East in Different Languages
Discover 'East' in 134 Languages: Dive into Translations, Hear Pronunciations, and Uncover Cultural Insights.
East
Afrikaans oos | ||
Albanian lindja | ||
Amharic ምስራቅ | ||
Arabic الشرق | ||
Armenian արևելք | ||
Assamese পূব | ||
Aymara aka | ||
Azerbaijani şərq | ||
Bambara kɔrɔn | ||
Basque ekialdea | ||
Belarusian усход | ||
Bengali পূর্ব | ||
Bhojpuri पूरब | ||
Bosnian istok | ||
Bulgarian изток | ||
Catalan est | ||
Cebuano silangan | ||
Chinese (Simplified) 东 | ||
Chinese (Traditional) 東 | ||
Corsican este | ||
Croatian istočno | ||
Czech východní | ||
Danish øst | ||
Dhivehi އިރުމަތި | ||
Dogri पूरब | ||
Dutch oosten- | ||
English east | ||
Esperanto oriente | ||
Estonian idas | ||
Ewe ɣedzeƒe | ||
Filipino (Tagalog) silangan | ||
Finnish itään | ||
French est | ||
Frisian east | ||
Galician leste | ||
Georgian აღმოსავლეთი | ||
German osten | ||
Greek ανατολή | ||
Guarani kóva | ||
Gujarati પૂર્વ | ||
Haitian Creole bò solèy leve | ||
Hausa gabas | ||
Hawaiian ka hikina | ||
Hebrew מזרח | ||
Hindi पूर्व | ||
Hmong sab hnub tuaj | ||
Hungarian keleti | ||
Icelandic austur | ||
Igbo ọwụwa anyanwụ | ||
Ilocano daya | ||
Indonesian timur | ||
Irish thoir | ||
Italian est | ||
Japanese 東 | ||
Javanese wetan | ||
Kannada ಪೂರ್ವ | ||
Kazakh шығыс | ||
Khmer ខាងកើត | ||
Kinyarwanda iburasirazuba | ||
Konkani उदेंत | ||
Korean 동쪽 | ||
Krio ist | ||
Kurdish rohilat | ||
Kurdish (Sorani) خۆرهەڵات | ||
Kyrgyz чыгыш | ||
Lao ທິດຕາເວັນອອກ | ||
Latin orientem | ||
Latvian uz austrumiem | ||
Lingala este | ||
Lithuanian į rytus | ||
Luganda ebuvanjuba | ||
Luxembourgish osten | ||
Macedonian исток | ||
Maithili पूरब | ||
Malagasy atsinanana | ||
Malay timur | ||
Malayalam കിഴക്ക് | ||
Maltese il-lvant | ||
Maori rawhiti | ||
Marathi पूर्व | ||
Meiteilon (Manipuri) ꯅꯣꯡꯄꯣꯛ | ||
Mizo khawchhak | ||
Mongolian зүүн | ||
Myanmar (Burmese) အရှေ့ | ||
Nepali पूर्व | ||
Norwegian øst | ||
Nyanja (Chichewa) kummawa | ||
Odia (Oriya) ପୂର୍ବ | ||
Oromo baha | ||
Pashto ختيځ | ||
Persian مشرق | ||
Polish wschód | ||
Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) leste | ||
Punjabi ਪੂਰਬ | ||
Quechua anti | ||
Romanian est | ||
Russian восток | ||
Samoan sase | ||
Sanskrit पूर्वं | ||
Scots Gaelic ear | ||
Sepedi bohlabela | ||
Serbian исток | ||
Sesotho bochabela | ||
Shona mabvazuva | ||
Sindhi اوڀر | ||
Sinhala (Sinhalese) නැගෙනහිර | ||
Slovak východ | ||
Slovenian vzhodno | ||
Somali bari | ||
Spanish este | ||
Sundanese wétan | ||
Swahili mashariki | ||
Swedish öster | ||
Tagalog (Filipino) silangan | ||
Tajik шарқ | ||
Tamil கிழக்கு | ||
Tatar көнчыгыш | ||
Telugu తూర్పు | ||
Thai ตะวันออก | ||
Tigrinya ምብራቅ | ||
Tsonga vuxeni | ||
Turkish doğu | ||
Turkmen gündogar | ||
Twi (Akan) apueɛ | ||
Ukrainian схід | ||
Urdu مشرق | ||
Uyghur شەرق | ||
Uzbek sharq | ||
Vietnamese phía đông | ||
Welsh dwyrain | ||
Xhosa bucala ngasekhohlo | ||
Yiddish מזרח | ||
Yoruba ìha ìla-eastrùn | ||
Zulu empumalanga |
Etymology & Notes
| Language | Etymology / Notes |
|---|---|
| Afrikaans | The word "oos" derives from the archaic Dutch form "oosten" but can also be used in the informal sense of "finished" or "out". |
| Albanian | Albanian "lindja" (east), from "lind" (to rise), originally referred to sunrise. |
| Amharic | The word “ምስራቅ” also refers to the rising sun. |
| Arabic | In Arabic, "الشرق" also refers to sunrise, brightness, or radiance. |
| Armenian | The word 'արևելք' can also mean 'sunrise' and 'Orient' (the East as a geopolitical entity). |
| Azerbaijani | "Şərq" also means "sunrise" in Azerbaijani, coming from the Old Turkic word "şar" meaning "to rise". |
| Basque | "Ekialdea" comes from the Basque words "eki", meaning "sun", and "aldea", meaning "side", referring to the side of the world where the sun rises. |
| Belarusian | "Усход" in Belarusian is of the same Proto-Slavic origin as the word in Russian, "восход", sharing the meaning "sun rising". |
| Bengali | The word "পূর্ব" in Bengali can also mean "previous" or "earlier". |
| Bosnian | The word 'istok' has additional meanings like 'spring' in Bosnian. |
| Bulgarian | The word "изток" in Bulgarian can also refer to the eastern part of a mountain or hillside. |
| Catalan | Catalan "est" comes from Latin "esse" (to be), like "east" in English. |
| Cebuano | The word "silangan" is also used to refer to people from the eastern region of the Philippines. |
| Chinese (Simplified) | "東" originally referred to the direction where the sun rises and later expanded to refer to the east as well as the direction on the left when facing south. |
| Chinese (Traditional) | 東 is also used in the names of various countries in East Asia to indicate their geographical location, such as 東日本 (Eastern Japan), 東北 (Northeast China), and 東南亞 (Southeast Asia). |
| Corsican | "Este" is also used for indicating the eastern side of a thing. |
| Croatian | The word istočno comes from the Proto-Slavic word *vosъtokъ, meaning 'sunrise' or 'east'. |
| Czech | In Slovak, 'východní' can also mean 'oriental' or 'Asian'. |
| Danish | Øst is likely derived from the Proto-Germanic word *austaz, which also means 'dawn' or 'morning'. |
| Dutch | "Oosten-" is used in several Dutch words that do not necessarily refer to the direction, like "oosterwind" ("easterly wind"), "oosterse landen" ("Eastern countries") or "oostenrijker" ("Austrian"). |
| Esperanto | "Oriente" is derived from the Latin word for origin or sunrise. |
| Estonian | The word "idas" can also refer to the "east wind" or the "direction of sunrise". |
| Finnish | The etymology and potential meanings of "itään" ("east" in Finnish) have been subject to debate among linguists. |
| French | Est, meaning "east" in French, is derived from the Latin word "oriens", meaning "rising", and is also used in the phrase "l'Orient" to refer to the East. |
| Frisian | The Frisian word for "east" is also the name of an old Frisian deity called Aest |
| Galician | Galician "leste" derives from Latin "laevus," meaning "left" or "sinister." |
| Georgian | In Georgian, "აღმოსავლეთი" also refers to the direction the sun "rises" from in the morning, as it does in other Indo-European languages. |
| German | Osten can also mean "front" or "head" in the context of a geographical feature, such as "Ostenwind" (east wind). |
| Greek | The Greek word 'Ανατολή' (Anatoli) not only means 'east' but also signifies 'sunrise' and 'rebirth,' carrying a strong connotation of new beginnings. |
| Gujarati | The word "પૂર્વ" in Gujarati derives from ancient Indian astronomy, where it means a cardinal direction determined from the sunrise, specifically at the vernal equinox. |
| Haitian Creole | "Bò solèy leve" in Haitian Creole literally translates to "where the sun rises". |
| Hausa | In Hausa, 'gabas' is cognate with 'gaba' in the Angas languages and 'gbat' in the Biu-Mandara languages, all meaning 'east'. |
| Hawaiian | Ka hikina, meaning "the rising", refers to the direction from which the sun rises, or the east. |
| Hebrew | "מזרח" is used in modern Hebrew in a few contexts, including denoting "the Orient" (as opposed to "the Occident") and "the sunrise". |
| Hindi | "पूर्व" means "east" in Hindi, but it also means "former" or "previous". |
| Hmong | The Hmong word "sab hnub tuaj" literally means "the direction the sun rises." |
| Hungarian | Keleti, the Hungarian word for “east”, originally meant “sunrise” or “from where the Sun rises”. |
| Icelandic | "Austur" is also used figuratively to describe something that comes from the east, like the wind or the sun. |
| Indonesian | The word "timur" also means "dawn" or "sunrise" in some Indonesian dialects. |
| Irish | The Irish word "thoir" also derives from "tiar," meaning "on the right side," indicating that the east has been a cardinal direction in Ireland longer than the Latin and English "east" |
| Italian | Italian word "est" (east) derives from Latin word "oriens", meaning both "rising" (of the sun) and "east". |
| Japanese | '東' is the Japanese Kun'yomi reading of '朝' (Chinese: cháo), which refers to the direction sunrise, and by extension the east. |
| Javanese | "Wetan" is also the name of a Javanese gamelan composition that depicts the east as the place of the rising sun, and the beginning of life." |
| Kannada | "ಪೂರ್ವ" also means "previous" or "old" in Kannada. |
| Kazakh | The word "шығыс" also means "beginning" or "departure" in Kazakh. |
| Khmer | "ខាងកើត" can also mean "to the right" or "the right side". |
| Korean | The word "동쪽" (east) is derived from the Proto-Korean word "*tuŋ", meaning "sun". |
| Kurdish | The word "rohilat" derives from the Proto-Indo-European root *h₂ews- ("dawn, morning"), and is cognate with the Latin "aurora" ("dawn"), as well as the Middle Persian "rōšnabakr" ("daybreak"). |
| Kyrgyz | In Turkic, 'чыгыш' can also mean 'appearance', 'sunrise' or 'origin'. |
| Latin | "Oriens" in Latin also refers to the rising sun, the dawn, and the place where the sun rises. |
| Latvian | Its etymology might be from the Proto-Baltic word '*auša' ('dawn'). |
| Lithuanian | The word "į rytus" can also be used in a figurative sense, meaning "towards a goal or objective" |
| Luxembourgish | In Luxembourgish, "Osten" is only used in the phrase "am Osten", which can mean in the morning or to the east, similar to the German "Morgen" and "Abend". |
| Macedonian | The word "исток" can also refer to a "source" or "spring." |
| Malagasy | ATSINANANA derives from the Proto-Austronesian *aTsina "sunlight." |
| Malay | In the past, "timur" also meant "high tide" or "flood tide" in Malay. |
| Malayalam | കിഴക്ക് originates from the Proto-Dravidian term *kiḍakku meaning 'the side of sunrise. |
| Maltese | The word "il-lvant" is a borrowing from the French "le levant" but its original Semitic source is uncertain, and cognates are found with various meanings in many languages. |
| Maori | The word "rawhiti" can also mean "sunrise" or "the place where the sun rises." |
| Marathi | The Marathi word “पूर्व” can also mean past (time) or first. |
| Mongolian | The word "зүүн" also means "left" in Mongolian, as the east is considered to be the direction of the rising sun, which is traditionally associated with the left side. |
| Nepali | The word "पूर्व" can also refer to the first part of anything, such as a book or a meal. |
| Norwegian | Øst means "sun" in Norwegian as well as in a number of other Germanic languages. For example, the Norwegian "solrenning" refers both to the sunrise and the east |
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | The word "kummawa" can also refer to the direction where the sun rises, or the direction from which the wind is blowing. |
| Pashto | "ختيځ" also means "front" or "first" in Pashto. |
| Persian | The word "مشرق" can also refer to the place where the sun rises, or to the beginning of something. |
| Polish | The word "Wschód" in Polish also means "rise" or "origin" and originates from the Proto-Slavic word *vъstъkъ, which means "the place where the sun rises". |
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | The word "leste" also has the meaning of "fast" or "agile" in Portuguese. |
| Punjabi | The word "ਪੂਰਬ" (poorab) in Punjabi is derived from the Sanskrit word "पूर्व" (purva), meaning "east" or "former". |
| Romanian | The Romanian word « Est » for «east» is also used to denote «summer», but not winter, and can mean «future» in the sentence «În est». |
| Russian | The word "восток" in Russian has alternate meanings, including the "sunrise" and the "beginning". |
| Samoan | The word "sasae" in Samoan, meaning "east", is related to the word "sau" meaning "to rise". |
| Scots Gaelic | In the Scottish Gaelic language, the word "ear" can also refer to a plough. |
| Serbian | The word "исток" can also mean "source" or "origin" in Serbian. |
| Sesotho | The word "bochabela" is also used to refer to a person who comes from the east or to the eastern part of a country. |
| Shona | The word "mabvazuva" in Shona also means "sunrise" and "the place where the sun rises." |
| Sindhi | In Sindhi, the word “اوڀر” (oBhar) can refer to the east direction, as well as the beginning or commencement of something. |
| Slovak | "Východ" also means "exit" in Slovak. |
| Slovenian | The word "vzhodno" in Slovenian is derived from the Slavic word "vъstъ", which means "to rise". |
| Somali | The Somali word 'bari' can also mean 'early morning' or 'dawn'. |
| Spanish | The Spanish word "este" (east) comes from the Latin "est," meaning "it is" or "there is." |
| Sundanese | The word "wétan" in Sundanese can also mean "sunrise" or "the time around sunrise". |
| Swahili | The word 'mashariki' in Swahili can also refer to the morning or the place where the sun rises. |
| Swedish | Öster is also a Swedish word for "open" which was the name once given to the eastern door of churches. |
| Tagalog (Filipino) | The word "silangan" is derived from the Proto-Austronesian word "*siLaŋ", meaning "direction towards the rising sun" or "east". |
| Tajik | The word "шарқ" also means "the country of the rising sun" in Persian and "dawn" in Arabic. |
| Telugu | తూర్పు ('east') is derived from తురుపు ('to rise', 'to appear', 'to become apparent') referring to the rising of the sun from the east. |
| Thai | The word "ตะวันออก" can also refer to the "east" in a metaphorical sense, such as the "eastern philosophy" or the "eastern culture". |
| Turkish | "Doğu" is the Turkish word for "east" and is derived from the Proto-Turkic word *doğı-. |
| Ukrainian | The word "схід" in Ukrainian, in addition to meaning "east", comes from the word "сходити", "to ascend" or "to rise", from the Proto-Slavic *sxodъ. |
| Urdu | The Urdu word "مشرق" (mashriq) comes from the Arabic word "شرق" (sharaqa), which means "to rise" or "to shine", possibly referring to the rising of the sun in the east. |
| Uzbek | The word "sharq" in Uzbek also denotes "sunrise" and "direction to Mecca (for prayer)". |
| Vietnamese | The word "phía đông" also means "the direction of the sun." |
| Welsh | Dwyrain, meaning 'east', ultimately derives from 'door': it referred to the door of a house facing sunrise. |
| Xhosa | The word "bucala ngasekhohlo" literally means "the side to the left" in Xhosa, reflecting the orientation of the sun when it rises in the east. |
| Yiddish | The Yiddish word for "east" derives from the Hebrew word "mizrah", which also means "sunrise" or "the place where the sun rises". |
| Yoruba | The Yoruba word "ìha ìla-eastrùn" can also be translated to "the side where the sun rises". |
| Zulu | In the Zulu language, the term "empumalanga" also refers to a historical kingdom located in the eastern region of South Africa. |
| English | In Old English, "east" meant "dawn" and was related to the words "star" and "eye" due to the association between the east and the rising sun. |