Dark in Different Languages
Discover 'Dark' in 134 Languages: Dive into Translations, Hear Pronunciations, and Uncover Cultural Insights.
Dark
Afrikaans donker | ||
Albanian e errët | ||
Amharic ጨለማ | ||
Arabic داكن | ||
Armenian մութ | ||
Assamese অন্ধকাৰ | ||
Aymara ch'amaka | ||
Azerbaijani qaranlıq | ||
Bambara dibi | ||
Basque iluna | ||
Belarusian цёмны | ||
Bengali অন্ধকার | ||
Bhojpuri अन्हरिया | ||
Bosnian tamno | ||
Bulgarian тъмно | ||
Catalan fosc | ||
Cebuano ngitngit | ||
Chinese (Simplified) 黑暗 | ||
Chinese (Traditional) 黑暗 | ||
Corsican scuru | ||
Croatian tamno | ||
Czech temný | ||
Danish mørk | ||
Dhivehi އަނދިރި | ||
Dogri न्हेरा | ||
Dutch donker | ||
English dark | ||
Esperanto malhela | ||
Estonian pime | ||
Ewe nyrɔ | ||
Filipino (Tagalog) madilim | ||
Finnish tumma | ||
French sombre | ||
Frisian tsjuster | ||
Galician escuro | ||
Georgian ბნელი | ||
German dunkel | ||
Greek σκοτάδι | ||
Guarani pytũ | ||
Gujarati શ્યામ | ||
Haitian Creole fè nwa | ||
Hausa duhu | ||
Hawaiian pouli | ||
Hebrew אפל | ||
Hindi अंधेरा | ||
Hmong tsaus ntuj | ||
Hungarian sötét | ||
Icelandic myrkur | ||
Igbo ọchịchịrị | ||
Ilocano nasipnget | ||
Indonesian gelap | ||
Irish dorcha | ||
Italian buio | ||
Japanese 闇 | ||
Javanese peteng | ||
Kannada ಡಾರ್ಕ್ | ||
Kazakh қараңғы | ||
Khmer ងងឹត | ||
Kinyarwanda umwijima | ||
Konkani काळोख | ||
Korean 어두운 | ||
Krio dak | ||
Kurdish tarî | ||
Kurdish (Sorani) تاریک | ||
Kyrgyz караңгы | ||
Lao ມືດ | ||
Latin tenebris | ||
Latvian tumšs | ||
Lingala molili | ||
Lithuanian tamsu | ||
Luganda ekizikiza | ||
Luxembourgish donkel | ||
Macedonian темно | ||
Maithili अन्हार | ||
Malagasy maizina | ||
Malay gelap | ||
Malayalam ഇരുട്ട് | ||
Maltese skur | ||
Maori pouri | ||
Marathi गडद | ||
Meiteilon (Manipuri) ꯑꯃꯝꯕ | ||
Mizo thim | ||
Mongolian харанхуй | ||
Myanmar (Burmese) မှောငျမိုကျသော | ||
Nepali अँध्यारो | ||
Norwegian mørk | ||
Nyanja (Chichewa) mdima | ||
Odia (Oriya) ଅନ୍ଧାର | ||
Oromo duukkana | ||
Pashto تیاره | ||
Persian تاریک | ||
Polish ciemny | ||
Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) sombrio | ||
Punjabi ਹਨੇਰ | ||
Quechua tutayasqa | ||
Romanian întuneric | ||
Russian темно | ||
Samoan pogisa | ||
Sanskrit तिमिर | ||
Scots Gaelic dorcha | ||
Sepedi leswiswi | ||
Serbian тамно | ||
Sesotho lefifi | ||
Shona kwasviba | ||
Sindhi اونداهو | ||
Sinhala (Sinhalese) අඳුරු | ||
Slovak tmavý | ||
Slovenian temno | ||
Somali mugdi ah | ||
Spanish oscuro | ||
Sundanese poek | ||
Swahili giza | ||
Swedish mörk | ||
Tagalog (Filipino) madilim | ||
Tajik торик | ||
Tamil இருள் | ||
Tatar караңгы | ||
Telugu చీకటి | ||
Thai มืด | ||
Tigrinya ፀልማት | ||
Tsonga xinyama | ||
Turkish karanlık | ||
Turkmen garaňky | ||
Twi (Akan) sum | ||
Ukrainian темний | ||
Urdu سیاہ | ||
Uyghur قاراڭغۇ | ||
Uzbek qorong'i | ||
Vietnamese tối | ||
Welsh tywyll | ||
Xhosa mnyama | ||
Yiddish טונקל | ||
Yoruba ṣokunkun | ||
Zulu kumnyama |
Etymology & Notes
| Language | Etymology / Notes |
|---|---|
| Afrikaans | The word 'donker' not only means dark but also refers to a gloomy temperament. |
| Albanian | The word "e errët" is cognate with the Greek word "erēmos" (ερημος), meaning "wilderness" or "desert". |
| Amharic | In addition to 'darkness,' ጨለማ can refer to misfortune, secrecy, or spiritual deprivation. |
| Arabic | The word "داكن" in Arabic literally translates to "to enter", and is related to the Arabic word "ادخل", meaning "enter". |
| Armenian | "Մութ" has other meanings in Armenian including: secret, mysterious, or vague. |
| Azerbaijani | "Qaranlıq" can also mean "mystery" or "secret" in Azerbaijani. |
| Basque | The word "iluna" in Basque can also refer to the "night" or "shade". |
| Belarusian | The word "цёмны" can also mean "unintelligible" or "mysterious". |
| Bengali | "অন্ধকার" can also mean "the absence of knowledge or understanding". |
| Bosnian | "Tamno" can also refer to a shade of blue. |
| Bulgarian | The word |
| Catalan | The Catalan word "fosc" is derived from the Latin word "fuscus," meaning "dark" or "dusky" |
| Chinese (Simplified) | Besides its meaning of “dark,” 黑暗 (hēiàn) also means “secret” or “mysterious.” |
| Chinese (Traditional) | In addition to its primary meaning of "dark," the Chinese character 黑暗 (hēiàn) can also mean "ignorance" or "evil." |
| Corsican | Corsican "scuru" means "dark", but is also used to describe a "dark brown" or "very dark" shade of color. |
| Croatian | The word "tamno" in Croatian also means "dull" or "obscure". |
| Czech | The word "temný" can also mean "mysterious" or "gloomy" in Czech. |
| Danish | "Mørk" can also refer to an old Danish coin worth one-fourth of a penny. |
| Dutch | The word 'donker' can also refer to a dark-skinned person or a dark-colored horse. |
| Esperanto | "Malhela" is derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *mel-, meaning "black" or "dark." |
| Estonian | The word "pime" may be derived from ancient Proto-Germanic and Proto-Norse roots with similar meanings to darkness. |
| Finnish | The word 'tumma' shares a root with the Estonian word 'tume' and the Karelian word 'tumah, both of which also mean 'dark'. |
| French | The French word "sombre" also means "melancholic" or "gloomy". |
| Frisian | The origin of “tsjuster” is the same as “düüster” and both derive from “dust” in Old English and “dust” in Old Frisian which refers to dusk or darkness. |
| Galician | The Galician word "escuro" ultimately comes from Latin "obscurus", and also means "hidden" or "secret". |
| Georgian | In addition to its primary meaning of "dark" or "black, " ბნელი can be used figuratively to denote negative emotions or events. |
| German | In German, 'dunkel' can also refer to a type of beer with a rich, malty flavor. |
| Greek | The word σκοτάδι also refers to the underworld or realm of the dead in Greek mythology. |
| Gujarati | The word "śyāma" is derived from the Sanskrit word "śyam," meaning "dark," "black," or "blue." |
| Haitian Creole | 'Fè nwa' also means 'to turn off a light' or 'to extinguish a fire' in Haitian Creole. |
| Hausa | The word 'duhu' can also mean 'darkness' or 'shadow' in Hausa. |
| Hawaiian | Pouli, the Hawaiian word for dark, can also refer to the dark coloration of the moon during an eclipse. |
| Hebrew | In Hebrew, אפל ('āp̄el) also means "dark fruit" (such as grapes or figs), "darkness of night", or "mystery or obscurity." |
| Hindi | The Hindi word अंधेरा, meaning "dark," originates from the Sanskrit word अंध, which also signifies "blind" |
| Hmong | The Hmong word "tsaus ntuj" can also mean "night" or "the underworld". |
| Hungarian | The Hungarian word "sötét" also has the meaning of "mysterious" and "unfathomable". |
| Icelandic | The word 'Myrkur' originated from the Old Norse word 'myrkr', which also means 'dark' or 'shadowy'. |
| Igbo | "Ọchịchịrị" may have its etymological root in the Igbo term "chi" (spirit), referring to the absence of light like a spiritless or lifeless body. |
| Irish | The Irish word "dorcha" can also refer to a hidden or unknown aspect of something. |
| Italian | "Buio" is derived from the Latin word "boscus," meaning "wood" or "forest." |
| Japanese | The kanji "闇" (yami) originally meant "hidden" or "obscure" and was often used in the context of divination and supernatural phenomena. |
| Javanese | The word "peteng" in Javanese can also mean "night" or "darkness". |
| Kannada | In Kannada, "ಡಾರ್ಕ್" can also mean "to hide" or "to conceal". |
| Kazakh | The word "қараңғы" is also an archaic name of Qara Qum Desert located south-east of the Aral Sea. |
| Khmer | "ងងឹត" shares the same root word with "ងង" or "ងុំ" meaning "to close", referring to the closed nature of darkness. |
| Korean | " 어두운 " is etymologically related to the word for "child" and in some dialects retains a meaning of "immature". |
| Kurdish | The word "tarî" in Kurdish is derived from the Persian word "tarik" and the Arabic word "tarīq". |
| Kyrgyz | The word "караңгы" also means "secret" and "hidden" in Kyrgyz. |
| Latin | "Tenebris" is sometimes used to refer to the dark of night, while "tenebrae" commonly refers to the darkness of Hell. |
| Latvian | The word "tumšs" is derived from the Proto-Baltic word *tumsa, which also means "darkness" or "shadow". |
| Lithuanian | The Lithuanian word "tamsu" can be traced to Proto-Indo-European *temH-, meaning "dark" or "black". |
| Luxembourgish | The word "donkel" is derived from the Proto-Germanic word "*þunklaz" meaning "dark," and is related to the English word "dank". |
| Macedonian | The word "темно" can also refer to ignorance, mystery, or secrecy. |
| Malagasy | In the Sakalava dialect of Malagasy, "maizina" can also refer to the color "ashy gray" |
| Malay | The word "gelap" or "gelabu" in Malay also means "deep" as in "deep in a swamp" or deep thought. |
| Malayalam | "ഇരുട്ട്" in Malayalam can also mean "shadow", "darkness", "blindness", or "ignorance". |
| Maltese | "Skur" may also mean "ugly" or "unpleasant". |
| Maori | The word "pouri" in Maori also means "night" and "darkness". |
| Marathi | The word "गडद" (dark) also means "dense" or "compact" in Marathi. |
| Mongolian | The word "хараанхуй" is derived from the Proto-Mongolic word *xaraŋ, meaning "black" or "dark". |
| Nepali | The word "अँध्यारो" is derived from the Sanskrit word "अंधकार" meaning "darkness", and is also used figuratively to describe ignorance or lack of understanding. |
| Norwegian | "Mørk" is also an old word for forest, from which the word "myrke" (darkness) is derived. |
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | The word "mdima" in Nyanja can also refer to a forest or a shadow. |
| Pashto | The word "تیاره" also means "night" in Pashto. |
| Persian | The word 'تاریک' originally referred to 'night' rather than 'dark', sharing origins with similar words across several other Indo-European languages. |
| Polish | "Ciemny" comes from Proto-Slavic "kymonъ", meaning "bad" or "evil". It has been used to refer to something dark or obscure, as well as something negative or harmful. |
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | The word "sombrio" is derived from the Latin "subumbrius," meaning "shady" or "cast in shade." |
| Romanian | "Întuneric" originates from the Proto-Indo-European root "*h₁énh₁ter-", meaning "fog", and is related to English "night" and Latin "tenebrae". |
| Russian | Russian "темно" ("night") is cognate with the Ancient Greek "θύνομαι" ("to sacrifice"), likely owing to the practice of nightly sacrifices to ward off evil spirits. |
| Samoan | Pogisa can also be used to describe something hidden, unknown or not visible. |
| Scots Gaelic | The Gaelic word "dorcha" is related to the Irish word "dorcadh" and the Welsh word "tywyll", which likewise mean "dark". |
| Serbian | The word "тамно" derives from the Proto-Slavic root "*tъmъ", meaning "dark, black, or obscured", and is related to the Proto-Indo-European root "*temH-", meaning "dark, black". |
| Sesotho | The word can also refer to a dark or secret place, a hidden or secret thing, and a secret or confidential matter. |
| Shona | The Shona word "kwasviba" can also refer to a type of tree with dark wood. |
| Sindhi | The Sindhi word "اونداهو" also means "hidden" or "mysterious". |
| Sinhala (Sinhalese) | The Sinhalese word 'අඳුරු' can also refer to 'ignorance', 'lack of understanding', or a 'difficult situation'. |
| Slovak | The word "tmavý" also means "dusky" or "sombre" in Slovak. |
| Slovenian | Despite its similarity to the Greek word |
| Somali | In Somali, mugdi also means "late in the night" or "evening hours" |
| Spanish | In Italian, "oscuro" means "obscure" or "unclear", implying a lack of clarity or understanding. |
| Sundanese | The Sundanese word "poek" also refers to a shade of blue, similar to the color of a bruise. |
| Swahili | In Swahili, "giza" can also refer to a deep, unfathomable place or a mystery that is beyond comprehension. |
| Swedish | The Swedish word "mörk" is related to the English word "murk", which means "darkness" or "gloom". |
| Tagalog (Filipino) | "Madilim" comes from the Proto-Malayo-Polynesian word *malem*, which could also mean "night", "deep sleep", "death", "extinction", "obscurity", or "ignorance". |
| Tajik | The word "торик" is also used to describe a type of horse with a dark coat in Tajik. |
| Tamil | The word "இருள்" ("dark") in Tamil is also related to the words "இரு" ("two") and "இரவு" ("night"), indicating its connection to the duality and obscurity of nighttime. |
| Telugu | "చీకటి" means "darkness" and is also the name of a type of lentil soup in Telugu. |
| Thai | While "มืด" commonly means "dark," it can also refer to ignorance or confusion. |
| Turkish | The word "karanlık" in Turkish not only means "dark" but also refers to "ignorance" or "evil." |
| Urdu | "سیاہ" ("dark") in Urdu comes from the Sanskrit word "śyāma" meaning "black, dark, dusky" and has a figurative meaning of "misfortune, sorrow". |
| Uzbek | The Uzbek word "qorong'i" is related to the Mongolian "khare" and Turkish word "kara", both meaning "black" |
| Vietnamese | The Vietnamese word for "dark," "tối," also has connotations of solitude, sadness, or secrecy. |
| Welsh | The Welsh word "tywyll" is cognate with the Irish word "dorcha" and the Latin word "tenebrae", all meaning "darkness." |
| Xhosa | In addition to meaning "darkness," "mnyama" can refer to someone with negative intentions, or misfortune. |
| Yiddish | טונקל (tonkl) also means 'brown coffee' or 'drunken'. |
| Yoruba | "Ṣokunkun" in Yoruba can also refer to something that is hidden or concealed. |
| Zulu | The Zulu word 'kumnyama' for 'dark' also alludes to a state without light or understanding. |
| English | The word 'dark' comes from the Proto-Indo-European root *derk-, meaning 'to see' or 'to perceive'. |