Afrikaans ontken | ||
Albanian mohoj | ||
Amharic መካድ | ||
Arabic أنكر | ||
Armenian հերքել | ||
Assamese প্ৰত্যাখ্যান কৰা | ||
Aymara janiw saña | ||
Azerbaijani inkar et | ||
Bambara ka dalacɛ | ||
Basque ukatu | ||
Belarusian адмаўляць | ||
Bengali অস্বীকার | ||
Bhojpuri मना | ||
Bosnian poricati | ||
Bulgarian отричам | ||
Catalan negar | ||
Cebuano ilimod | ||
Chinese (Simplified) 拒绝 | ||
Chinese (Traditional) 拒絕 | ||
Corsican nigà | ||
Croatian poricati | ||
Czech odmítnout | ||
Danish nægte | ||
Dhivehi ދޮގުކުރުން | ||
Dogri मनाही | ||
Dutch ontkennen | ||
English deny | ||
Esperanto nei | ||
Estonian eitada | ||
Ewe xe mᴐ | ||
Filipino (Tagalog) tanggihan | ||
Finnish kieltää | ||
French nier | ||
Frisian ûntkenne | ||
Galician negar | ||
Georgian უარყოფენ | ||
German verweigern | ||
Greek αρνούμαι | ||
Guarani mbotove | ||
Gujarati નામંજૂર | ||
Haitian Creole refize | ||
Hausa ƙaryatãwa | ||
Hawaiian hoole | ||
Hebrew לְהַכּחִישׁ | ||
Hindi मना | ||
Hmong tsis lees | ||
Hungarian tagadni | ||
Icelandic neita | ||
Igbo gọnahụ | ||
Ilocano ilibak | ||
Indonesian menyangkal | ||
Irish shéanadh | ||
Italian negare | ||
Japanese 拒否する | ||
Javanese nolak | ||
Kannada ನಿರಾಕರಿಸು | ||
Kazakh жоққа шығару | ||
Khmer បដិសេធ | ||
Kinyarwanda guhakana | ||
Konkani न्हयकार | ||
Korean 부정하다 | ||
Krio dinay | ||
Kurdish înkarkirin | ||
Kurdish (Sorani) نکۆڵی کردن | ||
Kyrgyz тануу | ||
Lao ປະຕິເສດ | ||
Latin negare | ||
Latvian noliegt | ||
Lingala kopekisa | ||
Lithuanian neigti | ||
Luganda okweegaana | ||
Luxembourgish ofstreiden | ||
Macedonian негира | ||
Maithili मना करनाइ | ||
Malagasy handà | ||
Malay menafikan | ||
Malayalam നിഷേധിക്കുക | ||
Maltese tiċħad | ||
Maori whakakahore | ||
Marathi नाकारणे | ||
Meiteilon (Manipuri) ꯌꯥꯅꯤꯡꯗꯕ | ||
Mizo hnawl | ||
Mongolian үгүйсгэх | ||
Myanmar (Burmese) ငြင်း | ||
Nepali अस्वीकार | ||
Norwegian benekte | ||
Nyanja (Chichewa) kukana | ||
Odia (Oriya) ଅସ୍ୱୀକାର କର | | ||
Oromo ganuu | ||
Pashto رد کول | ||
Persian انکار | ||
Polish zaprzeczać | ||
Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) negar | ||
Punjabi ਇਨਕਾਰ | ||
Quechua mana uyakuy | ||
Romanian nega | ||
Russian отказываться от | ||
Samoan faafitia | ||
Sanskrit अपह्नुते | ||
Scots Gaelic àicheadh | ||
Sepedi gana | ||
Serbian негирати | ||
Sesotho hana | ||
Shona kuramba | ||
Sindhi انڪار ڪر | ||
Sinhala (Sinhalese) ප්රතික්ෂේප කරන්න | ||
Slovak poprieť | ||
Slovenian zanikati | ||
Somali diidi | ||
Spanish negar | ||
Sundanese mungkir | ||
Swahili kanusha | ||
Swedish förneka | ||
Tagalog (Filipino) tanggihan | ||
Tajik инкор кардан | ||
Tamil மறுக்க | ||
Tatar инкарь | ||
Telugu తిరస్కరించండి | ||
Thai ปฏิเสธ | ||
Tigrinya ምኽሓድ | ||
Tsonga ala | ||
Turkish reddetmek | ||
Turkmen inkär et | ||
Twi (Akan) si kwan | ||
Ukrainian заперечувати | ||
Urdu انکار | ||
Uyghur رەت قىلىش | ||
Uzbek rad etish | ||
Vietnamese phủ nhận | ||
Welsh gwadu | ||
Xhosa khanyela | ||
Yiddish לייקענען | ||
Yoruba sẹ | ||
Zulu ukuphika |
| Language | Etymology / Notes |
|---|---|
| Afrikaans | The Afrikaans word "ontken" originates from the Dutch "ontkennen" and shares its meaning of "deny", but also has a broader sense of "refuse" or "reject". |
| Albanian | The word "mohoj" in Albanian, meaning "deny," has roots in the Proto-Indo-European root *meh₂-, indicating "measure" or "calculate." |
| Amharic | The word መካድ in Amharic can also refer to 'avoiding obstacles'. |
| Arabic | The word "أنكر" in Arabic originally meant "to be hard" and "to reject". |
| Armenian | The verb “հերքել” is derived from the Armenian word “հերք”, which means “denial” and has an alternative meaning of “to refuse”. |
| Azerbaijani | The Azerbaijani word "inkar et" ("deny") is used in legal contexts to refer to "denial of guilt" |
| Basque | This verb can also mean 'forbid, prohibit, prevent'. |
| Belarusian | The word "адмаўляць" can also mean "to refuse" or "to decline" in Belarusian. |
| Bengali | In ancient times the term 'অস্বীকার' was often applied for refusing food and drinks during religious rituals and later it began to be more commonly employed in its present connotation. |
| Bosnian | "Poricati" is of Slavic origin and its root "por" also appears in the word "poreklo" (origin). |
| Bulgarian | The word "отричам" is derived from the Old Church Slavonic word "отрещи", meaning to renounce or reject. |
| Catalan | The Catalan word "negar" also means "to submerge" and derives from the Vulgar Latin "negare" (to deny) and the Latin "nigrāre" (to blacken). |
| Cebuano | The root of "ilimod" came from "il-" which in turn came from the Malay "hili-" which means "to refuse or reject." |
| Chinese (Simplified) | "拒绝" also means "give up" and "reject" in Chinese. |
| Chinese (Traditional) | In Ancient Chinese, the word 拒絕 means 'block a guest from entering', and is a combination of the characters 拒 (to resist) and 絕 (to cut off). |
| Corsican | The Corsican word "nigà" likely derives from the pre-Romance root "*neg-/*nig-", meaning "to refuse". |
| Croatian | The verb 'poricati' also means 'to give birth' in Croatian, sharing a root with the noun 'porod' (birth). |
| Czech | The word "odmítnout" can also mean "to refuse" or "to reject" in Czech. |
| Danish | The word "nægte" is derived from the Old Norse word "neikta" meaning "to refuse" or "to say no". |
| Dutch | In Middle Dutch the verb "ontkennen" meant to not know something and only later on adopted the meaning "to deny something". |
| Esperanto | "Nei" is also the root of some words like "neanto" ("nothing") and "neiista" ("pessimist"). |
| Estonian | Eitata is a verb that means "to deny" in Estonian. It comes from the Proto-Finnic word "*eitada", which also meant "to deny". The word is related to the Finnish word "eittää", which has the same meaning. |
| Finnish | "Kieltää" also means "to forbid". The word "kielto" is related and it means "prohibition" or "ban". |
| French | The word "Nier" in French can also mean "to blacken" or "to tarnish". |
| Frisian | The word ûntkenne can also mean 'to ignore' or 'to refuse'. |
| Galician | The Galician word "negar" has the same Indo-European root as the English word "neighbor". |
| Georgian | In Georgian, "უარყოფენ" (uarq'open) can also refer to abandoning or disowning something or someone. |
| German | The word "verweigern" can also mean to refrain from something, especially an action or request. |
| Greek | "αρνούμαι" also means "refuse","decline","disown" and "renounce" |
| Gujarati | The word "નામંજૂર" comes from the Persian word "nam-anjuman" meaning "disapproved" or "dismissed". |
| Haitian Creole | Refize comes from the French word "réfuter" and also means "disprove" or "contradict". |
| Hausa | The word "ƙaryatãwa" can also mean "to withhold" or "to refuse" in Hausa. |
| Hawaiian | In the 'Ōlelo No'eau 4515, “hoo” means "to go and tell someone"} |
| Hebrew | The Hebrew word "לְהַכּחִישׁ" can also mean "to be disappointed" or "to be ashamed." |
| Hindi | The Hindi word 'मना' ('mana') may also refer to 'forbidding', 'prohibiting', or 'opposing' something or someone. |
| Hmong | In Hmong, the word “tsis lees” can also refer to a refusal to accept something as true or to recognize something as legitimate. |
| Hungarian | "Tagadni" also means "to refuse, to decline, to reject, to contradict" |
| Icelandic | Neita, meaning "deny" in Icelandic, is derived from the Old Norse word "neita," meaning "to refuse" or "to deny, |
| Igbo | The word "gọnahụ" can also mean "to refuse" or "to reject" in Igbo. |
| Indonesian | The word "menyangkal" also means "to counteract or to nullify" in the context of a substance or effect. |
| Irish | Sheanadh translates to "deny" and also means "to shun, refuse, or reject". |
| Italian | The word 'negare' also means 'to not want' or 'to refuse' in Italian. |
| Japanese | It comes from the Old Japanese words "ko" (refuse) and "fu" (not), which are also the root of the word "kofusu". This word originally meant "to reject" but gained its modern meaning during the Edo period. |
| Javanese | 'Nolak' is a slang which comes from 'menolak' |
| Kannada | The word "ನಿರಾಕರಿಸು" can also mean to refuse, reject, or disavow something. |
| Khmer | The word "បដិសេធ" derives from the Sanskrit word "pratiṣedha" which also means "denial" or "rejection". |
| Korean | 부정하다 can also mean 'unjust' or 'dishonest' |
| Kurdish | The Kurdish word 'înkarkirin' is derived from the Persian word 'انکار کردن' (inkār kardan), which also means 'to deny' or 'to refuse'. |
| Kyrgyz | The word "тануу" in Kyrgyz also means "recognise" or "admit". |
| Latin | Negare also means "to postpone," "to decline," or "to refrain" in Latin. |
| Latvian | Latvian "noliegt" derives from "liegen" (German: to lie), and means "to deny," "to refuse," or "to oppose." |
| Lithuanian | "Neigti" is also used to refer to the act of refusing to accept something as true or valid. |
| Luxembourgish | Its Middle High German cognates `verstriden` and `verstricken` convey the semantic nuances of |
| Macedonian | The Macedonian word "негира" is ultimately derived from the Greek prefix "neg-" (negating, opposing, refusing), meaning "негација" (negation) |
| Malagasy | The Malagasy word "handà" also means "hinder", "prevent", or "obstruct". |
| Malay | The word "menafikan" in Malay also signifies "contradicting" or "invalidating" something. |
| Maltese | The Maltese word "tiċħad" is derived from the Arabic word "jaḥad" which means "to deny" or "to renounce". |
| Maori | The Maori phrase "whakakahore" is also used to describe the act of rejecting or opposing something. |
| Marathi | The word "नाकारणे" ("deny") is cognate with the Hindi word "नाकरना"} |
| Mongolian | The word "үгүйсгэх" can also mean "to refuse" or "to reject". |
| Nepali | The Nepali word "अस्वीकार" is cognate with the Sanskrit "asvi-kr-noti" meaning "to cause (someone) not to be or do (something)". In ancient Sanskrit it could also mean 'not to accept as a guest'. |
| Norwegian | The Norwegian word "benekte" also means "contradict" or "disprove". |
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | The word "kukana" in Nyanja (Chichewa) can also mean "to refuse" or "to decline". |
| Pashto | The word "رد کول" can also mean "to dismiss" or "to reject" in Pashto. |
| Persian | The Persian word "انکار" (denying) used to have a secondary meaning of "ignoring" which is now uncommon but is still used in proverbs such as "انکار گرگ مرگ است" (Ignoring the wolf is death). |
| Polish | The verb "zaprzeczać" comes from the Proto-Slavic verb "*prěti/*pirti", meaning "to fight", "to oppose". |
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | The word negar derives from the Latin "negare", whose other meanings include "say no," "refuse," and "forbid." |
| Romanian | The Romanian word "nega" derives from Slavic, where its original meaning was "to scold" or "to speak out against". |
| Russian | The verb "отказываться от" can also mean "to give up" or "to decline". |
| Samoan | In addition to its primary meaning of "deny," the Samoan word "faafitia" can also mean "disallow," "forbid," or "refuse permission." |
| Scots Gaelic | Àicheadh is derived from the Old Irish word "aithchedd," meaning "to refuse, deny, or reject." |
| Serbian | "Негирати" comes from Latin negare and originally meant "to decline to accept," though in modern Serbian it usually just means "to deny." |
| Sesotho | In some dialects, "hana" can also refer to "to refrain" or "to forbid." |
| Shona | The Shona word "kuramba" can also mean "hide" or "conceal". |
| Sindhi | It is derived from the Persian word انکار meaning rejection, denial, and disapproval. |
| Slovak | Pôvod slova pochádza zo slovesa „prať‟, čo znamenalo popierať v starom českom práve. |
| Slovenian | "Zanikati" also means "disappear" in Slovenian. |
| Somali | `Diidi` is the negation particle in Somali, used for the present or future tense. |
| Spanish | Negar also means "to refuse" or "to contradict". |
| Sundanese | The word mungkir can also mean 'to break a promise' or 'to fail to do something'. |
| Swahili | The word "kanusha" also means "refuse" and may be related to the root "kan" (to withstand). |
| Swedish | The word "förneka" in Swedish stems from the Old Norse word "fornækta," meaning "to refuse, disown, or deny." |
| Tagalog (Filipino) | The word 'tanggihan' originally meant 'to refuse' and could also refer to a type of defensive sword play. |
| Tajik | The word "инкор кардан" may also refer to the concept of preventing or resisting. |
| Tamil | In Tamil, the word "மறுக்க" can also mean "to reject", "to refuse", or "to disapprove of". |
| Thai | ปฏิเสธ ('deny') shares the same root as the word 'ปฏิ' ('against') |
| Turkish | "Reddetmek" is etymologically related to "ret etmek", which literally translates as "to give something in turn", hence meaning "to deny, refuse". |
| Ukrainian | The Ukrainian word "заперечувати" is derived from the Old Slavic verb "prěti" (to argue, to deny), which is also the origin of the Russian word "спорить" (to argue). |
| Urdu | In addition to its meaning as "to deny," the Urdu word "انکار" (inkār) can also refer to "disavowal," "repudiation," or "disbelief." |
| Uzbek | The word "rad etish" in Uzbek can also mean "to be untrue" or "to be false" |
| Vietnamese | The word "phủ nhận" in Vietnamese can also mean "negate" or "reject". |
| Welsh | The Welsh word "gwadu" can also mean "renounce" or "refuse". |
| Xhosa | The word 'khanyela' is also used in the phrase 'ukukhanyela umoya', which means 'to mock the spirit'. |
| Yiddish | The verb "לייקענען" in Yiddish can also mean "to refuse", "to reject", "to deny", "to disown", "to disclaim", or "to renounce". |
| Yoruba | The Yoruba verb "sẹ" can also mean "refuse", "disagree", or "contradict." |
| Zulu | The word 'ukuphika' in Zulu can also refer to 'covering' or 'concealing' something from view. |
| English | Etymology: From Old French denier, from Latin denegare "to refuse" related to negare "to say no". |