Book in Different Languages
Discover 'Book' in 134 Languages: Dive into Translations, Hear Pronunciations, and Uncover Cultural Insights.
Book
Afrikaans boek | ||
Albanian libër | ||
Amharic መጽሐፍ | ||
Arabic كتاب | ||
Armenian գիրք | ||
Assamese কিতাপ | ||
Aymara panka | ||
Azerbaijani kitab | ||
Bambara gafe | ||
Basque liburua | ||
Belarusian кніга | ||
Bengali বই | ||
Bhojpuri किताब | ||
Bosnian knjiga | ||
Bulgarian книга | ||
Catalan llibre | ||
Cebuano libro | ||
Chinese (Simplified) 书 | ||
Chinese (Traditional) 書 | ||
Corsican libru | ||
Croatian knjiga | ||
Czech rezervovat | ||
Danish bestil | ||
Dhivehi ފޮތް | ||
Dogri कताब | ||
Dutch boek | ||
English book | ||
Esperanto libro | ||
Estonian raamat | ||
Ewe agbalẽ | ||
Filipino (Tagalog) aklat | ||
Finnish kirja | ||
French livre | ||
Frisian boek | ||
Galician libro | ||
Georgian წიგნი | ||
German buch | ||
Greek βιβλίο | ||
Guarani aranduka | ||
Gujarati પુસ્તક | ||
Haitian Creole liv | ||
Hausa littafi | ||
Hawaiian puke | ||
Hebrew סֵפֶר | ||
Hindi पुस्तक | ||
Hmong phau ntawv | ||
Hungarian könyv | ||
Icelandic bók | ||
Igbo akwụkwọ | ||
Ilocano libro | ||
Indonesian book | ||
Irish leabhar | ||
Italian libro | ||
Japanese 本 | ||
Javanese buku | ||
Kannada ಪುಸ್ತಕ | ||
Kazakh кітап | ||
Khmer សៀវភៅ | ||
Kinyarwanda igitabo | ||
Konkani पुस्तक | ||
Korean 책 | ||
Krio buk | ||
Kurdish pirtûk | ||
Kurdish (Sorani) کتێب | ||
Kyrgyz китеп | ||
Lao ປື້ມ | ||
Latin liber | ||
Latvian grāmata | ||
Lingala mokanda | ||
Lithuanian knyga | ||
Luganda ekitabo | ||
Luxembourgish buch | ||
Macedonian книга | ||
Maithili पुस्तक | ||
Malagasy boky | ||
Malay buku | ||
Malayalam പുസ്തകം | ||
Maltese ktieb | ||
Maori pukapuka | ||
Marathi पुस्तक | ||
Meiteilon (Manipuri) ꯂꯥꯏꯔꯤꯛ | ||
Mizo lehkhabu | ||
Mongolian ном | ||
Myanmar (Burmese) စာအုပ် | ||
Nepali पुस्तक | ||
Norwegian bok | ||
Nyanja (Chichewa) buku | ||
Odia (Oriya) ପୁସ୍ତକ | ||
Oromo kitaaba | ||
Pashto کتاب | ||
Persian کتاب | ||
Polish książka | ||
Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) livro | ||
Punjabi ਕਿਤਾਬ | ||
Quechua maytu | ||
Romanian carte | ||
Russian книга | ||
Samoan tusi | ||
Sanskrit पुस्तकम् | ||
Scots Gaelic leabhar | ||
Sepedi puku | ||
Serbian књига | ||
Sesotho buka | ||
Shona bhuku | ||
Sindhi ڪتاب | ||
Sinhala (Sinhalese) පොත | ||
Slovak kniha | ||
Slovenian knjigo | ||
Somali buugga | ||
Spanish libro | ||
Sundanese buku | ||
Swahili kitabu | ||
Swedish bok | ||
Tagalog (Filipino) libro | ||
Tajik китоб | ||
Tamil நூல் | ||
Tatar китап | ||
Telugu పుస్తకం | ||
Thai หนังสือ | ||
Tigrinya መፅሓፍ | ||
Tsonga buku | ||
Turkish kitap | ||
Turkmen kitap | ||
Twi (Akan) nwomasua | ||
Ukrainian книга | ||
Urdu کتاب | ||
Uyghur كىتاب | ||
Uzbek kitob | ||
Vietnamese sách | ||
Welsh llyfr | ||
Xhosa incwadi | ||
Yiddish בוך | ||
Yoruba iwe | ||
Zulu incwadi |
Etymology & Notes
| Language | Etymology / Notes |
|---|---|
| Afrikaans | The Afrikaans word "boek" also means "a fine, a penalty, or a forfeit". |
| Albanian | In Albanian, "libër" derives from Latin "liber" meaning both "book" and "inner bark of a tree," linking it to the historic use of tree bark as writing material. |
| Amharic | መጽሐፍ can also refer to scripture, law or any written material |
| Arabic | The word "كتاب" (kitab) also means "writing" or "document" in Arabic. |
| Armenian | The word "գիրք" (book) in Armenian derives from the Persian word "ketab" and also means "chapter" in ecclesiastical usage. |
| Azerbaijani | "Kitab" also means religious scripture in Azerbaijani. |
| Basque | Liburua also means “free” in Basque and is used in the name of several organisations. |
| Belarusian | The word "кніга" in Belarusian is derived from the Proto-Slavic word *kniga, which also meant "scroll" or "writing-board". |
| Bengali | বই is also slang for a person who is naive or gullible in Bengali. |
| Bosnian | In Croatian, the word 'knjiga' also means 'account' or 'record'. |
| Bulgarian | The word "Книга" (book) derives from the Proto-Slavic word "kъnigъ", which originally meant "a wooden tablet for writing". |
| Catalan | The plural form of "llibre" in Catalan is "llibres," and its Old Catalan form was "libre." |
| Cebuano | The Cebuano word "libro" originates from the Spanish word "libro", which itself comes from the Latin word "liber", meaning "inner bark of a tree (used for writing)". |
| Chinese (Simplified) | 书 (shu) can also refer to a document, letter, or writing in general. |
| Chinese (Traditional) | 書 (book) can also mean letter, write, or a document in Chinese. |
| Corsican | Libru is derived from Latin 'liber', which meant 'inner bark of a tree' and 'a book', as books were originally made from sheets of inner bark. |
| Croatian | In Bosnian, Serbian, and Croatian, "knjiga" can also refer to a division of a manuscript or a literary work. |
| Czech | In Polish, "rezervovat" means to book a table at a restaurant, in Czech it means to book a seat on a train. |
| Danish | The Danish word "bestil" not only means "book" but also "order" |
| Dutch | The Dutch word "boek" stems from the Proto-Germanic word "bōkō", which means "beech tree". As wooden tablets made from beech were used for writing, the word "boek" came to refer to books. |
| Esperanto | The Esperanto word "libro" is derived from the Latin word "liber", which originally meant "the inner bark of a tree", and was later used to refer to a book made from such bark. |
| Estonian | The Estonian word "raamat" is derived from the Proto-Germanic word "*rōmaz", meaning "alphabet". It is related to the words "runes" and "read". |
| Finnish | The Finnish word "kirja" also means "letter". |
| French | The French word “livre” comes from the Latin word meaning “tree bark”, which the Romans used to make the pages of scrolls. |
| Frisian | The Frisian word "boek" has historically referred to the beech tree, which was used to make writing tablets in ancient times. |
| Galician | "Libro" also means "free" in Galician, and shares the same etymology with the word "liber" in Latin. |
| Georgian | The Georgian word "წიგნი" is derived from the Greek word "βιβλίον" (biblio), meaning "book". It also carries the connotation of a "collection of written or printed matter bound together". |
| German | The word "Buch" in German is derived from the Old High German word "buoh", which originally meant "a beech tree" and later came to refer to a wooden tablet used for writing. |
| Greek | The Greek word "Βιβλίο" is derived from the Phoenician "biblos" meaning papyrus plant, and its alternate meaning is letter, epistle. |
| Gujarati | The Gujarati word "પુસ્તક" is derived from the Sanskrit word "पुस्तक" (pustak), which means "manuscript". It can also refer to a "bundle" or "collection" of leaves, or to a "written document". |
| Haitian Creole | The Haitian Creole word "Liv" is derived from the French word "Livre," but can also colloquially refer to a journal or notebook. |
| Hausa | In the Hausa language, "littafi" also means "writing" and can refer to any written material, not just a bound volume. |
| Hawaiian | The word 'puke' also means 'to vomit' in Hawaiian. |
| Hebrew | The Hebrew word 'ספר' ('sefer') originates from the Akkadian term 'sipru', which referred to a clay tablet used for writing. |
| Hindi | पुस्तक, Sanskrit word पुस्तक, comes from पुट (put) 'to cover' and सक (sak) 'to tie or gather together' indicating that it is a collection of written leaves bound or tied together. |
| Hmong | The word "phau ntawv" is derived from the Chinese word "pu图" which means "book" or "document." |
| Hungarian | "Könyv" comes from the Turkish word "kün" ("day" or "sun"), and originally meant the leaves that ancient Turks marked with lines and wrote their history and accounts on. |
| Icelandic | The Icelandic word 'bók' is of Old Norse origin, and was originally a general term for written records, including legal documents and letters. |
| Igbo | The Igbo word "akwụkwọ" also means "leaf" or "written paper," reflecting its historical use as a writing material. |
| Indonesian | In Indonesian, 'buku' may also refer to sections or chapters within a larger publication. |
| Irish | "Leabhar" also means a "book" in Old Irish and is related to the Gaulish "lebar" and Breton "levr". |
| Italian | "Libro" derives from Latin "liber" meaning "inner bark". In the past, books were made of papyrus or parchment sheets made of animal skin. Today, libros are made of wood pulp paper. |
| Japanese | “本” can also mean “source,” “base,” or “root” when used in compounds such as "本源 (source)" or "根本 (root)". |
| Javanese | Buku derives from the same root as buku 'knot', suggesting an original meaning of 'tied together pages'. |
| Kannada | The Kannada word "ಪುಸ್ತಕ" is ultimately derived from the Sanskrit word "पुस्तक" (pustaka), which means "written document" or "book". |
| Kazakh | The Kazakh word "кітап" comes from the Arabic word "kitab" meaning "to write". |
| Khmer | The word សៀវភៅ can also mean 'document', 'ledger', or 'record'. |
| Korean | The word “책” can also refer to “volume” or “number” in the context of a series or publication. |
| Kurdish | The word 'pirtûk' may have been derived from the Persian word 'partaw', meaning 'volume' or 'book'. |
| Kyrgyz | The word "китеп" in Kyrgyz initially meant "any written text inscribed on a solid surface". |
| Lao | ປື້ມ could also refer to a bamboo joint or a small basket used to hold items, and was originally written in the Khmer script as ប៊ុម (bum). |
| Latin | The Latin word "liber" refers not only to a "book" but also to the inner bark of trees, from which the material for ancient writing tablets was made. |
| Latvian | "Grāmata" is derived from the Proto-Baltic "*gram-atā", meaning "letter" or "written sign". |
| Lithuanian | "Knyga" is derived from the Proto-Baltic root *knig- meaning "to know, write," and is related to the Latin "cognoscere" and the Greek "ginoskein." |
| Luxembourgish | The word 'Buch' in Luxembourgish, derived from Middle High German 'buoch', also means 'beech tree' in the context of forestry. |
| Macedonian | The word "книга" can also refer to a chapter of a book. |
| Malagasy | The word "boky" in Malagasy can also mean "chapter" or "section" of a book, as well as "volume" or "issue" of a periodical. |
| Malay | The Malay word "buku" is derived from the Sanskrit word "bhūka" meaning "inner bark of a tree", as books were originally made from tree bark. |
| Malayalam | "പുസ്തകം" is also the Malayalam word for "knowledge", "document" and other paper bound items. |
| Maltese | The word "ktieb" is a loanword from Arabic, where it originally meant a written document |
| Maori | Pukapuka, which in Maori can also mean “to assemble” or “to gather together” |
| Marathi | The word 'पुस्तक' ultimately derives from the Sanskrit word 'पुस्तिका', which means 'handwritten scroll'. |
| Mongolian | The word "ном" in Mongolian can also refer to a chapter of a book, a scroll, or a document. |
| Myanmar (Burmese) | In Myanmar, 'စာအုပ်' doesn't just refer to a physical book but also to any written work, regardless of its format. |
| Nepali | The word 'पुस्तक' is derived from the Sanskrit word 'pustaka', which means 'a handful of leaves'. |
| Norwegian | The word "bok" originally meant "beech tree", which was used to make writing tablets in ancient times. |
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | The word "buku" can also refer to a chapter in a book or a section of a document. |
| Pashto | The word "کتاب" in Pashto also means "written paper" or "document." |
| Persian | Persian کتاب ('book') derives from Arabic كتاب ('writing'), ultimately from Proto-Semitic root *k-t-b ('to write'). |
| Polish | "Książka" derives from the Proto-Slavic word "kъniga", which originally meant "a piece of wood written on". |
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | The etymology of the Portuguese word "livro" comes from the Latin word "liber", which means "book" or "inner bark of a tree". This is because the first books were made from the inner bark of trees. |
| Punjabi | The word "ਕਿਤਾਬ" (kitaab) in Punjabi is derived from the Arabic word "كتاب" (kitaab), which means "a written work" or "a book". |
| Romanian | "Carte" is a Romanian word for "book" which is derived from the Latin word "charta" meaning "paper" or "document". |
| Russian | The Russian word "книга" is derived from the Old Slavonic word "knigy", which meant "scroll" or "tablet". |
| Samoan | Tusi originates from the Proto-Polynesian word *tuhi, meaning, 'to write,' 'mark,' or 'draw'. |
| Scots Gaelic | Leabhar, originally meaning 'book' in Gaelic, can also refer to 'a manuscript, a newspaper, or a journal' |
| Serbian | The word "књига" is derived from the Proto-Slavic word "kъnigъ", which in turn derives from the Gothic word "boka", meaning "letter" or "beech tree" (used for writing on). |
| Sesotho | In Sesotho, the word "buka" not only means "book" but also "to read" or "to study." |
| Shona | In Shona, the word "bhuku" is a cognate of the Zulu word "ibhuku", which originally referred to a wooden writing tablet. |
| Sindhi | The Sindhi word "ڪتاب" is derived from the Arabic word "كتاب" and is used in Persian, Urdu, Punjabi, and Sindhi to refer to various forms of written content, including holy books, manuscripts, and notebooks. |
| Sinhala (Sinhalese) | The word "පොත" can also refer to a document, a letter, or a scripture in Sinhala |
| Slovak | "Kniha" in Slovak ultimately originates from the Germanic languages, and it is related to the English word "knowledge." |
| Slovenian | The word “knjigo” comes from the Proto-Slavic word *kniga, which also meant “writing” or “record”. |
| Somali | The word "buugga" in Somali can also mean a "tablet" or a "writ". |
| Spanish | The Spanish word "libro" comes from the Latin word "liber", which could refer to the inner bark of trees, the layer used for writing on in ancient times. |
| Sundanese | The word "buku" in Sundanese is thought to have originated from the Sanskrit word "bhuka" meaning "bone" or "bark", as early books were made from these materials. |
| Swahili | The word 'kitabu' is borrowed from Arabic and originally meant 'writing'. |
| Swedish | Bok, the Swedish word for 'book', derives from the Old Norse word for 'beech tree', since the first books were made from beech planks. |
| Tagalog (Filipino) | "Libro" in Tagalog derives from the Spanish "libro", which evolved from the Latin "liber", meaning "book, inner bark". |
| Tajik | The word "китоб" in Tajik also means "knowledge," deriving from an Old Persian word for "inscription," and a Sanskrit word "ketu-bha" for "banner," which later took on the meaning of "book." |
| Tamil | The Tamil word "நூல்" also means "thread" or "string", reflecting the historical practice of writing on palm leaves strung together. |
| Telugu | పుస్తకం is derived from the Sanskrit word "pustaka", which means "a leaf for writing" or "a book". |
| Thai | "หนังสือ" in Thai can also refer to a set of documents, such as a contract or a law, or to a topic or subject of study. |
| Turkish | In Ottoman Turkish, 'kitap' referred to a section or 'quiver' of a book, while today it is used for the book as a whole. |
| Ukrainian | The word "книга" in Ukrainian shares an etymological root with the Slavic word for "know" and can also refer to a written record or document. |
| Urdu | The word "کتاب" in Urdu shares its etymology with the Latin "codex" and the Greek "βιβλίον", all referring to written material stored in pages. |
| Uzbek | The word "kitob" also means "writing" or "text" in Uzbek. |
| Vietnamese | The word "sách" comes from the Chinese word "冊", which means "a bamboo slip used for writing". |
| Welsh | The Welsh term "llyfr" comes from the Latin word "liber", which also means "book" or "bast". Its plural form is "llyfrau". |
| Xhosa | The word 'incwadi' can also refer to a letter, notebook, or any written material. |
| Yiddish | The Yiddish word "בוך" (book) is derived from the German "Buch" and also means "beech tree". |
| Yoruba | In some Yoruba dialects, 'iwe' also refers to a type of traditional woven cloth, while in others it's the name for the indigo dye used to color the cloth. |
| Zulu | In Zulu, "incwadi" also means "a letter" or "a writing." |
| English | The word "book" derives from the Old English word "bōc," meaning a written work or a collection of written works bound together. |