Brick in Different Languages
Discover 'Brick' in 134 Languages: Dive into Translations, Hear Pronunciations, and Uncover Cultural Insights.
Brick
Afrikaans baksteen | ||
Albanian tulla | ||
Amharic ጡብ | ||
Arabic قالب طوب | ||
Armenian աղյուս | ||
Assamese ইটা | ||
Aymara latrillu | ||
Azerbaijani kərpic | ||
Bambara biriki | ||
Basque adreilua | ||
Belarusian цэгла | ||
Bengali ইট | ||
Bhojpuri ईंट | ||
Bosnian cigla | ||
Bulgarian тухла | ||
Catalan maó | ||
Cebuano tisa | ||
Chinese (Simplified) 砖 | ||
Chinese (Traditional) 磚 | ||
Corsican mattone | ||
Croatian cigla | ||
Czech cihlový | ||
Danish mursten | ||
Dhivehi ބްރިކް | ||
Dogri इट्ट | ||
Dutch steen | ||
English brick | ||
Esperanto briko | ||
Estonian telliskivi | ||
Ewe kpe | ||
Filipino (Tagalog) ladrilyo | ||
Finnish tiili | ||
French brique | ||
Frisian bakstien | ||
Galician ladrillo | ||
Georgian აგური | ||
German backstein | ||
Greek τούβλο | ||
Guarani yvy'atã | ||
Gujarati ઈંટ | ||
Haitian Creole brik | ||
Hausa bulo | ||
Hawaiian pōhaku lepo | ||
Hebrew לְבֵנָה | ||
Hindi ईंट | ||
Hmong cib | ||
Hungarian tégla | ||
Icelandic múrsteinn | ||
Igbo brik | ||
Ilocano pader | ||
Indonesian bata | ||
Irish bríce | ||
Italian mattone | ||
Japanese レンガ | ||
Javanese bata | ||
Kannada ಇಟ್ಟಿಗೆ | ||
Kazakh кірпіш | ||
Khmer ឥដ្ឋ | ||
Kinyarwanda amatafari | ||
Konkani चिरो | ||
Korean 벽돌 | ||
Krio blɔk | ||
Kurdish krêmît | ||
Kurdish (Sorani) خشت | ||
Kyrgyz кыш | ||
Lao ອິດ | ||
Latin fictilis | ||
Latvian ķieģelis | ||
Lingala briki | ||
Lithuanian plyta | ||
Luganda ettofaali | ||
Luxembourgish zillen | ||
Macedonian тула | ||
Maithili ईटा | ||
Malagasy biriky | ||
Malay batu bata | ||
Malayalam ഇഷ്ടിക | ||
Maltese briks | ||
Maori pereki | ||
Marathi वीट | ||
Meiteilon (Manipuri) ꯆꯦꯛ | ||
Mizo leirawhchan | ||
Mongolian тоосго | ||
Myanmar (Burmese) အုတ် | ||
Nepali ईंट | ||
Norwegian murstein | ||
Nyanja (Chichewa) njerwa | ||
Odia (Oriya) ଇଟା | ||
Oromo xuuphii | ||
Pashto خښته | ||
Persian آجر | ||
Polish cegła | ||
Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) tijolo | ||
Punjabi ਇੱਟ | ||
Quechua ladrillo | ||
Romanian cărămidă | ||
Russian кирпич | ||
Samoan piliki | ||
Sanskrit इष्टिका | ||
Scots Gaelic breige | ||
Sepedi setena | ||
Serbian цигла | ||
Sesotho setene | ||
Shona zvidhinha | ||
Sindhi اينٽ | ||
Sinhala (Sinhalese) ගඩොල් | ||
Slovak tehla | ||
Slovenian opeka | ||
Somali leben | ||
Spanish ladrillo | ||
Sundanese bata | ||
Swahili matofali | ||
Swedish tegel | ||
Tagalog (Filipino) brick | ||
Tajik хишт | ||
Tamil செங்கல் | ||
Tatar кирпеч | ||
Telugu ఇటుక | ||
Thai อิฐ | ||
Tigrinya ጡብ | ||
Tsonga xitina | ||
Turkish tuğla | ||
Turkmen kerpiç | ||
Twi (Akan) breke | ||
Ukrainian цегла | ||
Urdu اینٹ | ||
Uyghur خىش | ||
Uzbek g'isht | ||
Vietnamese gạch | ||
Welsh brics | ||
Xhosa isitena | ||
Yiddish ציגל | ||
Yoruba okuta | ||
Zulu isitini |
Etymology & Notes
| Language | Etymology / Notes |
|---|---|
| Afrikaans | In Old Dutch (pre-1150) and medieval Dutch (1150-1500) "baksteen" meant simply "stone" or "rock". In modern Dutch the word refers specifically to a "brick". |
| Albanian | The Albanian word "tulla" comes from the Latin word "tegula," which originally referred to roof tiles and later bricks. |
| Amharic | The word ጡብ (brick) can also refer to a type of Ethiopian bread, further alluding to its rectangular shape. |
| Arabic | Some claim that the word "قالب طوب" derived from "قلب" (heart), meaning "the heart of the building". |
| Armenian | The Armenian word 'աղյուս' ('brick') derives from the Akkadian word 'libittu', meaning 'molded clay'. |
| Azerbaijani | The word "kərpic" in Azerbaijani is an ancient loanword from Greek "keramis" meaning "pottery" or "tile". |
| Basque | The word "adreilua" has been attested since the 12th century and is likely a loanword from Latin "laterculus" (tile). |
| Belarusian | "Цэгла" is likely derived from Polish "cegła" and Ukrainian "цегла" (both meaning "brick") which in turn derive from German "ziegel" (also meaning "brick"). |
| Bengali | The word "ইট" can also refer to a type of coin or a weight measure. |
| Bosnian | The word 'cigla' in Bosnian is derived from the Latin word 'tegula', which also means 'tile'. |
| Bulgarian | The word 'тухла' derives from the Proto-Slavic root *tъxlъ, meaning 'something thick' or 'a lump'. |
| Catalan | The Catalan word "maó" derives from Arabic word "ma'ún" meaning "clay" or "adobe", reflecting its ancient use as a building material. |
| Cebuano | "Tisa" can also refer to a place in Cebu City, Philippines that was named after the clay in the area that is suitable for making bricks. |
| Chinese (Simplified) | 砖 (pinyin zhuan) is also an ancient Chinese measurement unit, one brick being approximately equal to 15 cm. |
| Chinese (Traditional) | The character "磚" (brick) is made up of the radicals "土" (earth) and "言" (speech), suggesting its original meaning of "earth that is spoken to" or "earth that is molded by words". |
| Corsican | In Corsican, the word "mattone" also means "big piece of bread". |
| Croatian | The word "cigla" is derived from the Latin word "tegula", meaning "tile" or "roof tile". |
| Czech | The word "cihlový" also means "brick-colored". |
| Danish | The Danish word "mursten" is derived from the Old Norse word "múr", meaning "wall", and "steinn", meaning "stone". |
| Dutch | "Steen" means brick in Dutch, and was originally derived from the Germanic word "stain." It is also sometimes used generically to refer to hard natural substances like rock or stone. |
| Esperanto | "Briko" is derived from the English word "brick" and also means "piece" in Esperanto. |
| Estonian | The word "telliskivi" is thought to derive from the Estonian word "tellis" (brick) and the Finnish word "kivi" (stone). |
| Finnish | The word |
| French | The French term "brique" also refers to a rectangular shape or a shade of red, and originates from the Middle Dutch word "brieken" meaning "to break." |
| Frisian | The word "bakstien" is derived from the Middle Dutch word "backsteen," which means "stone baked in a kiln." |
| Galician | In Galician, "ladrillo" also refers to the "first rays of dawn" and "a type of traditional Galician bagpipe". |
| Georgian | The Georgian word "აგური" can also refer to a tile, a square, or a stone used in construction. |
| German | "Backstein" (brick) is a compound of "backen" (to bake) and "Stein" (stone), referring to the process of hardening bricks through baking. |
| Greek | In Cyprus, the word "τούβλο" also refers to a traditional Cypriot dessert made of semolina served with nutmeg and cinnamon. |
| Gujarati | The word "ઈંટ" ("brick") in Gujarati can also refer to a block of wood used for building. |
| Haitian Creole | In Haitian Creole, "brik" also colloquially refers to a makeshift stove made of recycled metal or other materials. |
| Hausa | The word "bulo" in Hausa is cognate to the word "buru" in the closely-related Gwandara language, which means "stone". |
| Hawaiian | "Lepo" also means "heavy" or "dull" in Hawaiian, a possible reference to the weight and durability of bricks. |
| Hebrew | לבנה' refers not only to the common building material, but also to the moon in certain contexts. |
| Hindi | The Hindi word 'ईंट' (brick) also refers to a type of sweet, layered cake popular in some parts of India. |
| Hmong | The word "cib" in Hmong can also refer to a stone or a piece of wood. |
| Hungarian | The word 'tégla' also refers to a kind of sweet bun filled with jam and sprinkled with sugar. |
| Icelandic | The word "múrsteinn" literally means "stone for a wall" in Icelandic. |
| Igbo | The Igbo word 'brik' also refers to the 'floor/ground' |
| Indonesian | The word "bata" in Indonesian is thought to originate from the Chinese word "batah", which also means "brick" in English. |
| Irish | The word "bríce" in Irish can also refer to a small speckled trout or a kind of plant used for dyeing cloth. |
| Italian | The name dates back to the ancient Latin 'materia', originally used to refer to wood and building materials. |
| Japanese | レンガ is also the name for a popular brand of microwaveable instant ramen in Japan, known for its thick tonkotsu pork bone broth. |
| Javanese | Bata can also mean 'tile' or 'block' and is thought to stem from the Proto-Austronesian term wqtaq. |
| Kannada | The word "ಇಟ್ಟಿಗೆ" is of Prakrit origin. It has also been used in the sense of "a house or building" in some Kannada lexicons. |
| Kazakh | The word "кірпіш" is derived from the Persian word "kirpich", which means "unbaked brick" or "adobe". In Kazakh, it has also been used to refer to the hard, red, fired bricks that are commonly used in construction, as well as the bricks used to pave roads. |
| Khmer | The word ឥដ្ឋ derives from the Sanskrit word "idā" meaning "to fix". |
| Korean | The word "벽돌" also means "a small, thick book." |
| Kurdish | The word 'krêmît' in Kurdish has multiple meanings, including 'brick', 'building block', and 'tile'. |
| Kyrgyz | The Kyrgyz word "кыш" can also mean "winter" or "construction material". |
| Lao | The term ອິດ also refers to the act of rubbing and kneading a person's body as a traditional healing practice. |
| Latin | The adjective "fictilis" in Latin can also mean "made of clay" or "fictitious, feigned, imaginary". |
| Latvian | The Latvian word "ķieģelis" likely derives from a Russian "кирпич", which in turn originates from the Greek word "κεραμίδιον" ("roof tile"). |
| Lithuanian | Lithuanian for "brick", "plyta" also describes other flat, usually rectangular things like the wooden plank in "lenta plyta" (cutting board) or the metal base of something like a bed in "lova plyta." |
| Luxembourgish | The word "Zillen" is also used colloquially to refer to a small, rectangular piece of paper or cardboard. |
| Macedonian | The word "тула" can also refer to a type of fish similar to a catfish called a "тула". |
| Malagasy | The word "biriky" in Malagasy, meaning "brick", is derived from the Arabic word "birik", meaning "water tank". The word "birik" was later adopted into Swahili as "biriki", which then spread to Madagascar via trade and cultural exchange. |
| Malay | The word "batu bata" also means "red brick" in Malay, which is reflected in its literal meaning of "red stone". |
| Malayalam | The word "ഇഷ്ടിക" is derived from the Sanskrit word "อิษฎिका" (iṣṭikā), meaning "burnt brick". |
| Maltese | The Maltese word "briks" is derived from the Italian word "breccia", meaning "rubble" or "stone fragments". |
| Maori | The word "pereki" can also refer to the process of making bricks or the place where bricks are made. |
| Marathi | In Marathi, 'वीट' not only refers to a brick, but also connotes firmness, resoluteness, or durability. |
| Mongolian | The word "тоосго" (brick) in Mongolian is derived from the Old Turkic word "toγuš" meaning "burnt". |
| Myanmar (Burmese) | The word can also be used figuratively to refer to something that is solid or unyielding. |
| Nepali | " ईंट " का वैकल्पिक अर्थ " पत्थर की मूर्ति " है। |
| Norwegian | The term "murstein" derives from the Old Norse word "múr", meaning "wall" and "stein", meaning "stone". |
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | The word "njerwa" is derived from the Proto-Bantu root "-dzela-" meaning "to build" and can also refer to a type of clay or mud used in construction. |
| Pashto | The Pashto word "خښته" also refers to "dry land" and "a small piece of land allotted to each tribe member for grazing livestock" |
| Persian | In Persian folklore, the term "آجر" is also associated with wisdom and knowledge, often used figuratively as "laying down knowledge as if laying bricks." |
| Polish | "Cegła" originates from "tegula", a Latin word for "roof tile" |
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | In Brazil, "tijolo" also refers to a type of small, rectangular cheese. |
| Punjabi | The word 'ਇੱਟ' can also refer to the Indian musical instrument known as the 'ektara'. It consists of a long wooden stick with a gourd at one end and one or two strings stretched over it. |
| Romanian | "Cărămidă" originally meant a red stone, hence the name of the city of Câmpulung Moldovenesc, whose name comes from the Romanian "cîmp" (field) and "lung" (long), and the Slavic word "moldavan" (Moldovian), meaning the "long field of the red stone." |
| Russian | The Russian word "кирпич" has its origins in the Old Russian word "плинфа", which means "flat stone" or "tile". |
| Samoan | The Samoan word "piliki" may also refer to a type of taro or a tool used for breaking coconuts. |
| Scots Gaelic | The Scots Gaelic word for brick, 'breige', also means 'speckled' or 'freckled', reflecting the traditional use of bricks for paving. |
| Serbian | The word "цигла" can also refer to a roofing tile or a type of oven used for baking bread. |
| Sesotho | Setene is a cognate word with isiXhosa 'isitya', which means 'pot', and Zulu 'isitsha', which means 'plate'. |
| Shona | The word 'zvidhinha' is also used to refer to a type of small, round stone found in some parts of Zimbabwe. |
| Sindhi | The word 'اينٽ' (brick) in Sindhi is derived from the Sanskrit word 'iṣṭikā' (brick) and also means 'a wall' or 'a fortress' in some contexts. |
| Sinhala (Sinhalese) | The word "ගඩොල්" (brick) is derived from the Sanskrit word "गृहद्वार" (house-door), indicating its original use in building the walls of houses. |
| Slovak | The word "tehla" might come from Latin "tegula" (roof tile) |
| Slovenian | Opekarna is a Slovenian word for brick kiln. |
| Somali | The word "leben" can also refer to a rectangular stone used in building houses in Somalia. |
| Spanish | The Spanish word "ladrillo" comes from the Latin word later, lateris, "brick", and means "tile" in some parts of Spain. |
| Sundanese | The word "bata" in Sundanese, which means "brick", also has the colloquial meaning of "friend" or "peer." |
| Swahili | In northern Tanzania, 'matofali' may also mean 'red clay' or 'burnt earth'. |
| Swedish | The word 'tegel' is derived from the Old Swedish word 'tighel' meaning 'tile' or 'brick,' ultimately from the Middle Low German word 'tegel,' which in turn comes from the Latin word 'tegula,' meaning 'tile'. |
| Tagalog (Filipino) | "Brick" in Filipino also refers to "gold" and "a lump of something" |
| Tajik | The word "хишт" in Tajik can also refer to a "sun-dried clay brick". |
| Tamil | The Tamil word 'செங்கல்' primarily refers to a 'brick' but it also signifies 'copper', with the word's etymology potentially originating from the root 'செம்' ('red') and referring to the reddish hue of both bricks and copper. |
| Telugu | The word "ఇటుక" (brick) is also used to refer to a small piece of something, such as a piece of wood or metal. |
| Thai | The Thai word for brick, "อิฐ," originates from the Sanskrit word "istakā," which means "burnt brick." |
| Turkish | The word 'tuğla' comes from the Persian word 'tūkhalah', meaning 'dried brick'. In some contexts, it can also refer to a block of wood or metal. |
| Ukrainian | "Цегла" (brick) also means "trouble" or "problem" colloquially in Ukrainian. |
| Urdu | The word "اینٹ" (brick) in Urdu is derived from the Sanskrit word "iṣṭikā" (brick). |
| Uzbek | The word "g'isht" is likely derived from the Persian word "khesht", meaning "brick" or "tile". |
| Vietnamese | The word "gạch" can also refer to a line or stroke, such as in writing or drawing. |
| Welsh | The Welsh word "brics" can also refer to a "speck" or "freckle". |
| Xhosa | The word "isitena" in Xhosa, meaning "brick," is also used to refer to other hard, red objects like certain types of soil. |
| Yiddish | "ציגל" in Yiddish sometimes references a "brick" or "block" in a figurative sense, similar to "blockhead" in English. |
| Yoruba | The Yoruba word "okuta" also means "stone" or "rock" and is related to the word "okùn," which means "heavy." |
| Zulu | The Zulu word "isitini" also means "something heavy" in reference to its weight. |
| English | "Brick" can refer to a loaf of compressed tea, a rectangular block of compressed cannabis, or a small briquette of coal. |