Essentially in Different Languages
Discover 'Essentially' in 134 Languages: Dive into Translations, Hear Pronunciations, and Uncover Cultural Insights.
Updated on March 6, 2024
Essentially, the word 'essentially' is a common English adverb that holds great significance in conveying the core or fundamental aspect of something. It is essentially used to emphasize the inherent nature or true meaning of a person, place, or thing. This word has been an integral part of the English language and has made a cultural impact through literature, speeches, and conversations.
For instance, Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous line, 'I have a dream' is often followed by 'that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.'' Here, 'essentially' could have been used to emphasize the importance of equality in American culture.
Moreover, understanding the translation of 'essentially' in different languages can help you connect with a global audience and appreciate the nuances of various cultures. For example, in Spanish, 'essentially' translates to 'esencialmente', in French to 'essentiellement', in German to 'im Wesentlichen', and in Japanese to '本質的に'.
Essentially
Essentially in Sub-Saharan African Languages
| Afrikaans | in wese | ||
| The phrase "in wese" in Afrikaans is derived from the Dutch phrase "in wezen", ultimately coming from the Old French word "essence" meaning "being". | |||
| Amharic | በመሠረቱ | ||
| በመሠረቱ ('essentially') also means 'at its foundation' or 'fundamentally'. | |||
| Hausa | da gaske | ||
| The word da gaske is a compound of da, meaning «to be», and gaske, meaning «truth». | |||
| Igbo | nnoo | ||
| The Igbo word "nnoo" also means "the essence of" or "the core of". | |||
| Malagasy | indrindra | ||
| Indrindra, meaning "very" or "indeed" in Malagasy, is possibly borrowed from the Indonesian word "sangat" with the same meaning. | |||
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | kwenikweni | ||
| The word "kwenikweni" also means "in essence" or "in reality". | |||
| Shona | chaizvo | ||
| The word "chaizvo" is said to have originated from the phrase "cha zvirevo", meaning "like something animalistic", possibly referring to the primal nature of the concept being described. | |||
| Somali | asal ahaan | ||
| 'Asal ahaan' is used to express the basic or fundamental nature of something, but can also mean 'originally' or 'in the beginning'. | |||
| Sesotho | hantle | ||
| "Hantle" in Sesotho also means "truly," "without a doubt," and "very much." | |||
| Swahili | kimsingi | ||
| It also means 'in principle' or 'fundamentally'. | |||
| Xhosa | ngokukodwa | ||
| Xhosa "ngokukodwa" derives from the noun "ikodwa" (lone, single), indicating that something is isolated, alone, or fundamental. | |||
| Yoruba | pataki | ||
| The Yoruba word "pataki" also means "very important" or "crucial." | |||
| Zulu | empeleni | ||
| 'Empeleni' is thought, by many linguists, to be a derivation (and a contraction) of the word 'umkhawempeleni', where 'uMk' is the isiNguni prefix 'uMu', denoting a person, an agent or one who is known for a particular characteristic. | |||
| Bambara | a jɔyɔrɔba la | ||
| Ewe | vevietɔ | ||
| Kinyarwanda | by'ingenzi | ||
| Lingala | na ntina mpenza | ||
| Luganda | mu bukulu | ||
| Sepedi | gabotsebotse | ||
| Twi (Akan) | ne titiriw no | ||
Essentially in North African & Middle Eastern Languages
| Arabic | بشكل أساسي | ||
| بشكل أساسي means "essentially" in Arabic but also connotes "fundamentally" or "intrinsically." | |||
| Hebrew | בעצם | ||
| The word "בעצם" can also mean "actually" or "in fact". | |||
| Pashto | په لازمي ډول | ||
| Arabic | بشكل أساسي | ||
| بشكل أساسي means "essentially" in Arabic but also connotes "fundamentally" or "intrinsically." | |||
Essentially in Western European Languages
| Albanian | në thelb | ||
| The word "në thelb" is made of the preposition "në" and the noun "thelb", meaning "root". | |||
| Basque | funtsean | ||
| Funtsean (essentially) derives from funtsa (base), and has an alternate meaning of 'fundamentally'. | |||
| Catalan | essencialment | ||
| Essencialment comes from the Latin word "essentialis," meaning "of the essence" or "of the nature of a thing." | |||
| Croatian | u suštini | ||
| The word "u suštini" (essentially) in Croatian derives from the Latin word "substantia" (substance). | |||
| Danish | i det væsentlige | ||
| The Danish word "i det væsentlige" is used in the same way as the English word "essentially", but it can also mean "in the main" or "for the most part." | |||
| Dutch | eigenlijk | ||
| Historically, the word "eigenlijk" was used in the sense of "very" or "really". | |||
| English | essentially | ||
| "Essentially" derives from Latin "essentia," meaning "nature, being" & "-al," meaning "related to," in reference to the essence or central nature of something. | |||
| French | essentiellement | ||
| "Essentiellement" derives from the Latin word "esse", meaning "to be", and also refers to the quality of being essential, or fundamental. | |||
| Frisian | yn wêzen | ||
| It is cognate with the German wesend, which ultimately derives from the Proto-Indo-European *wes-o-, meaning "to remain." | |||
| Galician | esencialmente | ||
| Además del significado de 'esencialmente' o 'vital', 'esencialmente' puede significar 'principalmente' o 'generalmente'. | |||
| German | im wesentlichen | ||
| The German word im Wesentlichen (essentially) derives from Middle High German "wesentlich"/"wesenliche" (being, being true). | |||
| Icelandic | í meginatriðum | ||
| The word "í meginatriðum" in Icelandic is a derivative of the word "megin", which means "essence" or "core". The word "atriði" is a plural form of "atriði", which means "item" or "particular". Therefore, the word "í meginatriðum" can be understood as being "in the core items" or "in the main particulars". This is a more literal translation of the word than the more common translation of "essentially". | |||
| Irish | go bunúsach | ||
| Go bunúsach is an Irish phrase meaning 'essentially', but can also mean 'fundamentally' or 'in essence'. | |||
| Italian | essenzialmente | ||
| Essenzialmente, in its plural form, can mean essential oils. | |||
| Luxembourgish | wesentlech | ||
| The expression 'wesentlech' is often used as a euphemism for 'mainly', 'particularly' or 'especially'. | |||
| Maltese | essenzjalment | ||
| In Maltese, the word "essenzjalment" can also mean "fundamentally" or "basically." | |||
| Norwegian | i hovedsak | ||
| The word "i hovedsak" literally translates to "in the main thing". | |||
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | essencialmente | ||
| The word "essencialmente" can mean "basically" or "mainly" in Portuguese. | |||
| Scots Gaelic | gu bunaiteach | ||
| "Gu bunaiteach" (essentially) could also mean "by nature" or "fundamentally". | |||
| Spanish | esencialmente | ||
| El término "esencialmente" también puede significar "fundamentalmente" o "intrínsecamente". | |||
| Swedish | väsentligen | ||
| Väsentligen is a loanword from German, and its suffix "-ligen" is cognate to English "-ly", both of which derive from Proto-Indo-European "-liko". | |||
| Welsh | yn y bôn | ||
| Y bôn also means "the beginning" in Welsh. | |||
Essentially in Eastern European Languages
| Belarusian | па сутнасці | ||
| Bosnian | esencijalno | ||
| The Bosnian word "esencijalno" comes from the Latin word "essentia", meaning "being" or "existence". | |||
| Bulgarian | по същество | ||
| The Bulgarian word "по същество" can also mean "in reality" or "in essence". | |||
| Czech | v podstatě | ||
| The Czech word "v podstatě" can also refer to the substance or essential nature of something. | |||
| Estonian | sisuliselt | ||
| The word "sisuliselt" originally meant "in terms of content" and has only later evolved to also mean "essentially". | |||
| Finnish | oleellisesti | ||
| "Oleellisesti" consists of two parts: "ole", meaning "be", and "ellinen", meaning "of the nature of". The word "oleellisesti" came into use during the 17th century as an adverb derived from the adjective "oleellinen", which means "essential". | |||
| Hungarian | lényegében | ||
| "Lényegében" can also mean "as a matter of principle," "in substance," or "fundamentally". | |||
| Latvian | būtībā | ||
| The word "būtībā" in Latvian can also mean "primarily" or "in general". | |||
| Lithuanian | iš esmės | ||
| "Iš esmės" is sometimes used to mean "in general" or "on the whole" in Lithuanian. | |||
| Macedonian | во суштина | ||
| The word "во суштина" comes from the Old Church Slavonic words "въ" (in) and "суштина" (essence) | |||
| Polish | głównie | ||
| Głównie, meaning 'mainly' in Polish, is derived from the Old Polish word 'głowa', meaning 'head' or 'source'. | |||
| Romanian | in esenta | ||
| The Romanian word "in esenta" is derived from the Latin preposition "in" and the noun "essentia," meaning "the true nature of something." | |||
| Russian | по существу | ||
| The Russian phrase is a calque from the German 'im Wesentlichen' and has the same meaning, but can also mean 'on merit'. | |||
| Serbian | у суштини | ||
| The word "У суштини" can also mean "in essence" or "fundamentally" in Serbian. | |||
| Slovak | v podstate | ||
| The word "v podstate" is sometimes used as a euphemism for "almost" or "approximately". | |||
| Slovenian | v bistvu | ||
| "V bistvu" is derived from the word "bistvo" which means "essence" or "the most important part of something." | |||
| Ukrainian | по суті | ||
| "по суті" comes from the prefix "по-", meaning "along, by, near," and the root "сут-", meaning "to be," so the whole word literally means "according to the way it is." | |||
Essentially in South Asian Languages
| Bengali | মূলত | ||
| মূলত শব্দটি সংস্কৃত "মূল" শব্দ থেকে এসেছে, যার অর্থ "শিকড়" বা "মূল"। | |||
| Gujarati | અનિવાર્યપણે | ||
| Hindi | अनिवार्य रूप से | ||
| "अनिवार्य रूप से" is an adverb meaning "without fail" or denoting a necessary consequence. | |||
| Kannada | ಮೂಲಭೂತವಾಗಿ | ||
| Malayalam | അടിസ്ഥാനപരമായി | ||
| Marathi | मूलत: | ||
| मूलत: is short for "मूळतः", which in turn comes from the word "मूल" meaning "root", "origin", and "base." | |||
| Nepali | अनिवार्य रूपमा | ||
| The word "अनिवार्य रूपमा" is derived from the Sanskrit word "अनिवार्य" (essential) and can also mean "necessarily" or "obligatory". | |||
| Punjabi | ਜ਼ਰੂਰੀ ਤੌਰ ਤੇ | ||
| Sinhala (Sinhalese) | අත්යවශ්යයෙන්ම | ||
| Tamil | அடிப்படையில் | ||
| Telugu | ముఖ్యంగా | ||
| Urdu | بنیادی طور پر | ||
Essentially in East Asian Languages
| Chinese (Simplified) | 本质上 | ||
| "本质上"也可指一件事物的内在本质或真实性质，例如："从本质上讲，人类是群居动物。" | |||
| Chinese (Traditional) | 本質上 | ||
| "本質上"原指植物的根，引申為事物事物的根本属性或主要特徵。 | |||
| Japanese | 本質的に | ||
| 本質的に is a word that can be translated as "essentially" into English, but its etymology is more complex, consisting of the words "hon" (root, origin), "shit" (quality, nature), and "teki" (adjective suffix). | |||
| Korean | 본질적으로 | ||
| "본질적으로" is a compound of "본질(essence)" and "~적으로(~ly, ~ly)", and has a nuance that is "innate" and "pervasive than "기본적으로(basically)". | |||
| Mongolian | үндсэндээ | ||
| The Mongolian word "үндсэндээ" comes from the root word "үндэс", meaning "foundation" or "root", and is used to emphasize the fundamental nature or core aspect of something. | |||
| Myanmar (Burmese) | အခြေခံအားဖြင့် | ||
Essentially in South East Asian Languages
| Indonesian | pada dasarnya | ||
| "Pada dasarnya" in Indonesian can also mean "by nature" or "intrinsically". | |||
| Javanese | ateges | ||
| "Ateges" also means thorough, meticulous, or complete | |||
| Khmer | សំខាន់ | ||
| The word "សំខាន់" can also refer to the "main part" or "gist" of something, or to "the most important thing" or "the essence" of something. | |||
| Lao | ເປັນສິ່ງ ຈຳ ເປັນ | ||
| Malay | secara asasnya | ||
| The word "secara asasnya" derives from the Malay word "asas" meaning "basis" and is also used in the sense of "generally" or "in general". | |||
| Thai | โดยพื้นฐานแล้ว | ||
| โดยพื้นฐานแล้ว is often translated as “fundamentally”; it is also frequently used to say “basically” or “fundamentally” (in a less formal context). | |||
| Vietnamese | bản chất | ||
| The word 'bản chất' derives from Sino-Vietnamese and can also mean 'nature', 'essence', or 'substance'. | |||
| Filipino (Tagalog) | mahalagang | ||
Essentially in Central Asian Languages
| Azerbaijani | mahiyyətcə | ||
| Kazakh | мәні бойынша | ||
| Kyrgyz | негизинен | ||
| The word "негизинен" in Kyrgyz can also mean "primordial", "primary", or "basic".} | |||
| Tajik | аслан | ||
| The word "аслан" is derived from the Old Persian word "assān", meaning "easy" or "effortless." | |||
| Turkmen | esasan | ||
| Uzbek | mohiyatan | ||
| "Mohiyatan" (essentially) comes from the Arabic word "mahhiyat" (essence) and shares the same root with the word "mohiyat" (substance). | |||
| Uyghur | ماھىيەتتە | ||
Essentially in Pacific Languages
| Hawaiian | ʻano nui | ||
| 'Ano nui' translates to 'very much' or 'very greatly' in English. | |||
| Maori | tino | ||
| Tīno, which can be defined as "fundamentally", is an important philosophical term in the Māori worldview. | |||
| Samoan | matua taua | ||
| The Samoan word "matua taua" is derived from the word "matua," meaning "parent" or "elder," and "tau," meaning "warrior" or "champion." | |||
| Tagalog (Filipino) | mahalaga | ||
| The term 'mahalaga' originally meant 'of value,' or 'importance' before coming to mean 'essentially.' | |||
Essentially in American Indigenous Languages
| Aymara | esencial ukhamawa | ||
| Guarani | esencialmente | ||
Essentially in International Languages
| Esperanto | esence | ||
| Esperanto's "esence" comes from French "essence," ultimately deriving from Latin "*ens," meaning "being." | |||
| Latin | se | ||
| Latin "se" can mean "aside", "separate", or "without". | |||
Essentially in Others Languages
| Greek | ουσιαστικά | ||
| The word "ουσιαστικά" is derived from the word "ουσία", which means "substance". In Greek grammar, it is used to refer to nouns that are the subject of a sentence and that express the main idea. | |||
| Hmong | tseem ceeb | ||
| The Hmong word "tseem ceeb" was borrowed from Chinese. | |||
| Kurdish | esas | ||
| The word "esas" also means "law" or "rule" in Kurdish. | |||
| Turkish | esasen | ||
| Esasen shares the word “as” (the source of the English word “ass”) with “esas” (meaning "ancient" or "bygone"). | |||
| Xhosa | ngokukodwa | ||
| Xhosa "ngokukodwa" derives from the noun "ikodwa" (lone, single), indicating that something is isolated, alone, or fundamental. | |||
| Yiddish | יסענשאַלי | ||
| The Yiddish word "יסענשאַלי" is also used in the sense of "in fact" or "in reality". | |||
| Zulu | empeleni | ||
| 'Empeleni' is thought, by many linguists, to be a derivation (and a contraction) of the word 'umkhawempeleni', where 'uMk' is the isiNguni prefix 'uMu', denoting a person, an agent or one who is known for a particular characteristic. | |||
| Assamese | মূলতঃ | ||
| Aymara | esencial ukhamawa | ||
| Bhojpuri | अनिवार्य रूप से बा | ||
| Dhivehi | މުހިންމު ގޮތެއްގައި | ||
| Dogri | अनिवार्य रूप कन्नै | ||
| Filipino (Tagalog) | mahalagang | ||
| Guarani | esencialmente | ||
| Ilocano | kangrunaanna | ||
| Krio | essentially | ||
| Kurdish (Sorani) | لە بنەڕەتدا | ||
| Maithili | अनिवार्य रूप स | ||
| Meiteilon (Manipuri) | ꯇꯉꯥꯏꯐꯗꯅꯥ ꯑꯦꯟ.ꯗꯤ.ꯑꯦ | ||
| Mizo | a bul berah chuan | ||
| Oromo | bu’uuraan | ||
| Odia (Oriya) | ମୁଖ୍ୟତ। | | ||
| Quechua | esencialmente | ||
| Sanskrit | अनिवार्यतया | ||
| Tatar | асылда | ||
| Tigrinya | ብመሰረቱ | ||
| Tsonga | hi xiviri | ||