacang" can refer to a wide variety of leguminous seeds, including peanuts, soybeans, and mung beans. |
| Irish | The word "pónaire" in Irish can also refer to a type of boat or a small island. |
| Italian | "Fagiolo" initially meant "string bean" and later also "common bean" |
| Japanese | "豆" can also mean "small" or "young" in Japanese. |
| Javanese | The word "kacang buncis" in Javanese is also used to refer to peanuts, but is distinguished by the additional word "bunder" when referring to green beans. |
| Kannada | ಹುರುಳಿ can also refer to a type of pulse or lentil, specifically to black gram or urad dal. |
| Kazakh | In Kazakh, 'бұршақ' also refers to the plant pea, which is considered a type of bean. |
| Khmer | សណ្តែក also refers to a kind of sweet treat that is made with sticky rice. |
| Korean | The word "콩" can also refer to a type of traditional Korean soy sauce called "chungjang" or "doenjang". |
| Kurdish | In Kurdish, “fasûlî” has also been used to refer to a type of lentil, specifically the brown variety known as “mercâ.” |
| Kyrgyz | The Kyrgyz word "буурчак" also refers to a type of bread made from bean flour. |
| Lao | The word ຖົ່ວ can also refer to the plant of the bean or the seeds of the bean |
| Latin | It is suggested that faba was also a term for voting beans, with the etymology related to the action of speaking. |
| Latvian | Latvian “pupa” (bean) refers to the shape of a particular bean species – kidney beans. |
| Lithuanian | The word "pupelė" is derived from the Proto-Indo-European root "*peu-", meaning "to swell". |
| Luxembourgish | The word "Boun" can also mean "beanstalk" or "vine" in Luxembourgish. |
| Macedonian | 'Грав' (bean) is also used as a slang term for 'money' or 'cash'. |
| Malagasy | The word "tsaramaso" is also used to refer to the kidney and is likely derived from the Proto-Austronesian root *tasum, meaning "seed". |
| Malay | The Malay word "kacang" can also refer to groundnuts, peas or other legumes. |
| Malayalam | The word "കാപ്പിക്കുരു" in Malayalam also refers to the person who delivers messages or does errands for a king or a wealthy person. |
| Maltese | Maltese fażola, fażulu 'bean,' from It. fagiolo 'bean,' via Sp. alubia or Fr. haricot (also from Sp.). |
| Maori | Pīni can also mean 'kidney' or the 'kidney/loin' of a person or animal. |
| Marathi | The Marathi word "बीन" (bean) may also refer to a musical instrument, or to a person who plays a musical instrument. |
| Mongolian | The word "буурцаг" is also used to refer to the shape of a crescent moon or the curve of a river. |
| Myanmar (Burmese) | "ပဲ" is also the name of a small bird that looks similar to a pigeon. |
| Nepali | The word "सिमी" in Nepali is derived from the Sanskrit word "सिम्ब" meaning "pod". It also refers to a specific type of bean known as the "cowpea". |
| Norwegian | Originally it referred to the broad bean but today all types of leguminous seed is called "bønner". |
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | The word "nyemba" in Nyanja (Chichewa) may also refer to a kind of tree or its fruit. |
| Pashto | The Pashto word "لوبیا" can also refer to a specific type of bean known as the "lubia bean" or "asparagus bean". |
| Persian | The word "لوبیا" "(bean)" in Persian may derive from the Greek word "λοβός" "(pod)". In the 19th Century, it also referred to "the green bean pods used for food" in northern Persian. |
| Polish | The word "fasola" is derived from the Greek "phaseolos", meaning "bean", and also refers to a type of bean commonly used in Polish cuisine. |
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | The word "feijão" comes from the Latin "phaseolus", meaning "bean" or "kidney bean". |
| Punjabi | The word "ਬੀਨ" (bean) is likely derived from the Sanskrit word "bîna" meaning "lute" or "musical instrument", possibly referring to the bean's shape resembling a musical instrument. |
| Romanian | The word "fasole" is probably of Slavic origin and is related to the word "faze" which means "kidney bean". |
| Russian | The word "фасоль" comes from the Greek word "φασίολος" (phasíolos), which means "kidney bean". |
| Samoan | "Pi" can also mean "to make a mistake" in Samoan, and is often used as an exclamation of surprise or disbelief. |
| Scots Gaelic | In Scots Gaelic, the word 'bean' can also refer to a woman or a fairy. |
| Serbian | The word "пасуљ" is derived from the Proto-Slavic word *pasuljь, which is cognate with the Albanian word fasule and the Greek word φασόλι. |
| Sesotho | In Sesotho, "linaoa" is a homonym for "beans" and "beautiful one", showcasing the language's rich vocabulary and cultural connections. |
| Shona | The word "bhinzi" in Shona also refers to a type of small, round pumpkin. |
| Sindhi | The word "بيڪ" also means "seed" in Sindhi. |
| Sinhala (Sinhalese) | The word "බෝංචි" (bean) is derived from the Sanskrit word "वंक" (curved), referring to the curved shape of beans. |
| Slovak | The word “fazuľa” in Slovak is also used to refer to “beans” and “pulses”. Therefore, it can be used to refer to all types of beans, including kidney beans, chickpeas, lentils, and soybeans. |
| Slovenian | The name "fižol" is originally Germanic in origin, likely from an ancient form "*pisa" "pea" in Proto-Germanic, akin to the English name "pea". |
| Somali | The word 'digir' also refers to a species of bean locally known as 'digirta madow' or 'black bean'. |
| Spanish | The word "frijol" derives from the Nahuatl word "etli", meaning "flesh". |
| Sundanese | The Sundanese word "kacang" also refers to a type of small, round seed commonly used in traditional Sundanese dishes and snacks. |
| Swahili | It is derived from Proto-Bantu *malaγwe, from Proto-Niger-Congo *maláŋwà, from the root *mal- 'rub, grind, crush' |
| Swedish | Böna is also the Swedish word for "prayer". |
| Tagalog (Filipino) | The word "bean" in Tagalog (Filipino) may also refer to the seeds of other plants, such as peas or peanuts, or to the fruit of the tamarind tree. |
| Tajik | In Tajik, "лӯбиё" (bean) has the alternate meaning of "unfertile" or "barren" when used to describe women. |
| Tamil | In Tamil, the word "பீன்" is derived from the Portuguese word "feijão", which itself originated from the Latin word "phaseolus" meaning "bean". Interestingly, the term "பீன்" can also refer to a "wart" or "mole" in the colloquial Tamil lexicon. |
| Telugu | The word "బీన్" (bean) in Telugu also refers to a kind of musical instrument, similar to the sitar. |
| Thai | "ถั่ว" may also refer to the peanut (ถั่วลิสง). |
| Turkish | "Fasulye" can also refer to the stringed instrument known as a "beanstalk". |
| Ukrainian | The word "квасоля" originates from the Proto-Slavic word "*kvassol'a", which means "sour cabbage juice" or "pickled cabbage". |
| Urdu | The word 'bean' is also used figuratively in Urdu to refer to something small and insignificant, or to something that is unimportant or worthless. |
| Uzbek | The Uzbek word "loviya" is thought to be derived from the Persian word "lubia" via Arabic, and is cognate with the Spanish word "alubia" and the Portuguese word "feijão". |
| Vietnamese | "Hạt đậu" also means a unit of area in rural Vietnam |
| Welsh | In Welsh, "ffa" can also refer to the number 20. |
| Xhosa | I'mboti can also refer to the round and hard seed of the umhlaba (Voacanga africana). |
| Yiddish | In Yiddish slang, 'בעבל' can also mean a young and inexperienced person. |
| Yoruba | ìrísí also means `to be similar` or `to resemble`. |
| Zulu | The word "ubhontshisi" can also refer to a type of game played with beans. |
| English | The word "bean" originates from the Middle English word "bene," derived from the Old English word "bean," which referred to various legumes, including beans, peas, and lentils. |