Blood in Different Languages
Discover 'Blood' in 134 Languages: Dive into Translations, Hear Pronunciations, and Uncover Cultural Insights.
Blood
Afrikaans bloed | ||
Albanian gjaku | ||
Amharic ደም | ||
Arabic دم | ||
Armenian արյուն | ||
Assamese তেজ | ||
Aymara wila | ||
Azerbaijani qan | ||
Bambara joli | ||
Basque odola | ||
Belarusian кроў | ||
Bengali রক্ত | ||
Bhojpuri खून | ||
Bosnian krv | ||
Bulgarian кръв | ||
Catalan sang | ||
Cebuano dugo | ||
Chinese (Simplified) 血液 | ||
Chinese (Traditional) 血液 | ||
Corsican sangue | ||
Croatian krv | ||
Czech krev | ||
Danish blod | ||
Dhivehi ލޭ | ||
Dogri लहू | ||
Dutch bloed | ||
English blood | ||
Esperanto sango | ||
Estonian veri | ||
Ewe ʋu | ||
Filipino (Tagalog) dugo | ||
Finnish verta | ||
French du sang | ||
Frisian bloed | ||
Galician sangue | ||
Georgian სისხლი | ||
German blut | ||
Greek αίμα | ||
Guarani tuguy | ||
Gujarati લોહી | ||
Haitian Creole san | ||
Hausa jini | ||
Hawaiian koko | ||
Hebrew דָם | ||
Hindi रक्त | ||
Hmong ntshav | ||
Hungarian vér | ||
Icelandic blóð | ||
Igbo ọbara | ||
Ilocano dara | ||
Indonesian darah | ||
Irish fuil | ||
Italian sangue | ||
Japanese 血液 | ||
Javanese getih | ||
Kannada ರಕ್ತ | ||
Kazakh қан | ||
Khmer ឈាម | ||
Kinyarwanda maraso | ||
Konkani रगत | ||
Korean 피의 | ||
Krio blɔd | ||
Kurdish xwîn | ||
Kurdish (Sorani) خوێن | ||
Kyrgyz кан | ||
Lao ເລືອດ | ||
Latin sanguis | ||
Latvian asinis | ||
Lingala makila | ||
Lithuanian kraujas | ||
Luganda omusaayi | ||
Luxembourgish blutt | ||
Macedonian крв | ||
Maithili खून | ||
Malagasy ra | ||
Malay darah | ||
Malayalam രക്തം | ||
Maltese demm | ||
Maori toto | ||
Marathi रक्त | ||
Meiteilon (Manipuri) ꯏ | ||
Mizo thisen | ||
Mongolian цус | ||
Myanmar (Burmese) သွေး | ||
Nepali रगत | ||
Norwegian blod | ||
Nyanja (Chichewa) magazi | ||
Odia (Oriya) ରକ୍ତ | ||
Oromo dhiiga | ||
Pashto وینه | ||
Persian خون | ||
Polish krew | ||
Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) sangue | ||
Punjabi ਲਹੂ | ||
Quechua yawar | ||
Romanian sânge | ||
Russian кровь | ||
Samoan toto | ||
Sanskrit रक्त | ||
Scots Gaelic fuil | ||
Sepedi madi | ||
Serbian крв | ||
Sesotho mali | ||
Shona ropa | ||
Sindhi رت | ||
Sinhala (Sinhalese) ලේ | ||
Slovak krv | ||
Slovenian kri | ||
Somali dhiig | ||
Spanish sangre | ||
Sundanese getih | ||
Swahili damu | ||
Swedish blod | ||
Tagalog (Filipino) dugo | ||
Tajik хун | ||
Tamil இரத்தம் | ||
Tatar кан | ||
Telugu రక్తం | ||
Thai เลือด | ||
Tigrinya ደም | ||
Tsonga ngati | ||
Turkish kan | ||
Turkmen gan | ||
Twi (Akan) mogya | ||
Ukrainian крові | ||
Urdu خون | ||
Uyghur قېنى | ||
Uzbek qon | ||
Vietnamese máu | ||
Welsh gwaed | ||
Xhosa igazi | ||
Yiddish בלוט | ||
Yoruba ẹjẹ | ||
Zulu igazi |
Etymology & Notes
| Language | Etymology / Notes |
|---|---|
| Afrikaans | Afrikaans 'bloed' (blood) is cognate with Dutch 'bloed', Norwegian 'blod', German 'Blut', and English 'blood', but also means 'temper' or 'courage'. |
| Albanian | In some Gheg dialects, "gjaku" can also refer to "juice" or "sap". |
| Amharic | The Amharic word "ደም" can also mean "lineage" or "family", showing the deep connection between blood and kinship in Ethiopian culture. |
| Arabic | The word "دم" in Arabic doesn't only mean blood; it also means a person's life or soul, and can be used metaphorically to describe a person's character or temperament. |
| Armenian | The word 'արյուն' ('blood') in Armenian also has the alternate meaning of 'life' or 'lineage'. |
| Azerbaijani | The word "qan" also means "life" in Azerbaijani, reflecting its importance in our culture. |
| Basque | "Odola" also referred to the "sun" in Old Basque and is thought to derive from Proto-Basque *egu-dol-a, "day light". |
| Belarusian | The word "кроў" in Belarusian is derived from the Proto-Slavic word *krovь, meaning "fluid, sap". |
| Bengali | "রক্ত" may also mean "related by blood" or "lineage" or "clumped rice" in Bengali. |
| Bosnian | The word "krv" in Bosnian also means "lifeforce" or "strength." |
| Bulgarian | The word "кръв" also means "family" in Bulgarian. |
| Catalan | In Catalan, “sang” also means “curdling,” referring to the process of milk becoming yogurt or cheese. |
| Cebuano | The term dugo is also synonymous with lineage in Filipino and is a cognate of duguan, which refers to a dish containing blood. |
| Chinese (Simplified) | The Chinese character "血" can also represent red or the color crimson. |
| Chinese (Traditional) | 血液 (xuèyè) 'blood' has multiple possible meanings, one being that it is a vital force, essential to life and associated with emotions like anger. |
| Corsican | The Corsican word "sangue" is used in several expressions including "sanguinacciu" (blood sausage) and "sanguinaria" (bloodshed). |
| Croatian | The Croatian word "krv" derives from the Proto-Indo-European "k̂rewh-", meaning "meat" or "flesh". |
| Czech | The word "krev" in Czech can also refer to plasma or lymph. |
| Danish | The word "blod" can also mean "family" or "descent" in Danish, reflecting a historical belief in the importance of bloodlines and shared ancestry. |
| Dutch | The Dutch word "bloed" shares an origin with "flower", referring to the bright red blossoms in its stem. |
| Esperanto | The word 'sango' is derived from the Russian word for 'blood', "кровь", and also refers to a type of African drum. |
| Estonian | In Estonian, "veri" also signifies "anger" and "rage". |
| Finnish | The Finnish word "verta" is also used to refer to a blood transfusion or the act of letting blood. |
| French | Du sang ("blood") comes from the Latin *sanguis* meaning "blood or life force" and is related to the French words "sanglot" (sob) and "sanguinaire" (bloodthirsty). |
| Frisian | Frisian 'bloed' is cognate with English 'blood' and German 'Blut', meaning 'fluid that circulates in the body of humans and other animals' |
| Galician | In Galician, “sangue” also means “lineage,” “family,” or “race,” as in the expression “sangue real” (“royal blood”). |
| Georgian | The Georgian word "სისხლი" ("blood") also refers to the essence or vitality of something. |
| German | The word "Blut" can also mean "race" or "family" in German. |
| Greek | The word "αίμα" has also been used in Homeric Greek to mean "death, murder, or violent death, especially through the shedding of blood". |
| Gujarati | The Gujarati word "લોહી" can also refer to red pigment or color. |
| Hausa | The Hausa word "jini" comes from the Arabic word "jinnay", a type of evil spirit. |
| Hawaiian | Hawaiian word "koko" also means "brown" and is thought to be related to "ko" (sugar cane). |
| Hebrew | הדם מתייחס למוות, חולשה, מחלה ואלימות |
| Hindi | The Hindi word "रक्त" (rakt) is cognate with the Latin "cruor" (clotted blood), and also means "red (colour)" in Sanskrit. |
| Hmong | The Hmong word "ntshav" also refers to family members and a person's ancestral lineage. |
| Hungarian | The word "vér" can also mean "protection" (e.g. "a vér szerinti rokon" ~ "a relative by blood"). |
| Icelandic | Blóð (blood) has the alternate meaning of "sacrifice" in many Germanic languages. |
| Igbo | The Igbo word 'ọbara' originates from the Proto-Benue-Congo lexicon *bara, meaning 'red' or 'colour' |
| Irish | The Irish word "fuil" also means "urine" or "water," deriving from the Proto-Indo-European root *gʰwei-l |
| Italian | "Sangue" in Italian can also refer to a lineage, a stock, or a family, and is derived from the Latin word "sanguis" ( |
| Japanese | The kanji 血 (ketsu) can also mean "lineage" or "clan," as in 血縁 (ketsuen, "blood relation"). |
| Javanese | The Javanese word "getih" is cognate with "darah" in Indonesian and Malay, both ultimately deriving from Sanskrit "darah". |
| Kannada | The word "ರಕ್ತ" (rakta) also refers to the red pigment used in the Kannada flag, known as the "rakta dhwaja" |
| Kazakh | "Қан" can also mean "life" or "soul" in Kazakh. |
| Khmer | The word "ឈាម" can also mean "sap" or "juice" in Khmer, and is related to the Lao word "ຊອກ" and the Thai word "เลือด". |
| Korean | The word 피 (blood) also means 'life' or 'vital energy' in Korean. |
| Kurdish | Kurdish 'xwîn' is possibly related to Persian 'xun' or Proto-Indo-European '*ǵʰwéh₁n', cognate with Latin 'cruor' and Irish 'fuil'. |
| Kyrgyz | In addition to its primary meaning of "blood," "кан" in Kyrgyz can also refer to a relative from one's mother's lineage, a term of respect for elders, or a type of traditional fermented mare's milk. |
| Lao | The word "ເລືອດ" can also refer to the color red or a type of blood disease in Lao. |
| Latin | The word "sanguis" also refers to the lineage or family of a person. |
| Latvian | Latvian "asinis" shares its root "as" with "assassin" and "ash". |
| Lithuanian | The Lithuanian word "kraujas" is etymologically related to the Sanskrit word "krwi" (meaning blood) and the Latin word "cruor" (meaning gore). |
| Luxembourgish | "Blutt" also refers to the juice of grapes before fermentation and thus means "wine". |
| Macedonian | The verb "крвав" ("krvav") in Macedonian means "to bleed" or "to stain with blood." |
| Malagasy | Malagasy 'ra', 'rain', and 'rainforest' all have an ancestral meaning of 'life-giving liquid', while their shared Proto-Austronesian root *daRah means 'blood'. |
| Malay | In Malay, a poetic term for blood is 'nyawa' ('life'), reflecting its vital importance in folklore and traditional medicine. |
| Malayalam | The word 'രക്തം' (raktham) is also used to refer to the color red in Malayalam. |
| Maltese | The Maltese word "demm" derives from the Arabic word "dam" which also means "blood", as well as other meanings such as "sin" or "guilt". |
| Maori | Derived from the Proto-Austronesian word *toto which also means 'blood' in several other Polynesian languages. |
| Marathi | In Marathi, the word "रक्त" (rakta) also refers to the color red and is cognate with the Sanskrit word "रक्त" (rakta), meaning "red" or "blood." |
| Mongolian | Цус is a Turkic word meaning |
| Myanmar (Burmese) | The word "သွေး" ("blood") in Myanmar (Burmese) can also refer to "lineage" or "family line". |
| Nepali | The word 'रगत' in Nepali can also mean 'bloodshed' or 'warfare'. |
| Norwegian | The word "blod" in Norwegian can also refer to "sacrifice" or "anger". |
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | The Nyanja word "magazi" not only signifies "blood" but also denotes "life-force" and "kinship ties." |
| Pashto | The word "وینه" in Pashto can also mean "red" or "purple". |
| Persian | The word "خون" (blood) can also refer to lineage, kinship, or a family member in Persian. |
| Polish | The Polish word 'krew' comes from the Old Polish 'krew' or 'krewie' and is cognate with other Slavic words for 'blood', such as the Russian 'кровь' (krov') and the Czech 'krev'. |
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | In Portuguese, "sangue" can also refer to lineage or ancestry. |
| Punjabi | The Punjabi word "ਲਹੂ" also refers to "red color" in its adjective form. |
| Romanian | The word "sânge" (blood) is derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *sengw-, which also means "to be strong". |
| Russian | "Кровь" also means "family lineage" or "origin". |
| Samoan | The word "toto" in Samoan shares roots with the words for "red" and "soil". |
| Scots Gaelic | In some dialects, "fuil" can also mean "juice", "sap", or "fluid". |
| Serbian | The word 'крв' in Serbian not only refers to blood but also has a figurative meaning, denoting life, vitality, or kinship. |
| Sesotho | The word "mali" in Sesotho can also refer to lineage, kinship, or a group of people with a common ancestor. |
| Shona | The Shona word, "ropa," also means "color" and "type." |
| Sindhi | The word "رت" (blood) in Sindhi is also used to describe a deep red color or the stains of blood on a surface. |
| Sinhala (Sinhalese) | "ලේ" also refers to a substance or fluid that flows, such as sap. |
| Slovak | The word 'krv' also refers to relatives in Slovak. |
| Slovenian | "Kri" is a noun in Slovenian which is used to describe the liquid that circulates through the cardiovascular system of a human being or an animal. It is also used to describe any fluid that resembles blood in appearance, such as tomato juice or paint. |
| Somali | The verb |
| Spanish | In pre-Columbian Nahuatl, "sangre" referred to the precious red pigment used as a dye or currency; its usage shifted to mean "blood" after Spanish conquest. |
| Sundanese | Getih is also used to refer to the red color of certain objects, such as soil or flowers. |
| Swahili | The word "damu" in Swahili originates from the Bantu root "dam" meaning "red" or "black" and is cognate with many other Bantu languages. |
| Swedish | Blod can also refer to a stain or a mark, and is a common ingredient in Swedish cuisine, especially in the form of blood sausage. |
| Tagalog (Filipino) | "Dugo" can also mean "ancestry" or "lineage" in Tagalog. |
| Tajik | The word "хун" is an Old Turkic word and its meaning has shifted from "life, soul" to "blood" in Tajik. |
| Tamil | The word "இரத்தம்" can also refer to a type of tree known as **red sandalwood** or **Raktha Chandana** in Sanskrit. |
| Telugu | The word "రక్తం" can also refer to the red color of blood, or to a liquid that is similar to blood in appearance or consistency. |
| Thai | "เลือด" comes from the Proto-Austronesian word *daRuq meaning "red" |
| Turkish | In addition to its primary meaning of "blood," "kan" in Turkish can also refer to "relationship," "origin," or "essence." |
| Ukrainian | In Ukrainian, the word "крові" can also refer to the lineage or ancestry of a person. |
| Urdu | The word "خون" ("blood") is also used metaphorically to refer to lineage, ancestry, or kinship ties. |
| Uzbek | Qon, derived from Old Turkic "khun", also refers to lineage or family in Uzbek. |
| Vietnamese | The word "máu" also means "life" in certain contexts, such as expressions like "máu anh em" (brotherhood). |
| Welsh | "Gwaed" also has historical connections with concepts of "red", "glowing" and "life force". |
| Xhosa | The word "igazi" originates from an archaic term for "red," and is cognate with the Nguni word for "black. |
| Yiddish | The Yiddish word "בלוט" ("blood") also means "sap", especially from birch trees. |
| Yoruba | Ẹjẹ also means 'spirit' or 'life' in Yoruba, and is often used in religious contexts referring to the spirit of a person or deity. |
| Zulu | In Zulu, 'igazi' can also refer to a close friend or relative. |
| English | The word 'blood' comes from the Old English word 'blod', which meant both 'blood' and 'life'. |