Being in Different Languages
Discover 'Being' in 134 Languages: Dive into Translations, Hear Pronunciations, and Uncover Cultural Insights.
Being
Afrikaans wees | ||
Albanian qenie | ||
Amharic መሆን | ||
Arabic يجرى | ||
Armenian լինելը | ||
Assamese being | ||
Aymara ukhamaña | ||
Azerbaijani olmaq | ||
Bambara ni fɛn | ||
Basque izatea | ||
Belarusian быццё | ||
Bengali হচ্ছে | ||
Bhojpuri होखल | ||
Bosnian biti | ||
Bulgarian битие | ||
Catalan estar | ||
Cebuano pagkatawo | ||
Chinese (Simplified) 存在 | ||
Chinese (Traditional) 存在 | ||
Corsican esse | ||
Croatian biće | ||
Czech bytost | ||
Danish være | ||
Dhivehi ވުން | ||
Dogri होआ करदा | ||
Dutch wezen | ||
English being | ||
Esperanto estanta | ||
Estonian olemine | ||
Ewe nu gbagbe | ||
Filipino (Tagalog) pagiging | ||
Finnish oleminen | ||
French étant | ||
Frisian wêzen | ||
Galician estar | ||
Georgian ყოფნა | ||
German sein | ||
Greek να εισαι | ||
Guarani upévo | ||
Gujarati હોવા | ||
Haitian Creole ke yo te | ||
Hausa kasancewa | ||
Hawaiian ka noho ʻana | ||
Hebrew להיות | ||
Hindi किया जा रहा है | ||
Hmong ua | ||
Hungarian lény | ||
Icelandic vera | ||
Igbo ịbụ | ||
Ilocano addaan ti | ||
Indonesian makhluk | ||
Irish bheith | ||
Italian essere | ||
Japanese であること | ||
Javanese dadi | ||
Kannada ಅಸ್ತಿತ್ವ | ||
Kazakh болу | ||
Khmer ត្រូវបាន | ||
Kinyarwanda kuba | ||
Konkani मनीस | ||
Korean 존재 | ||
Krio fɔ bi | ||
Kurdish bûn | ||
Kurdish (Sorani) بوون | ||
Kyrgyz болуу | ||
Lao ເປັນ | ||
Latin quod | ||
Latvian būtne | ||
Lingala kozala | ||
Lithuanian esamas | ||
Luganda okubeera | ||
Luxembourgish sinn | ||
Macedonian битие | ||
Maithili प्राणी | ||
Malagasy ny hoe | ||
Malay menjadi | ||
Malayalam ഉള്ളത് | ||
Maltese qed | ||
Maori he tangata | ||
Marathi अस्तित्व | ||
Meiteilon (Manipuri) ꯑꯣꯏꯕ | ||
Mizo ni | ||
Mongolian байх | ||
Myanmar (Burmese) ဖြစ်ခြင်း | ||
Nepali हुनु | ||
Norwegian å være | ||
Nyanja (Chichewa) kukhala | ||
Odia (Oriya) ହେବା | ||
Oromo ta'uu | ||
Pashto شتون | ||
Persian بودن | ||
Polish istota | ||
Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) ser | ||
Punjabi ਹੋਣ | ||
Quechua ser | ||
Romanian fiind | ||
Russian будучи | ||
Samoan tagata | ||
Sanskrit स्थितवत् | ||
Scots Gaelic bhith | ||
Sepedi sebopiwa | ||
Serbian бити | ||
Sesotho ho ba | ||
Shona kuva | ||
Sindhi ٿي رهيو آهي | ||
Sinhala (Sinhalese) පැවැත්ම | ||
Slovak bytie | ||
Slovenian biti | ||
Somali ahaansho | ||
Spanish siendo | ||
Sundanese mahluk | ||
Swahili kuwa | ||
Swedish varelse | ||
Tagalog (Filipino) pagiging | ||
Tajik будан | ||
Tamil இருப்பது | ||
Tatar булу | ||
Telugu ఉండటం | ||
Thai การเป็น | ||
Tigrinya ፍጥረት | ||
Tsonga kuva | ||
Turkish olmak | ||
Turkmen bolmak | ||
Twi (Akan) reyɛ | ||
Ukrainian буття | ||
Urdu ہونے کی وجہ سے | ||
Uyghur being | ||
Uzbek bo'lish | ||
Vietnamese hiện hữu | ||
Welsh bod | ||
Xhosa ukuba | ||
Yiddish זייַענדיק | ||
Yoruba jije | ||
Zulu ukuba |
Etymology & Notes
| Language | Etymology / Notes |
|---|---|
| Afrikaans | The word "wees" in Afrikaans is derived from the Dutch word "wezen", meaning "to be" or "to exist". |
| Albanian | The word "qenie" is also used in Albanian to refer to existence or essence. |
| Amharic | The Amharic word "መሆን" (also spelled "ymhnon") means "being" or "to be" and also carries the connotation of "essence" or "nature" in certain contexts. |
| Arabic | The Arabic word "يجرى" can refer to a state of existence, as well as the action of running or flowing. |
| Armenian | The Armenian word “լինելը” (“being”) is derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *bʰuH-, meaning “to grow, to become”. |
| Azerbaijani | The word "olmaq" in Azerbaijani also denotes existence, occurrence, or presence. |
| Basque | The term “izatea” is the philosophical equivalent of the Greek “ousia” or the Latin “essentia”, i.e. the ultimate nature of entities. |
| Belarusian | The word "быццё" in Belarusian is derived from the verb "быць" (to be), and can also refer to existence, essence, or nature. |
| Bengali | হচ্ছে is derived from the Sanskrit verb 'bhavati' meaning 'to become' or 'to exist'. |
| Bosnian | The word "biti" also means "existence" and "life" in Bosnian. |
| Bulgarian | The word "битие" can also refer to the state of existing or the process of becoming, and is related to the Sanskrit word "bhav" meaning "to become". |
| Catalan | The Catalan word "estar" derives from the Latin "stare", meaning "to stand", and can also signify physical or emotional states. |
| Cebuano | The Cebuano word "pagkatawo" shares its root with both "katawan" (body) and "tawo" (person), suggesting a holistic concept of being that encompasses both physical and immaterial aspects. |
| Chinese (Simplified) | 存在 (“being”) is also used as an attributive verb (ex. 存在的意义 “meaning of existence”) or a postposition to indicate the existence of something (ex. 桌子上存在一本书 “there is a book on the table”). |
| Chinese (Traditional) | The word "存在" can also mean "existing" or "existence". |
| Corsican | "Essere" is the first-person singular of the verb "to be" in Italian, and also is used as a noun to mean "existence" in Corsican. |
| Croatian | The Croatian word »biće« is related to the Serbian word »biće«, the Czech word »být«, the Polish word »być«, the Russian word »быть« and the Lithuanian word »būti«. |
| Czech | The word 'byt' has dual meanings: 'being' and 'apartment'. |
| Danish | The Danish word "være" is cognate with the English word "ware" and can also mean "goods" or "merchandise". |
| Dutch | The Dutch word 'wezen' can mean 'substance', 'essence' and is related to the English word 'wise'. |
| Esperanto | The Esperanto word "estanta" is also used in Esperanto poetry to mean "the one who is" or "the one who exists." |
| Estonian | The word "olemine" can also refer to a state of existence or the essence of something. |
| Finnish | The word 'oleminen' also implies 'existence' or 'essence'. |
| French | The French word "étant" comes from the Latin word "ens", which means "thing" or "essence". |
| Frisian | The Frisian word "wêzen" relates to the Old English "wesan" and Old Norse "vera", which also mean "to be". |
| Galician | Galician “estar” derives from Latin stare “to stand”, while Portuguese and Spanish estar “to be” derives from Latin esse “to be”. |
| Georgian | The word ყოფნა "qopna" is derived from the Proto-Kartvelian root "*qopi-/*qopi" meaning "existence, being". |
| German | In medieval German, "Sein" also meant "appearance" or "presence", a meaning still retained in the adjective "scheinbar" (apparent). |
| Greek | The Greek word "να εισαι" can also mean "to be born" or "to live." |
| Gujarati | "હોવા" can mean 'owning' or 'possessing' too, not just the state or fact of existing. |
| Haitian Creole | (1) From French "que vous êtes" and (2) from the French word "quoi qu'il en soit" |
| Hausa | Kasancewa in Hausa derives from the Arabic word "ka'ina" meaning "existing". |
| Hawaiian | "E noho ana ma ka mea" (to dwell in something) is a common expression in Hawaiian. |
| Hebrew | The Hebrew word for "being" is "להיות" which also means "to become" or "to happen". |
| Hindi | The Hindi word "होना" (being) can also mean "to become" or "to happen." |
| Hmong | The word "ua" in Hmong can also mean "to become" or "to exist." |
| Hungarian | The word "lény" is derived from the Proto-Ugric word "*elen", which also means "man" or "human being". |
| Icelandic | As well as meaning "being" (the act of existing), "vera" can also mean "pain", "sorrow" or "injury" in Icelandic. |
| Igbo | The word ịbụ (being) derives from the root verb 'bụ' (to be or exist), and can also refer to essence, nature, or character. |
| Indonesian | The word "makhluk" in Indonesian is derived from the Arabic word "khalq," meaning "creation" or "creature." |
| Irish | The word "bheith" can also mean "existence" or "presence" in Irish. |
| Italian | In Italian, “essere” also means “to exist,” “to be present,” and “to happen.” |
| Japanese | The word "であること" can also mean "existence" or "essence". |
| Javanese | The Javanese word "dadi" can also mean "to become, to happen," or "to exist, to be real" |
| Kannada | The word "ಅಸ್ತಿತ್ವ" is derived from the Sanskrit root "अस्" meaning "to be", and has alternate meanings of "existence" and "essence". |
| Kazakh | The Kazakh word "болу" ('being') is also related to the word "бол" ('to grow') in the Turkic languages, suggesting a connection between existence and growth. |
| Khmer | The word "ត្រូវបាន" can also mean "to become" or "to have to do something". |
| Korean | The word "존재" (being) in Korean can also refer to an existence or a substance. |
| Kurdish | The term "bûn" in Kurdish has alternate meanings such as "occurrence, existence, presence" and "essential attribute, characteristic, nature". |
| Kyrgyz | In the Uyghur language, "болуу" also means "to become, to grow, to develop"} |
| Lao | The Lao word "ເປັນ" can also mean "to become" or "to have become". |
| Latin | The Latin word "quod" also means "that" or "because" depending on the context. |
| Latvian | Latvian word "būtne" is cognate with Lithuanian "būtis" and the Old Prussian "buts" and means "essence" or "nature" in the sense of "the underlying reality of something". |
| Lithuanian | The word "esamas" shares its root with "esu" (am, is, are), but is usually translated as "being". |
| Luxembourgish | The etymology of 'sinn' (as a noun) is Old and Middle High German 'wesen' ('creature or being'). |
| Macedonian | The Macedonian word "битие" has roots in various Slavic languages, including Old Church Slavonic and Serbian. |
| Malagasy | Ny hoe, used in expressions signifying existence, such as ny hoe ao, "there is water,'’ and ny hoe olona ao, "there are people,'’ also means "stay" as a verb and "place" as a noun; there is also a homorganic nasal variant, ihoe, "here". |
| Malay | "Menjadi" can also mean "to become" or "to happen". |
| Malayalam | "ഉള്ളത്" comes from "उल्लसित" (ullasita), meaning "rejoiced, full of high spirits" in Sanskrit, and can also mean "being" in Malayalam. |
| Maltese | In Maltese, "qed" can also refer to "doing" or "becoming". |
| Maori | The Maori word 'he tangata', meaning 'being', also refers to 'a person, an individual, a human being'. |
| Marathi | The Marathi word "अस्तित्व" (existence) derives from the Sanskrit word "सत्ता" (essence), implying the inherent nature or quality of an entity. |
| Mongolian | In the Mongolian language, the word "байх" also refers to a state of existence, presence, or possession. |
| Nepali | "हुनु" (being), is a verb in Nepali language, which shares its etymology with an Indo-Aryan word for "being" or "to exist". |
| Norwegian | In Norwegian, the word "å være" also means "to exist" or "to occur". |
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | "Kukhala" also refers to the state of existence, a condition, or an event. |
| Pashto | The word "شتون" is a synonym of "بودل" , meaning "to occur", and also refers to having a large amount of milk (for animals). |
| Persian | بودن derives from the Proto-Indo-European root *bʰū-, meaning 'to be, grow, or come into existence'. |
| Polish | In Slavic languages, "istota" originally meant "substance, foundation, or essence" before it acquired its current meaning of "being." |
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | In Portuguese 'ser' is etymologically related to the verb 'estar' (to be) and the Latin word 'esse' (to be). |
| Punjabi | The word "ਹੋਣ" in Punjabi can also refer to "becoming" or "existence". |
| Romanian | The Romanian word for 'being' can also refer to a 'fiend' or an 'apparition'. |
| Russian | The word "будучи" also has the meaning of "being located" in space or time. |
| Samoan | "Tagata" can also refer to a person, an individual, or a human being. |
| Scots Gaelic | The word "bhith" can also refer to existence or reality, and is often used in philosophical contexts. |
| Serbian | The word "бити" is also used in Serbian to denote "existence" or "essence". |
| Sesotho | The word “ho ba” can also mean “existent”. |
| Shona | In the Korekore dialect of Shona, "kuva" also means "to be alive." |
| Sindhi | The word "ٿي رهيو آهي" in Sindhi can also be used to mean "becoming" or "happening". |
| Slovak | The word 'bytie' in Slovak traces its roots back to Proto-Slavic 'byti', 'existence', which also gave rise to 'byt', 'dwelling', 'bytnosť', 'essence', 'podstata', 'substance', and 'substanzia', 'substance', via Latin |
| Slovenian | The root bit- comes from an Indo-European root *bʰū- meaning 'to grow' and is also a cognate with the English words 'be' and 'been'. |
| Somali | In the Somali language, "ahaansho" has a literal meaning of "being" or "existence," but it also carries metaphorical connotations of "wholeness," "authenticity," and "true nature." |
| Spanish | The word "siendo" in Spanish can also mean "while" or "because". |
| Sundanese | In Sundanese, "mahluk" also refers to a person's demeanor, disposition or character, or the nature or quality of something. |
| Swahili | The word "kuwa" in Swahili also means "to become" or "to exist". |
| Swedish | In Old Norse, ”vers“ meant ”man“, ”woman“ or ”human“, while ”vera“ meant ”to exist“ or ”to live“. |
| Tagalog (Filipino) | The Tagalog word "pagiging" originates from the root "pag-", which signifies an ongoing state or process. |
| Tajik | Tajiki word "будан" (budan) is an equivalent of Persian word "بودن" (budan), derived from the Proto-Indo-European word "*bʰuH-/*bʰewH-" meaning "to grow". |
| Tamil | The Tamil word "இருப்பது" can also refer to "living creatures" or "the state of existence". |
| Telugu | The word "ఉండటం" can also mean "to exist" or "to be present". |
| Thai | The Thai word “การเป็น” can also refer to “position, existence, being in an esteemed position, or the essence of something”. |
| Turkish | The word "olmak" in Turkish is also a command, meaning "be become" or "exist."} |
| Ukrainian | The word 'буття' can also refer to 'existence' or 'reality', and is closely related to the word 'світ' (world). |
| Uzbek | The word "bo'lish" has a passive form suffix "-inish" which is added to a verb to form an abstract noun, meaning a result of action, or a state of being. |
| Vietnamese | The word "hiện hữu" is derived from the Chinese word "现", meaning "to manifest" or "to appear". |
| Welsh | The word "bod" can also refer to a dwelling or a physical entity. |
| Xhosa | Ukuba, originally 'to fall', reflects the notion that existence is akin to being cast into a physical world of form. |
| Yiddish | The Yiddish word 'זייַענדיק' can also mean 'existing' or 'present'. |
| Yoruba | The word 'jije' in Yoruba also means 'food' and the act of 'eating'. |
| Zulu | The word 'ukuba' in Zulu can also refer to the process of 'becoming' or 'existing.' |
| English | The word "being" derives from the Old English word "beon" and can refer to existence, an entity, or a creature. |