Fiction in Different Languages
Discover 'Fiction' in 134 Languages: Dive into Translations, Hear Pronunciations, and Uncover Cultural Insights.
Fiction
Afrikaans fiksie | ||
Albanian trillim | ||
Amharic ልብ ወለድ | ||
Arabic خيال | ||
Armenian գեղարվեստական | ||
Assamese কল্পকাহিনী | ||
Aymara murxayiri | ||
Azerbaijani uydurma | ||
Bambara suya | ||
Basque fikzioa | ||
Belarusian мастацкая літаратура | ||
Bengali কল্পকাহিনী | ||
Bhojpuri काल्पनिक कहानी | ||
Bosnian fikcija | ||
Bulgarian измислица | ||
Catalan ficció | ||
Cebuano tinumotumo | ||
Chinese (Simplified) 小说 | ||
Chinese (Traditional) 小說 | ||
Corsican fiction | ||
Croatian fikcija | ||
Czech beletrie | ||
Danish fiktion | ||
Dhivehi ފިކްޝަން | ||
Dogri कथा साहित्य | ||
Dutch fictie | ||
English fiction | ||
Esperanto fikcio | ||
Estonian ilukirjandus | ||
Ewe nyakpakpa | ||
Filipino (Tagalog) kathang-isip | ||
Finnish kaunokirjallisuus | ||
French fiction | ||
Frisian fiksje | ||
Galician ficción | ||
Georgian მხატვრული ლიტერატურა | ||
German fiktion | ||
Greek μυθιστόρημα | ||
Guarani apy'ãreko | ||
Gujarati કાલ્પનિક | ||
Haitian Creole fiksyon | ||
Hausa almara | ||
Hawaiian moʻolelo kaʻao | ||
Hebrew ספרות בדיונית | ||
Hindi उपन्यास | ||
Hmong dab neeg tseeb | ||
Hungarian kitaláció | ||
Icelandic skáldskapur | ||
Igbo akụkọ ifo | ||
Ilocano saan nga agpayso | ||
Indonesian fiksi | ||
Irish ficsean | ||
Italian finzione | ||
Japanese フィクション | ||
Javanese fiksi | ||
Kannada ಕಾದಂಬರಿ | ||
Kazakh фантастика | ||
Khmer ការប្រឌិត | ||
Kinyarwanda ibihimbano | ||
Konkani नवलकथा | ||
Korean 소설 | ||
Krio stori stori | ||
Kurdish fiction | ||
Kurdish (Sorani) چیرۆکی خەیاڵی | ||
Kyrgyz ойдон чыгарылган | ||
Lao ນິຍາຍ | ||
Latin ficta | ||
Latvian daiļliteratūra | ||
Lingala lisapo | ||
Lithuanian grožinė literatūra | ||
Luganda okuyiiya | ||
Luxembourgish fiktioun | ||
Macedonian фикција | ||
Maithili उपन्यास | ||
Malagasy fiction | ||
Malay fiksyen | ||
Malayalam ഫിക്ഷൻ | ||
Maltese finzjoni | ||
Maori pakiwaitara | ||
Marathi कल्पनारम्य | ||
Meiteilon (Manipuri) ꯁꯦꯝꯖꯤꯟ ꯁꯥꯖꯤꯟꯕ | ||
Mizo phuahchawp | ||
Mongolian уран зохиол | ||
Myanmar (Burmese) စိတ်ကူးယဉ် | ||
Nepali काल्पनिक | ||
Norwegian skjønnlitteratur | ||
Nyanja (Chichewa) zopeka | ||
Odia (Oriya) ଗଳ୍ପ | ||
Oromo asoosama | ||
Pashto خیال | ||
Persian داستان | ||
Polish fikcja | ||
Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) ficção | ||
Punjabi ਗਲਪ | ||
Quechua yanqalla | ||
Romanian fictiune | ||
Russian художественная литература | ||
Samoan talafatu | ||
Sanskrit कल्पना | ||
Scots Gaelic ficsean | ||
Sepedi nonwane | ||
Serbian фикција | ||
Sesotho tse iqapetsoeng | ||
Shona ngano | ||
Sindhi افسانه | ||
Sinhala (Sinhalese) ප්රබන්ධ | ||
Slovak beletria | ||
Slovenian leposlovje | ||
Somali male-awaal | ||
Spanish ficción | ||
Sundanese fiksi | ||
Swahili tamthiliya | ||
Swedish fiktion | ||
Tagalog (Filipino) kathang-isip | ||
Tajik бадеӣ | ||
Tamil புனைவு | ||
Tatar уйдырма | ||
Telugu ఫిక్షన్ | ||
Thai นิยาย | ||
Tigrinya ልበ ወለድ | ||
Tsonga xihungwana | ||
Turkish kurgu | ||
Turkmen toslama | ||
Twi (Akan) bɔsrɛmuka | ||
Ukrainian фантастика | ||
Urdu افسانہ | ||
Uyghur توقۇلما | ||
Uzbek fantastika | ||
Vietnamese viễn tưởng | ||
Welsh ffuglen | ||
Xhosa intsomi | ||
Yiddish בעלעטריסטיק | ||
Yoruba arosọ | ||
Zulu eqanjiwe |
Etymology & Notes
| Language | Etymology / Notes |
|---|---|
| Afrikaans | "Fiksie" also means "to fix" or "to repair" in Afrikaans. |
| Albanian | The word 'trillim' in Albanian is a noun meaning 'a fabrication, a lie,' and a verb meaning 'to lie, to fabricate'. |
| Amharic | The word "ልብ ወለድ" derives from the Ge'ez words "ልብ" (heart) and "ወለድ" (birth), referring to something born from one's imagination. |
| Arabic | The Arabic word "خيال" (khiyāl) originally referred to "imagination" and "apparition" before acquiring its modern meaning of "fiction". |
| Azerbaijani | The word "uydurma" in Azerbaijani also means "pretend" or "false". |
| Basque | The word "fikzioa" comes from the Latin word "fictio," meaning "making" or "forming." |
| Belarusian | In Russian, the closest cognate to "мастацкая літаратура" is "художественная литература" which can mean "fine art literature," a type of literature valued for its aesthetic qualities rather than its factual content. |
| Bengali | The word "কল্পকাহিনী" is derived from the Sanskrit root "kalp", meaning "to imagine". Hence, it literally means "imagined story". |
| Bosnian | Besides its basic meaning of "fiction," "fikcija" can also refer to any narrative that is not based on facts, including lies and fabrications. |
| Bulgarian | Измислица, meaning “fiction,” stems from “измысляю,” a verb signifying “to conjure” or “to contrive.” |
| Catalan | The word "ficció" derives from the Latin word "fictio", meaning "a forming, fashioning, or creating". |
| Cebuano | The word ''tinumotumo'' shares its root word with ''tumotumo'', an old Cebuano term for fables or parables and ''timotumo'', a word referring to someone who exaggerates, or tells tall tales. |
| Chinese (Simplified) | The Chinese character "小" in "小说" originally meant "minor" or "insignificant", reflecting the traditional Chinese view that fiction was a less important genre than history or philosophy. |
| Chinese (Traditional) | The word "小說" (fiction) in Chinese (Traditional) literally means "small talk; idle talk; gossip". |
| Corsican | In Corsican, "fiction" also means "an act of inventing something". |
| Croatian | The word 'fikcija' comes from the Latin word 'fictio', meaning 'invention' or 'creation', and it can also mean 'falsehood' or 'fabrication'. |
| Czech | The word "beletrie" in Czech comes from the French "belles-lettres," meaning "beautiful letters". |
| Danish | In Danish, "fiktion" also refers to a type of non-fiction short story based on real events with added dramatization. |
| Dutch | In 1677, the term “fictie” also referred to a form of storytelling in which two speakers would improvise a story based on a given situation. |
| Esperanto | Esperanto's "fikcio" derives from "fingere", meaning "to mold" or "to fashion" in Latin, and also relates to "figmentum", or "figment", in Latin. |
| Estonian | The word "ilukirjandus" is derived from the Estonian words "ilukiri" (beautiful writing) and "andus" (devotion). |
| Finnish | In Finnish, the word "kaunokirjallisuus" also encompasses belles-lettres, such as poetry, drama, and essays. |
| French | French fiction was originally any creation of the mind, including poetry and philosophy. |
| Frisian | The Frisian word "fiksje" originally referred to a "fabrication", "invention" or "figment of the imagination". |
| Galician | Galician "ficción" also means "trust, assurance" or "act of giving confidence or belief". |
| German | The German word "Fiktion" is also related to the Latin verb "fingere", meaning "to shape" or "to make", suggesting that fiction has the power to create entire worlds. |
| Greek | The term "μυθιστόρημα" originates from the Greek words "μύθος" (myth) and "ἱστορέω" (to relate, to narrate), referring to a narrative that recounts events that may or may not be true. |
| Haitian Creole | Fiksyon derives from the French word "fiction" and also means "lie" in Haitian Creole. |
| Hausa | The Hausa word "almara" can also refer to a type of storage box or cupboard. |
| Hawaiian | The Hawaiian word "moʻolelo kaʻao" is a compound of "moʻolelo" (story) and "kaʻao" (lie or fiction), and refers to stories about mythical or supernatural beings or events. |
| Hindi | The word "उपन्यास" is derived from the Sanskrit word "उप + न्यास", meaning "near placement" or "putting near", suggesting a close relation to truth or reality. |
| Hmong | The Hmong word "dab neeg tseeb" directly translates to "fake story or news" in English. |
| Hungarian | It also means "book" or "publication" in Hungarian. |
| Icelandic | The word "skáldskapur" can also refer to a genre of poetry in the Poetic Edda. |
| Igbo | The Igbo word "akụkọ ifo" also means "news" or "historical account" when it refers to true and historical information. |
| Indonesian | The Indonesian word "fiksi" is cognate with "fix" in English, with both words deriving from the Proto-Romance root "fingere," meaning "to form" or "to create." |
| Irish | The Irish word "ficsean" is derived from the Latin word "fictio" ("invention" or "imagining"), and also refers to the idea of "appearance" or "semblance". |
| Italian | The word 'finzione' comes from the Latin 'fictio,' which means 'a forming' or 'a making'. |
| Japanese | "フィクション"の語源はラテン語の「作る」を意味する「fictio」で、英語の「fiction」に由来しています。 |
| Javanese | Fiksi (fiction) can also mean "the act of hiding something" in Javanese. |
| Kannada | The word "ಕಾದಂಬರಿ" comes from the Sanskrit word "कदम्ब", meaning "a ball of flowers", and refers to the ancient Indian tradition of telling stories while passing around a ball of flowers. |
| Kazakh | "Фантастика" (fiction) derives from the Greek "φανταστικός" (imaginative), which also inspired the word "fantasy" in English. |
| Korean | The word 소설 originally meant “new tale” or “strange tale.” |
| Kurdish | Fiction is derived from the Latin word 'fingere', meaning both 'to shape' and 'to imagine', implying creation and fabrication. |
| Lao | The word ນິຍາຍ (fiction) is derived from the Pali word ນિy (to lead), implying a story that leads the reader through a sequence of events. |
| Latin | In Latin, 'ficta' can also refer to 'created', 'forged', or 'invented', indicating its broader sense of something that is not real. |
| Latvian | The Latvian word “daiļliteratūra“ combines both “pretty writing” (daiļš raksts) and “fine arts” (daiļā māksla), thus emphasizing the literary value of fictional texts. |
| Lithuanian | The word "grožinė literatūra" literally translates to "beautiful literature" in Lithuanian. |
| Luxembourgish | Fiktioun can also refer to a made-up story or a fabricated tale. |
| Macedonian | The word "фикција" has several different meanings, including "imagination", "invention", "trickery", and "falsehood". |
| Malagasy | Malagasy "fiction," when describing a non-fictional tale, means that the narrative lacks its "usual flavor." |
| Malay | The Malay word "fiksyen" is derived from the Arabic word "fikh", meaning "understanding" or "knowledge", and is often used to refer to non-fiction works of literature. |
| Malayalam | The word "ഫിക്ഷൻ" in Malayalam can also mean "imagination" or "fantasy". |
| Maltese | Maltese word 'finzjoni', derived from 'fint' (fantasy), means both fiction and illusion. |
| Maori | The word "pakiwaitara" literally means "to put into a basket", suggesting that stories are valuable to be gathered and cherished. |
| Marathi | The Sanskrit root 'kalp' in "कल्पनारम्य" relates to imagination, creativity, and the formation of mental images. |
| Mongolian | Уран зохиол is derived from the Mongolian words "уран" (art, skill) and "зохиол" (composition, writing), referring to artistic creations in written form. |
| Myanmar (Burmese) | Derived from Sanskrit 'citta', meaning 'mind', 'citkuyin' literally translates as 'imagination'. |
| Nepali | "काल्पनिक" comes from Sanskrit, where "कल्प" means "to think" and "निक" means "to bring forth". |
| Norwegian | Skjønnlitteratur is derived from the Old Norse words "skjøn" (beauty) and "litteratur" (literature). |
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | The word 'zopeka' also carries the meaning of 'story'. |
| Pashto | The word "خیال" in Pashto can also refer to "thoughts, dreams, or imaginations". |
| Persian | The Persian word "داستان" also means "history" or "chronicle" and originates from Middle Persian word "dāstān" meaning "a statement made". |
| Polish | The Polish word "fikcja" can also mean "pretense" or "deception." |
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | In Portuguese (Portugal) “ficção” can also refer to a made-up story about somebody’s life, or to an account of events which is not necessarily true. |
| Punjabi | The word 'ਗਲਪ' is also used to refer to 'swallowing' or 'a gulp', as in the act of drinking liquid. |
| Romanian | The Romanian "ficțiune" has no relation to the Latin origin of "fiction," as it derives from the Hungarian "függvény." |
| Russian | The term "художественная литература" is broader than its English counterpart "fiction" as it includes all literary works, not only prose but also poetry and plays |
| Samoan | The word "talafatu" is also used to refer to a legend or an old tale. |
| Scots Gaelic | In Scots Gaelic, the word "ficsean" can also refer to a story or a tale. |
| Serbian | The word 'фикција' comes from the Latin term 'fictio', which refers to the act of forming or making something. |
| Sesotho | Tse iqapetsoeng derives from the noun tsoaketso (imagination), suggesting a narrative made 'out of the imagination'. |
| Shona | In Shona, 'ngano' also refers to traditional stories often told for entertainment or to teach lessons. |
| Sindhi | The word “افسانہ” may refer to historical narratives in addition to fictional ones, and is sometimes distinguished into “حکایت“ (an invented or made up tale) and “داستان“ (a historical or traditional narrative). |
| Sinhala (Sinhalese) | The word "ප්රබන්ධ" (fiction) is derived from the Sanskrit word "प्रबन्ध" (arrangement, composition), which also refers to a type of literary work. |
| Slovak | Slovak "beletria" originates from French "belles-lettres" and originally meant any literary form considered "beautiful", not exclusively fiction. |
| Slovenian | The word "leposlovje" is cognate with the English word "literature" and originally also meant "beautiful writing". |
| Somali | The word "male-awaal" can also mean "a story told by a child that is not true." |
| Spanish | La palabra "ficción" proviene del latín "fictio", que significa "invención". Esto refleja el hecho de que la ficción es una creación de la imaginación. |
| Sundanese | "Fiksi" also means "a thought," but only the thought of the creator. |
| Swahili | Tamthiliya also refers to a work of fiction, where characters and events are invented by the author. |
| Swedish | The word 'fiktion' is derived from the Latin word 'fictio', which means 'something made up' or 'an invention'. |
| Tagalog (Filipino) | Kathang-isip is derived from the Tagalog word 'katha', which means 'to compose or narrate', and 'isip', meaning 'thought'. |
| Tajik | In modern Persian language "badī' (بديع) mostly means art of rhetoric but in Tajik also means fiction. |
| Tamil | In Tamil, the word "புனைவு" can also denote a fabricated story told in jest. |
| Telugu | The word "ఫిక్షన్" is derived from the Latin word "fictio", meaning "something made up" or "a creation of the imagination." |
| Thai | The word "นิยาย" can also mean a "story", "tale", or "legend". |
| Turkish | The Turkish word "kurgu" not only means "fiction", but also "staging" and "set up". |
| Ukrainian | "Фантастика" comes from the Greek "φαντασίᾳ" (imagination), the same root as "fantasy". |
| Urdu | The word "افسانہ" has roots in Arabic and also means "a true story" or "a tale told to entertain". |
| Uzbek | The word "fantastika" in Uzbek can also be used to describe something that is not real or true. |
| Vietnamese | The word "viễn tưởng" is derived from Chinese and literally means "distant imagination". |
| Welsh | Ffuglen is also a literary genre in Welsh which includes narrative, poetry, and drama. |
| Xhosa | The Xhosa word 'intsomi' originally referred to 'stories', 'tales' or 'legends' before being translated as 'fiction'. |
| Yiddish | The Yiddish word "בעלעטריסטיק" derives from the French "belles-lettres", meaning "beautiful letters" or "fine literature". |
| Yoruba | The word "arosọ" can also mean "myth", "legend", or "a lie", depending on the context. |
| Zulu | Eqanjiwe is said to be derived from the phrase 'okwenza amacala angayiwo', meaning to do things that did not happen. |
| English | The word "fiction" stems from the Latin "fingere" (meaning "to form, mold") and the Old French "ficcion" (meaning "invention, creation"). |