Dirt in Different Languages
Discover 'Dirt' in 134 Languages: Dive into Translations, Hear Pronunciations, and Uncover Cultural Insights.
Dirt
Afrikaans vuil | ||
Albanian i poshtër | ||
Amharic ቆሻሻ | ||
Arabic التراب | ||
Armenian կեղտ | ||
Assamese ময়লা | ||
Aymara q'añu | ||
Azerbaijani kir | ||
Bambara nɔgɔ | ||
Basque zikinkeria | ||
Belarusian бруд | ||
Bengali ময়লা | ||
Bhojpuri गंदगी | ||
Bosnian prljavština | ||
Bulgarian мръсотия | ||
Catalan brutícia | ||
Cebuano hugaw | ||
Chinese (Simplified) 污垢 | ||
Chinese (Traditional) 污垢 | ||
Corsican terra | ||
Croatian prljavština | ||
Czech špína | ||
Danish smuds | ||
Dhivehi ކިލާ | ||
Dogri गलाजत | ||
Dutch aarde | ||
English dirt | ||
Esperanto malpuraĵo | ||
Estonian mustus | ||
Ewe ɖi | ||
Filipino (Tagalog) dumi | ||
Finnish lika | ||
French saleté | ||
Frisian smoargens | ||
Galician sucidade | ||
Georgian ჭუჭყიანი | ||
German schmutz | ||
Greek βρωμιά | ||
Guarani mba'eky'a | ||
Gujarati ગંદકી | ||
Haitian Creole pousyè tè | ||
Hausa datti | ||
Hawaiian lepo | ||
Hebrew עפר | ||
Hindi गंदगी | ||
Hmong av | ||
Hungarian piszok | ||
Icelandic óhreinindi | ||
Igbo unyi | ||
Ilocano rugit | ||
Indonesian kotoran | ||
Irish salachar | ||
Italian sporco | ||
Japanese 泥 | ||
Javanese rereget | ||
Kannada ಕೊಳಕು | ||
Kazakh кір | ||
Khmer ភាពកខ្វក់ | ||
Kinyarwanda umwanda | ||
Konkani घाण | ||
Korean 더러운 | ||
Krio dɔti | ||
Kurdish gemmar | ||
Kurdish (Sorani) پیسی | ||
Kyrgyz кир | ||
Lao ຝຸ່ນ | ||
Latin lutum | ||
Latvian netīrumi | ||
Lingala bosoto | ||
Lithuanian purvas | ||
Luganda ettaka | ||
Luxembourgish dreck | ||
Macedonian нечистотија | ||
Maithili मैला | ||
Malagasy vovoka | ||
Malay kotoran | ||
Malayalam അഴുക്ക് | ||
Maltese ħmieġ | ||
Maori paru | ||
Marathi घाण | ||
Meiteilon (Manipuri) ꯑꯃꯣꯠ ꯑꯀꯥꯏ | ||
Mizo bal | ||
Mongolian шороо | ||
Myanmar (Burmese) ဖုန် | ||
Nepali फोहोर | ||
Norwegian skitt | ||
Nyanja (Chichewa) dothi | ||
Odia (Oriya) ମଇଳା | ||
Oromo xurii | ||
Pashto چټل | ||
Persian خاک | ||
Polish brud | ||
Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) sujeira | ||
Punjabi ਮੈਲ | ||
Quechua qacha | ||
Romanian murdărie | ||
Russian грязь | ||
Samoan palapala | ||
Sanskrit मल | ||
Scots Gaelic salachar | ||
Sepedi tšhila | ||
Serbian прљавштина | ||
Sesotho litšila | ||
Shona tsvina | ||
Sindhi گندگي | ||
Sinhala (Sinhalese) අපිරිසිදු | ||
Slovak špina | ||
Slovenian umazanijo | ||
Somali wasakh | ||
Spanish suciedad | ||
Sundanese kokotor | ||
Swahili uchafu | ||
Swedish smuts | ||
Tagalog (Filipino) dumi | ||
Tajik лой | ||
Tamil அழுக்கு | ||
Tatar пычрак | ||
Telugu దుమ్ము | ||
Thai สิ่งสกปรก | ||
Tigrinya ጓሓፍ | ||
Tsonga thyaka | ||
Turkish kir | ||
Turkmen kir | ||
Twi (Akan) efi | ||
Ukrainian бруд | ||
Urdu گندگی | ||
Uyghur توپا | ||
Uzbek axloqsizlik | ||
Vietnamese chất bẩn | ||
Welsh baw | ||
Xhosa ubumdaka | ||
Yiddish שמוץ | ||
Yoruba eruku | ||
Zulu ukungcola |
Etymology & Notes
| Language | Etymology / Notes |
|---|---|
| Afrikaans | In Old French, "vuil" also meant "vile or worthless," which later became "vuil" in Afrikaans |
| Albanian | The Albanian word "i poshtër" is derived from the Latin word "postis" meaning "doorpost" or "threshold". |
| Amharic | The Amharic word "ቆሻሻ" is also used to refer to waste or garbage. |
| Arabic | The Arabic word "التراب" ("dirt") also means "dust" and is related to the root word "ترب" ("to be dry"). |
| Armenian | "Կեղտ" could also mean "mud," "dust," "filth," or "impurity." |
| Azerbaijani | The word "kir" in Azerbaijani can also refer to "dust" or "soot". |
| Basque | The Basque word "zikinkeria" can also refer to "grease" or "filth". |
| Belarusian | The Belarusian word “бруд” has the same root as the Russian word “грязь”, meaning “mud”. |
| Bengali | "ময়লা" has a secondary meaning of "rust". |
| Bosnian | The word "prljavština" can also mean "filth" or "impurity". |
| Bulgarian | The word "мръсотия" is also used figuratively to refer to something that is morally or ethically wrong. |
| Catalan | The word "brutícia" in Catalan shares its etymology with the word "brutality" in English, both deriving from the Latin word "brutus" meaning "heavy" or "dull." |
| Cebuano | It is cognate with the Tagalog word "hugaw" meaning "mud" or "silt". |
| Chinese (Simplified) | "污垢" can also mean "filth" or "impurity". |
| Chinese (Traditional) | The Chinese character for "dirt" (污垢) is a combination of the character for "water" (氵) and the character for "black" (乌). This suggests that the original meaning of the character was "water that has been contaminated with something black". |
| Corsican | The Corsican word "terra" can also mean "earth" or "land". |
| Croatian | The word "prljavština" also means "obscenity" in Croatian. |
| Czech | In Czech, the word "špína" also means "dishonesty" or "meanness". |
| Danish | The Danish word 'smuds' is derived from the Proto-Germanic root *smuttaz, meaning 'stain' or 'smudge' |
| Dutch | The Dutch word "aarde" is cognate with the English word "earth" and originally referred to the ground, soil, or land. |
| Estonian | The word "mustus" also means "black" in Estonian, and is related to the Finnish word "musta" meaning the same. |
| Finnish | The word "lika" also has a slang meaning of "bad" or "immoral" |
| French | The word "saleté" also means "nastiness" or "indecency" in French. |
| Frisian | The Frisian word "smoargens" is derived from the Old Frisian word "smarnegon" meaning "grease" or "dirt", and is related to the Dutch word "smeer" meaning "grease" or "lard". |
| Galician | The word "sucidade" in Galician comes from the Latin word "societas", meaning "companionship" or "society", and is unrelated to the English word "dirt". |
| Georgian | "ჭუჭყიანი" can refer to dirt, grime, or filth, but it can also be used figuratively to mean something that is worthless or insignificant. |
| German | The Yiddish "shmutz” for “dirt” is related to the German “Schmutz” and the Dutch “smetten”, all derived from “smite.” |
| Greek | The word 'βρωμιά' in Greek may also refer to a nasty smell or odor. |
| Gujarati | The word "ગંદકી" (dirt) in Gujarati is derived from the Sanskrit word "गन्द" (gand), meaning "to smell bad" or "to be dirty". |
| Haitian Creole | The word "pousyè tè" in Haitian Creole derives from the French word "poussière" (dust) and can also refer to dust or pulverized particles in addition to dirt. |
| Hausa | The word 'datti' can also refer to a type of traditional Hausa pudding made from millet flour and fermented milk. |
| Hawaiian | The word "lepo" can also refer to volcanic ash or cinders. |
| Hebrew | The Hebrew word "עפר" (dirt) has its roots in the Arabic word "غبار" (dust) and also means "ashes" in Biblical Hebrew. |
| Hindi | The word "गंदगी" also has the alternate meanings of "filth", "soil" and "impurity" in Hindi. |
| Hmong | The word "av" can also mean "soil" or "earth" in addition to "dirt". |
| Hungarian | The Hungarian word "piszok" can mean impurity or contamination in a moral or physical sense. |
| Icelandic | In Icelandic, óhreinindi can also refer to something unclean or impure. |
| Igbo | Igbo word 'unyi' originates from the word 'ni', meaning 'to be' or 'to exist', and refers to the natural state of soil or earth. |
| Indonesian | The word "kotoran" can also mean "excrement" or "filth". |
| Irish | The Irish word "salachar" can also refer to a "dirty or untidy person" or a "disorderly place". |
| Italian | Originating from the Greek "sporgos," meaning "basket," the term "sporco" in Italian also signifies "freight" or "cargo" when used in nautical contexts |
| Japanese | While the kanji "泥" literally translates to “mud” or “silt,” it can also convey a sense of impurity or immorality. |
| Javanese | Rereget is used to refer to anything that sticks to the feet, including mud, dirt, or tar. |
| Kannada | In Kannada, "ಕೊಳಕು" (dirt) also refers to moral impurity or contamination. |
| Kazakh | "Kіr" also means a horse or camel that has a dark color of the hair, which is also considered a good sign of a strong horse or a valuable camel. |
| Khmer | Phâp khvak can also mean "vulgarity". |
| Korean | The word 더러운 (deoreoun) can also mean 'unclean', 'impure', or 'filthy' in Korean. |
| Kurdish | The word “gemmar” can also refer to a type of mineral or stone in Kurdish. |
| Kyrgyz | The Kyrgyz word “кир” (dirt) is cognate with the Old Turkic word “кiр” meaning "stain", "spot", "filth", or "sin". |
| Lao | The Lao word "ຝຸ່ນ" also means "ashes" and is likely derived from the Proto-Tai word *pʰuːŋᴬ, meaning "fine powder" or "dust". |
| Latin | From the Proto-Indo-European *pleu- (“to clean”), *lut- (“to wash”), and *leux- (“to break”), related to English “lute” and “lotion”. |
| Latvian | The word "netīrumi" also means "trash" or "filth" in Latvian. |
| Lithuanian | "Purvas" is also a synonym for "purvynas" ("swamp") and "žemė" ("earth"). |
| Luxembourgish | The Luxembourgish word "Dreck" is closely related to the German "Dreck", both stemming from the Frankish word "drek" meaning "excrement" or "filth." |
| Macedonian | Macedonian "нечистотија" is derived from Proto-Slavic "nečistъ", meaning "unclean", and is cognate with Bulgarian "нечистота", Ukrainian "нечистота", Russian "нечисть", and Polish "nieczystość". |
| Malagasy | The Malagasy word "vovoka" can also refer to "a small piece of land enclosed in a house". |
| Malay | The word 'kotoran' derives from the Old Javanese word 'kotor', meaning 'impure' or 'unclean'. |
| Malayalam | The Sanskrit origin of the word അഴുക്ക് means not only dirtiness, but also laziness and dullness. |
| Maltese | The Maltese word |
| Maori | The word "paru" can also refer to the lungs, a dark colour, the skin, or the inside of the body. |
| Marathi | The Marathi word 'घाण' ( dirt ) also means 'bad smell'. |
| Mongolian | The word "шороо" (dirt) in Mongolian is thought to be related to the verb "шорох" (to rub or scratch), suggesting a connection between dirt and the process of erosion or abrasion. |
| Myanmar (Burmese) | The word "ဖုန်" can also refer to "dust" or "powder" in Myanmar (Burmese). |
| Nepali | The word "फोहोर" also means "trash" or "garbage". |
| Norwegian | "Skitt", meaning "dirt" in English, derives from Old Norse "skit", meaning a "dung of an animal", and from the Proto-Germanic root "*skit-", from which also stems the German word "Scheiße", meaning "shit", and the English "shit". It also has the meaning of "shit" and "trash" and is commonly used in the phrase "det er skitt" meaning "this is trash or useless". |
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | Dothi can also mean a type of dance performed by the Tumbuka people in Malawi. |
| Pashto | In Persian, the word چټل also refers to a type of earthenware pottery, similar to terracotta. |
| Persian | خاک (khāk) in Persian can refer to a beloved one, the soil, dust, the element earth, ash, clay, and even the entire world. |
| Polish | The word "brud" is also used in Polish to refer to a stain or discoloration on a surface. |
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | "Sujeira" is thought to be of Arabic origin (from the word "suq") as in "marketplace", and may have originally indicated trash or dirt that accumulated in public places. |
| Punjabi | The Punjabi word "ਮੈਲ" can also refer to sin or impurities in the body, mind, or spirit. |
| Romanian | The etymological root of "murdărie" is unknown, but it might originate from the Hungarian word "morda", meaning "mud" or "dirt". |
| Russian | Грязь"'s root is reconstructed as "*gordь" which also meant "fence" and "border" in Proto-Slavic, and is related to Latin "hortus" - "garden" |
| Samoan | In Samoan, 'palapala' means 'dirt' but also refers to documents, writings, or education. |
| Scots Gaelic | The Gaelic word "salachar" can also mean "dirtiness" or "uncleanliness". |
| Serbian | The word "прљавштина" can also refer to something that is morally wrong or immoral. |
| Sesotho | The word "litšila" is also used in Sesotho to describe a person who is clumsy or untidy. |
| Shona | In Shona, the word 'tsvina' can also mean 'dust' or 'rubbish'. |
| Sindhi | گندگي also means filth, trash, dirtiness, nastiness, pollution, foulness, foul matter, sewage, rubbish, garbage, or waste |
| Slovak | The word "špina" also means "soot" and "rust" in Slovak. |
| Slovenian | The word "umazanijo" has another meaning, namely "unhappiness or misery". |
| Somali | The word "wasakh" in Somali can also refer to "filth" or "impurity", and is derived from the Arabic word "wasikh", meaning "dirty" or "unclean". |
| Spanish | The noun 'suciedad' derives from the Latin 'sordidus', which means 'dirty', but also 'unclean', 'mean' or 'vile'. |
| Sundanese | **Kokotor** derives from the Sanskrit word "kotor", meaning "impure" or "unclean". |
| Swahili | The Swahili word "uchafu" not only denotes "dirt" but also figuratively represents "immoral" and "wrong". |
| Swedish | Smuts is the plural form of the Swedish word "smut", which means "dirt" or "grime". |
| Tagalog (Filipino) | In some dialects, dumi also refers to |
| Tajik | The word "лой" can also mean "earth" or "ground" in Tajik. |
| Tamil | The word 'அழுக்கு' also means "stain" or "blemish" in some contexts. |
| Telugu | In Telugu, 'దుమ్ము' primarily means 'dirt', but also has secondary meanings such as 'dust' or 'grime'. |
| Thai | สิ่งสกปรก in Thai can also be used to refer to moral impurity or corruption. |
| Turkish | The word "kir" is also used figuratively to mean "fault" or "sin" in Turkish. |
| Ukrainian | The word "бруд" can also refer to "sediment" or "silt". |
| Urdu | The word "گندگی" can also mean "rottenness" or "putrefaction". |
| Uzbek | In Kazakh, Uzbek, and Kyrgyz the cognate of the word 'axloqsizlik' is also used to describe a person with no shame. |
| Vietnamese | "Chất bẩn" can also mean "pollutant" or "impurity". |
| Welsh | The Welsh word "baw" can also refer to dung or excrement. |
| Xhosa | The word 'ubumdaka' in Xhosa has alternate meanings of 'dust' and 'ashes'. |
| Yiddish | Yiddish 'shmutz' may derive from 'smut'—charcoal dust, or from Hebrew 'shemetz,' meaning 'leaven.' |
| Yoruba | The word 'eruku' (or 'iruku' and 'uruku' depending on dialect and region) can also refer to 'sand'. |
| Zulu | The word `ukungcola` can also refer to a type of traditional beer made of sour maize meal |
| English | The word |