Afrikaans land | ||
Albanian vendi | ||
Amharic ሀገር | ||
Arabic بلد | ||
Armenian երկիր | ||
Assamese দেশ | ||
Aymara marka | ||
Azerbaijani ölkə | ||
Bambara jamana | ||
Basque herrialdea | ||
Belarusian краіна | ||
Bengali দেশ | ||
Bhojpuri देश | ||
Bosnian zemlja | ||
Bulgarian държава | ||
Catalan país | ||
Cebuano nasud | ||
Chinese (Simplified) 国家 | ||
Chinese (Traditional) 國家 | ||
Corsican paese | ||
Croatian zemlja | ||
Czech země | ||
Danish land | ||
Dhivehi ޤައުމު | ||
Dogri देश | ||
Dutch land | ||
English country | ||
Esperanto lando | ||
Estonian riik | ||
Ewe dukᴐ | ||
Filipino (Tagalog) bansa | ||
Finnish maa | ||
French pays | ||
Frisian lân | ||
Galician país | ||
Georgian ქვეყანა | ||
German land | ||
Greek χώρα | ||
Guarani tetã | ||
Gujarati દેશ | ||
Haitian Creole peyi | ||
Hausa ƙasa | ||
Hawaiian ʻāina | ||
Hebrew מדינה | ||
Hindi देश | ||
Hmong lub teb chaws | ||
Hungarian ország | ||
Icelandic land | ||
Igbo obodo | ||
Ilocano pagilian | ||
Indonesian negara | ||
Irish tír | ||
Italian nazione | ||
Japanese 国 | ||
Javanese negara | ||
Kannada ದೇಶ | ||
Kazakh ел | ||
Khmer ប្រទេស | ||
Kinyarwanda igihugu | ||
Konkani देश | ||
Korean 국가 | ||
Krio kɔntri | ||
Kurdish welat | ||
Kurdish (Sorani) وڵات | ||
Kyrgyz өлкө | ||
Lao ປະເທດ | ||
Latin patriam | ||
Latvian valstī | ||
Lingala mboka | ||
Lithuanian šalis | ||
Luganda eggwanga | ||
Luxembourgish land | ||
Macedonian земја | ||
Maithili देश | ||
Malagasy firenena | ||
Malay negara | ||
Malayalam രാജ്യം | ||
Maltese pajjiż | ||
Maori whenua | ||
Marathi देश | ||
Meiteilon (Manipuri) ꯂꯩꯕꯥꯛ | ||
Mizo ram | ||
Mongolian улс | ||
Myanmar (Burmese) တိုင်းပြည် | ||
Nepali देश | ||
Norwegian land | ||
Nyanja (Chichewa) dziko | ||
Odia (Oriya) ଦେଶ | ||
Oromo biyya | ||
Pashto هیواد | ||
Persian کشور | ||
Polish kraj | ||
Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) país | ||
Punjabi ਦੇਸ਼ | ||
Quechua hatun llaqta | ||
Romanian țară | ||
Russian страна | ||
Samoan atunuu | ||
Sanskrit देशः | ||
Scots Gaelic dùthaich | ||
Sepedi naga | ||
Serbian земља | ||
Sesotho naha | ||
Shona nyika | ||
Sindhi ملڪ | ||
Sinhala (Sinhalese) රට | ||
Slovak krajina | ||
Slovenian država | ||
Somali dalka | ||
Spanish país | ||
Sundanese nagara | ||
Swahili nchi | ||
Swedish land | ||
Tagalog (Filipino) bansa | ||
Tajik кишвар | ||
Tamil நாடு | ||
Tatar ил | ||
Telugu దేశం | ||
Thai ประเทศ | ||
Tigrinya ሃገር | ||
Tsonga tiko | ||
Turkish ülke | ||
Turkmen ýurt | ||
Twi (Akan) ɔman | ||
Ukrainian країна | ||
Urdu ملک | ||
Uyghur دۆلەت | ||
Uzbek mamlakat | ||
Vietnamese quốc gia | ||
Welsh wlad | ||
Xhosa ilizwe | ||
Yiddish לאַנד | ||
Yoruba orilẹ-ede | ||
Zulu izwe |
| Language | Etymology / Notes |
|---|---|
| Afrikaans | The Afrikaans word "land" can also refer to rural land or property in general. |
| Albanian | "Vendi" can also mean "the people of a country" or "the population of a country". |
| Amharic | The word ሀገር (country) is derived from the Ge'ez word ሐገረ (to separate), and can also refer to a region or province. |
| Arabic | " بلدة "(town) originated from ancient word " بلد" (town) or " بلد "(dwelling)" |
| Armenian | The word “երկիր” (country) in Armenian initially referred to the Earth. |
| Azerbaijani | The word "ölkə" is derived from the Old Turkic "ülke", meaning "land, territory, or domain", and is cognate with the modern Turkish "ülke" and Mongolian "ulys". |
| Basque | The word "herrialdea" in Basque is derived from "herri" (people) and "alde" (side) and can also refer to "nation" or "region" |
| Belarusian | The word "краіна" comes from the Old Slavic word *krajina*, originally a border area, then "place", "land", "territory", finally "a politically governed unit of territory". |
| Bengali | The word "দেশ" (country) in Bengali can also mean "direction" or "way". |
| Bosnian | In Old Church Slavonic, the word "zemlja" also meant "soil" or "land". |
| Bulgarian | The word “държава” has also been used in the sense of “state” or “government” in the past. |
| Catalan | In Catalan, "país" can refer to a native or ancestral land or to a rural or uncultivated area like a countryside or wilderness. |
| Cebuano | The Cebuano word "nasud" has cognate words in other Austronesian languages such as "negara" (Malay) and "negeri" (Indonesian). These terms originally referred to the idea of "homeland" or "place of origin" rather than a specific political entity. |
| Chinese (Simplified) | 国家, a compound word meaning 'nation-state', can also refer to a particular 'dynasty'. |
| Chinese (Traditional) | The Chinese term "國家" (country) originally meant "family-nation" or "clan-nation". |
| Corsican | In Corsica, "paese" can also refer to a village or town. |
| Croatian | The Slavic root of zemlja originally referred to the ground worked by a community of people. |
| Czech | The word "země" in Czech has the same root as "earth" and can refer to both a country and the planet. |
| Danish | In Danish, the word "Land" can also refer to a province or a specific area. |
| Dutch | The Dutch word "land" is cognate with the English word "land," both derived from the Proto-Germanic word *landą, meaning "piece of ground, territory." |
| Esperanto | The Esperanto word 'lando', meaning 'country', also has a secondary meaning of 'land' or 'territory' |
| Estonian | The word "riik" is also used to refer to the state as a political entity, or the territory under the control of a government. |
| Finnish | "Maa" is also the word for "earth" and "soil" in Finnish. |
| French | The word 'pays' is derived from the Latin 'pagus', meaning '乡' |
| Frisian | The word "lân" in Frisian also refers to rural areas outside of villages and towns. |
| Galician | The Galician word "país" derives from the Latin "pagus", meaning "village" or "township". |
| Georgian | ქვეყანა (kveqana) in Georgian literally means "under heaven" and is also used to refer to the surface of the Earth. |
| German | The German word "Land" can also refer to a federal state within Germany, a state or province within Austria, or a canton within Switzerland. |
| Greek | Χώρα derives from the ancient Greek word χωρεῖν (khorein), meaning "to hold" or "to contain", and shares etymological roots with the concepts of "place" and "territory" |
| Gujarati | The Gujarati word "દેશ" (country) comes from Sanskrit 'deś' ('native place', 'village', 'region', 'country') which also gave rise to 'desh' in Hindi, Bengali, Odia, and 'diyas' meaning country in Persian and Kurdish. |
| Haitian Creole | Peyi also refers to "hometown" or, especially in rural areas, one's entire commune of origin. |
| Hausa | The word "ƙasa" also means "ground" or "land" in Hausa. |
| Hawaiian | ʻĀina can also be translated as "that which feeds" or "land that can be cultivated". |
| Hebrew | The Hebrew word "מדינה" (medinah), derived from the root "דין" (din) meaning "law," originally referred to a province governed by law, later evolving to denote a sovereign nation. |
| Hindi | In Sanskrit, 'देश' means 'direction' or 'region', and is also a synonym for 'foreign land' |
| Hmong | Lub teb chaws (country) is also a homonym for the phrase meaning 'the land of birth'. |
| Hungarian | 'Ország' (country) derives from the word meaning 'share', and was originally the share allotted to a family or clan of the ruling class. |
| Icelandic | In Icelandic, 'land' can also refer to certain geographical regions within a country or territories associated with that country. |
| Igbo | Obodo also means "land" and is related to "odo," which means "river" in the Igbo language |
| Indonesian | The word "negara" derives from Sanskrit and can also mean "city" or "state" in other Southeast Asian languages. |
| Irish | The word "tír" in Irish also refers to land, territory, or region. |
| Italian | The word "nazione" derives from the Latin word "natio", meaning "birthplace" or "race". |
| Japanese | 国 was originally a pictogram of a city surrounded by walls, and later came to refer to the entire country. |
| Javanese | The word "negara" in Javanese also means "town", "kingdom", or "state". |
| Kannada | The Kannada word "ದೇಶ" not only means "country" but also a place, region, or homeland |
| Kazakh | 'Ел' originally meant 'family' in Old Tatar. The meaning of 'family' is still preserved by the derivative 'ел-басы' (head of family) in Kazakh and Kyrgyz, 'el-aga' ('brother of the family') in Bashkir and 'il-aga' in Turkish. |
| Khmer | The Khmer word "ប្រទេស" comes from the Sanskrit words "pra" (before) and "deśa" (region). |
| Korean | The word "국가" (country) in Korean has alternate meanings of "state", "nation", or "homeland". |
| Kurdish | "Welat" also means "wealth" in Kurdish and is derived from the Persian word "molat". |
| Kyrgyz | The word "өлкө" can also refer to a "region" or "province". |
| Lao | The Lao word ປະເທດ can also refer to a specific land area, such as a province or district. |
| Latin | The Latin word "patriam" ("country") originally referred to the land of one's fathers, or patria. |
| Latvian | The word "valstī" in Latvian originates from the Old Prussian word "*walstī", meaning "ruler" or "leader". |
| Lithuanian | The word "Šalis" can also refer to a side, direction, or region. |
| Luxembourgish | In Luxembourgish, "Land" also refers to the country's rural areas or to the agricultural industry. |
| Macedonian | The word "земја" in Macedonian derives from the Proto-Indo-European root "ǵʰdʰém-ā". In addition to its meaning of "country," it can also refer to the physical land surface on Earth. |
| Malagasy | The word "firenena" in Malagasy is derived from the Proto-Austronesian word "tana", meaning "land" or "earth". |
| Malay | The word "negara" in Malay has historically been used in Southeast Asia to refer to "state", "city", "nation", and even "house". |
| Malayalam | രാജ്യം (rajyam) originally referred to a political administrative unit during the 4th-5th century but came to mean 'country' by the 9th-10th century. |
| Maltese | The word "pajjiż" is derived from the Italian word "paese", meaning "village" or "region". |
| Maori | Maori word "whenua" also denotes the human body, the placenta, and the afterbirth. |
| Marathi | The word "देश" has several meanings, including: land, region, place, home, fatherland, native country, and state. |
| Mongolian | The Mongolian word "улс" (country) is also used to refer to a nation, state, or people. |
| Nepali | The Nepali word 'देश' comes from the Sanskrit word 'देश' and means 'region or land'. It is also used to refer to one's homeland or birthplace. |
| Norwegian | The Norwegian word "land" can also refer to a specific geographical region or territory, such as "Nordland" or "Vestlandet." |
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | In addition to "country," "dziko" can refer to homeland; the world; a person's place of origin; one's country; one's land or home; or an area inhabited by certain people. |
| Pashto | The word "hewad" derives from the Persian "hywad" meaning "place". It also carries the connotation of "home" or "native land". |
| Persian | The word "کشور" in Persian derives from "کش" (to stretch) and "ور" (area), alluding to the geographical extent of a country. |
| Polish | Kraj also means "end, limit, border" or "region, area, land" in Polish. |
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | In Portuguese, 'país' can also refer to a person's homeland or nationality. |
| Punjabi | ਦੇਸ਼ (desh) is a Sanskrit-derived word that also means "direction" and "region" in Punjabi. |
| Romanian | In Romanian, "țară" can also mean "homeland", "land", or "region". |
| Russian | In Russian, the word "страна" (country) originated from the Old Church Slavonic word "сътрань" meaning "foreign land". |
| Samoan | "Atunuu" is a compound word derived from "atu" (home) and "nuu" (land), referring to land one is familiar with and belonging to. |
| Scots Gaelic | Duthaich is a Gaelic term with connections to the Celtic idea of the 'tribe', the clan, and its land. |
| Serbian | "Земља" in Serbian means both "country" and "earth," a cognate of Slavic languages meaning "land, soil." |
| Sesotho | The word "Naha" can also refer to one's hometown or village in Sesotho. |
| Shona | The word "nyika" can also refer to a wilderness or a vast expanse of land. |
| Sindhi | The term "ملڪ" in Sindhi holds significant historical significance, tracing its roots to the Sanskrit root "mlekh," meaning "barbarian" or "foreign land." |
| Sinhala (Sinhalese) | The word "රට" (raṭa) in Sinhala derives from the Sanskrit word "राष्ट्र" (rāṣṭra) and shares similar meanings of "nation", "state", and "territory". |
| Slovak | Krajin- (from kraj) also means "edge", "region", "district" or "border". The Slovak "kraj" (pl. kraje) is not usually translated as "country" but rather as a "region" (one of the eight regions of Slovakia), but it is the same word. |
| Slovenian | In Slovene, "država" originally denoted a form of ownership, a "holding" or "estate", and only later came to mean "country". |
| Somali | The Somali word "dalka" originates from the Proto-Somali term "*dale" meaning "land, region, territory" and cognates with the Afar word "dala" meaning "country". |
| Spanish | The Spanish word "país" originally meant "a place where you graze sheep" or "a region". |
| Sundanese | The word 'nagara' in Sundanese also refers to a type of traditional Javanese and Sundanese drum. |
| Swahili | "Nchi" originates from the older Swahili word "inchi", derived from the Proto-Bantu language root "*ntɨ̀". |
| Swedish | In Swedish, "land" can also mean "province" or "property", and "country" is "landskap" or "nation." |
| Tagalog (Filipino) | "Bansa" comes from the Sanskrit word "vamsa" meaning "lineage, race". |
| Tajik | The Tajik word "кишвар" comes from the Sanskrit "क्षत्र" and is also used to refer to the "continent" or a "region within a country". |
| Tamil | "நாடு" also means "to seek" and the land where we live is named so because it is the land where we seek our living. |
| Telugu | In Telugu, the word "దేశం" can also refer to a region or a kingdom. |
| Thai | Originally meaning "a gathering place" or "meeting point," "ประเทศ" came to refer to the territory under a unified political order during the Ayutthaya period. |
| Turkish | "Ülke" is also used colloquially to mean "the homeland" or "one's native land." |
| Ukrainian | The word "країна" likely originates from the Old Slavic "kraj", which denoted a border, boundary, or region. |
| Urdu | The Urdu word "ملک" "(mulk)" originally meant "property" or "estate", and can still refer to property ownership in addition to its most common meaning of "country". |
| Uzbek | The word "mamlakat" in Uzbek comes from the Persian word "mamlakat", which means "kingdom" or "state", and is related to the Arabic word "mamlaka", which means "dominion" or "realm". |
| Vietnamese | "Quốc gia" evolved from the Chinese concept of "guojia," where "guo" refers to the territorial state and "jia" to the ruling house or dynasty. |
| Welsh | It can also mean "son of", as in "ap Gwilym WladforǷ. |
| Xhosa | "Ilizwe" may also refer to a particular area of land or a homeland, and it can also be used to refer to the rural countryside. |
| Yiddish | The Yiddish word לאַנד "country" also means "province" or "state" in German, but is commonly used to mean "country" in Yiddish. |
| Yoruba | "Orílẹ̀-èdè" is a combination of the words "òrí" (edge, border) and "ilé" (home), signifying the area where one's home is located. |
| Zulu | The word "izwe" in Zulu also refers to a place or region, and it is related to the word "kwa", which means "home" or "place of belonging". |
| English | The word "country" derives from the Old French "contrée," meaning "region" or "territory." |