Fifteen in Different Languages
Discover 'Fifteen' in 134 Languages: Dive into Translations, Hear Pronunciations, and Uncover Cultural Insights.
Updated on March 6, 2024
The number fifteen is significant in many cultures and contexts. In mathematics, it's a prime number, and in measurements, it's a common unit of time. Fifteen minutes is a standard interval in many settings, from school bells to medical appointments. In some religious traditions, fifteen holds special meaning, such as the fifteen prayers of the Rosary in Catholicism. Moreover, fifteen is a number that represents balance and harmony in numerology.
Given its significance, it's no wonder that people might want to know the translation of fifteen in different languages. For example, in Spanish, fifteen is 'quince', while in French, it's 'quinze'. In Mandarin Chinese, fifteen is ‘十五’ (shí wǔ), and in Japanese, it's ‘十五’ (juugo).
Understanding the translation of fifteen in different languages can help build connections across cultures and show respect for diverse traditions. It can also be a fun way to explore the world of language and learn something new.
Fifteen
Fifteen in Sub-Saharan African Languages
| Afrikaans | vyftien | ||
| The Afrikaans word "vyftien" has the same root as the English word "fifteen", both derived from the Proto-Germanic "fimf-tēhan" meaning "five-ten". | |||
| Amharic | አስራ አምስት | ||
| Hausa | goma sha biyar | ||
| The term "goma sha biyar" in Hausa combines the words "goma" (nine) and "sha biyar" (six), suggesting a division of the number fifteen into two parts. | |||
| Igbo | iri na ise | ||
| The Igbo word "iri na ise" (literally "four on top of eleven") derives from the counting system where 15 is considered as 11 + 4. | |||
| Malagasy | dimy ambin'ny folo | ||
| The Malagasy word 'dimy ambin'ny folo' is thought to have originated from an expression meaning 'to count the toes and fingers'. | |||
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | khumi ndi zisanu | ||
| Shona | gumi neshanu | ||
| "Gumi neshanu" in Shona literally means "a fist and ten," alluding to the fifteen knuckles on a hand. | |||
| Somali | shan iyo toban | ||
| Somali "shan iyo toban" (fifteen) derives from "shan" (five), "iyo" (and), "toban" (ten), but also means "half of thirty"} | |||
| Sesotho | leshome le metso e mehlano | ||
| "Leshome le metso e mehlano" is an idiomatic expression that literally means "the day and its parts are five". | |||
| Swahili | kumi na tano | ||
| "Kumi na tano" (fifteen) is a compound phrase comprised of "kumi" (ten) and "tano" (five). | |||
| Xhosa | shumi elinantlanu | ||
| The Xhosa word "Shumi elinantlanu" derives from the Proto-Bantu word "-dʒana-nandi" meaning "count and then (it is so)". | |||
| Yoruba | mẹdogun | ||
| The Yoruba word "mẹdogun" can also mean "a large multitude of people". | |||
| Zulu | ishumi nanhlanu | ||
| In Zulu, 'ishumi nanhlanu' can also mean 'an old person of great importance or value'. | |||
| Bambara | tan ni duuru | ||
| Ewe | wuiatɔ̃ | ||
| Kinyarwanda | cumi na gatanu | ||
| Lingala | zomi na mitano | ||
| Luganda | kumi na taano | ||
| Sepedi | lesomehlano | ||
| Twi (Akan) | dunnum | ||
Fifteen in North African & Middle Eastern Languages
| Arabic | خمسة عشر | ||
| The Arabic word “خمسة عشر” is a compound word meaning “five and ten”. | |||
| Hebrew | חֲמֵשׁ עֶשׂרֵה | ||
| The word "חֲמֵשׁ עֶשׂרֵה" is a compound of the words "חֲמֵשׁ" (five) and "עֶשׂר" (ten). | |||
| Pashto | پنځلس | ||
| In Pashto, "پنځلس" can also mean "one-and-a-half" or "fifteen out of a hundred". | |||
| Arabic | خمسة عشر | ||
| The Arabic word “خمسة عشر” is a compound word meaning “five and ten”. | |||
Fifteen in Western European Languages
| Albanian | pesembedhjete | ||
| The Albanian word "pesembedhjete" comes from the Proto-Indo-European root *kʷetwer- or *kʷetwer-yo-, meaning "four" and "fifteen," respectively. | |||
| Basque | hamabost | ||
| The Basque word "hamabost" is composed of the words "hamar" (ten) and "bost" (five), hence meaning literally "ten and five". | |||
| Catalan | quinze | ||
| The word "quinze" in Catalan can also refer to a playing card with a value of 15. | |||
| Croatian | petnaest | ||
| The word 'petnaest' is a compound of two Old Slavic words, 'peť' ('five') and 'na deset' ('on ten'). | |||
| Danish | femten | ||
| The Danish word "femten" (fifteen) derives from the Proto-Germanic "*fimf-tainiz" (five and ten). | |||
| Dutch | vijftien | ||
| The Dutch word "vijftien" is derived from the Old Saxon word "fifteina" and literally means "five and ten." | |||
| English | fifteen | ||
| The origin of the word 'fifteen' lies in the Old English words 'fif' and 'tiene', meaning 'five' and 'ten', respectively. | |||
| French | quinze | ||
| The French word "quinze" is derived from Latin "quindecim" which means "fifteen". "Quinze" was also an ancient coin worth fifteen deniers. | |||
| Frisian | fyftjin | ||
| The word "fyftjin" is derived from the Old Frisian word "fiftēne", meaning "fifteen". | |||
| Galician | quince | ||
| The Galician word "quince" also means "to go out". | |||
| German | fünfzehn | ||
| The word "fünfzehn" comes from the words "fünf" (five) and "zehn" (ten), meaning "five and ten". | |||
| Icelandic | fimmtán | ||
| The Icelandic word "fimmtán" is derived from the Old Norse word "fimten," which literally means "five tens." | |||
| Irish | cúig déag | ||
| Italian | quindici | ||
| "Quindici" is derived from the Latin "quindecim," meaning "fifteen," and is related to the word "quinque," meaning "five." | |||
| Luxembourgish | fofzéng | ||
| The word "fofzéng" comes from the Old High German word "fünfzæne" and is related to the German word "fünfzehn" and the Dutch word "vijftien". | |||
| Maltese | ħmistax | ||
| Ħmistax is also used to describe a period of half a month, similar to the English idiom "a fortnight". | |||
| Norwegian | femten | ||
| "Femten" derives from the old Germanic word for the number "five" and the suffix "ten": "five tens". | |||
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | quinze | ||
| In Old French, “quinze” meant the day before payday. | |||
| Scots Gaelic | còig-deug | ||
| The word "còig-deug" in Scots Gaelic is a compound of the words "còig" (five) and "deug" (ten), but it can also refer to the number of days in a fortnight. | |||
| Spanish | quince | ||
| The word "quince" in Spanish comes from the Latin "quinque", meaning "five", and the suffix "-nce", meaning "unit of." | |||
| Swedish | femton | ||
| Femton is also a slang term for a 50-cent coin. | |||
| Welsh | pymtheg | ||
| The word pymtheg can also refer to a type of fish called the 'fifteen-spined stickleback' | |||
Fifteen in Eastern European Languages
| Belarusian | пятнаццаць | ||
| The word "пятнаццаць" ("fifteen") in Belarusian is derived from the Old Slavonic word "пѧтьнадесять" ("fifteen"), which is a compound of the Proto-Slavic words for "five" and "ten". In some dialects, the word is also used to refer to the collective noun "fifteen head of cattle". | |||
| Bosnian | petnaest | ||
| The Bosnian word "petnaest" (fifteen) derives from Proto-Slavic "pętъ na desęte" meaning "five on ten". | |||
| Bulgarian | петнадесет | ||
| In Bulgarian, "петнадесет" is a combination of "пет" (five) and "надесет" (ten). | |||
| Czech | patnáct | ||
| The word "patnáct" is not a compound word in Czech, although it seems to be related to the words "pět" (five) and "náct" (ten). | |||
| Estonian | viisteist | ||
| The Estonian word “viisteist” means “fifteen”, but its literal translation is “five over ten”. | |||
| Finnish | viisitoista | ||
| "Viisi" means "five" and "toista" means "second" in Finnish. | |||
| Hungarian | tizenöt | ||
| The second part of the word "tizenöt" comes from the Old Turkish word "öt", meaning five. | |||
| Latvian | piecpadsmit | ||
| While "piecpadsmit" literally translates as "five-and-ten", it is the original Latvian term for the number fifteen. | |||
| Lithuanian | penkiolika | ||
| The Lithuanian word "penkiolika" is related to "penki" meaning "five", and "olik" meaning "to remain", signifying that fifteen is "five remaining". | |||
| Macedonian | петнаесет | ||
| The Macedonian word for fifteen, "пeтнаeсeт" (pronounced petnaeset) is a compound word meaning "five and ten". | |||
| Polish | piętnaście | ||
| The word "piętnaście" comes from the Proto-Slavic word *pętь, meaning "five", and *nadeste, meaning "ten". | |||
| Romanian | cincisprezece | ||
| The word "cincisprezece" is derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *kʷenkʷe, meaning "five" or "fifteen," and the suffix "-sprezece," meaning "ten." | |||
| Russian | пятнадцать | ||
| The word "пятнадцать" derives from the Old Slavic phrase "пѧть на десять", meaning "five on ten" | |||
| Serbian | петнаест | ||
| Serbian "petnaest" is derived from "pet" (five) and "naest" (ten), like Latin "quindecim" from "quinque" and "decem". | |||
| Slovak | pätnásť | ||
| The word "pätnásť" is derived from the Old Slavic word "pętъ", meaning "five", and the suffix "-nást", meaning "ten", indicating its position as the fifth number in the tens sequence. | |||
| Slovenian | petnajst | ||
| "Petnajst" comes from Proto-Slavic "pętъ" ("five") and "na desęte" ("on ten"). | |||
| Ukrainian | п’ятнадцять | ||
| The word “п’ятнадцять” is derived from the Proto-Slavic word “pętъnadesęte”, meaning “the fifth ten”. | |||
Fifteen in South Asian Languages
| Bengali | পনের | ||
| "পনের" or "পাঁচের" is an alternate way of saying "পনের" (fifteen). | |||
| Gujarati | પંદર | ||
| Hindi | पंद्रह | ||
| पंद्रह ('fifteen') is derived from 'पञ्चदश' ('pañcadasha'), which literally means 'five tens'. | |||
| Kannada | ಹದಿನೈದು | ||
| "ಹದಿನೈದು" is an example of a word in Kannada without a direct root in Sanskrit. | |||
| Malayalam | പതിനഞ്ച് | ||
| Marathi | पंधरा | ||
| The word 'पंधरा' comes from the Sanskrit word 'पञ्चदश' (pañcadaśa), meaning 'fifteen'. In Marathi, it is also used to refer to the day of the fortnight that falls 15 days after the new moon or full moon. | |||
| Nepali | पन्ध्र | ||
| The word "पन्ध्र" is derived from the Sanskrit word "पंचदश", which means "fifteen." | |||
| Punjabi | ਪੰਦਰਾਂ | ||
| The word "ਪੰਦਰਾਂ" is derived from the Sanskrit words "pañca" (five) and "daśa" (ten), indicating its numerical value. | |||
| Sinhala (Sinhalese) | පහළොව | ||
| The Sinhalese word "පහළොව" (fifteen) derives from the Proto-Indo-European root "penkwe" meaning "five" and "dasa" meaning "ten". | |||
| Tamil | பதினைந்து | ||
| "பதினைந்து" originally meant "fifteen" hundred in Tamil and later changed to mean "fifteen". | |||
| Telugu | పదిహేను | ||
| Urdu | پندرہ | ||
| The word "pandra" also means "the day of the full moon" in Urdu. | |||
Fifteen in East Asian Languages
| Chinese (Simplified) | 十五 | ||
| "十五" (fifteen) is used as a euphemism for "the moon" because the full moon falls on the fifteenth day of the lunar month. | |||
| Chinese (Traditional) | 十五 | ||
| '十五' is also the 15th day of a month in the Chinese lunar calendar, which is often associated with the full moon. | |||
| Japanese | 15 | ||
| In Japanese, "15" (juugo) can also mean "complete" or "perfect". | |||
| Korean | 열 다섯 | ||
| The Korean word "열 다섯" (15) can also refer to a type of traditional Korean folk song sung at weddings and other festive occasions. | |||
| Mongolian | арван тав | ||
| The Mongolian word | |||
| Myanmar (Burmese) | ဆယ့်ငါး | ||
Fifteen in South East Asian Languages
| Indonesian | limabelas | ||
| The word "limabelas", meaning "fifteen" in Indonesian, derives from the Old Javanese word "limawelas". | |||
| Javanese | limalas | ||
| The Javanese word “limalas” comes from the Proto-Austronesian number “lima” (5), and the Proto-Malayo-Polynesian suffix “-las” (ten), thus meaning “ten plus five”. | |||
| Khmer | ដប់ប្រាំ | ||
| The prefix | |||
| Lao | ສິບຫ້າ | ||
| The word "ສິບຫ້າ" is derived from the Sanskrit "saptadasha" and the Pali "sodasa", both of which mean "fifteen". | |||
| Malay | lima belas | ||
| The word "lima belas" is directly translated from the Sanskrit words "panca" (five) and "dasa" (ten). In modern usage it can also refer to "fifteen minutes past the hour" or a quarter of an hour. | |||
| Thai | สิบห้า | ||
| "สิบห้า" (15) is a contraction of "สิบ" (10) and "ห้า" (5). | |||
| Vietnamese | mười lăm | ||
| 'Mười lăm' literally means 'ten and five'. | |||
| Filipino (Tagalog) | labinlima | ||
Fifteen in Central Asian Languages
| Azerbaijani | on beş | ||
| "On beş" is a compound word meaning "ten five" or "ten on top" in Azerbaijani. | |||
| Kazakh | он бес | ||
| "Он бес" is a homonym of "онбас", a measure of capacity for grain or liquid, now obsolete. | |||
| Kyrgyz | он беш | ||
| The word "он беш" (fifteen) in Kyrgyz literally translates to "ten and five." | |||
| Tajik | понздаҳ | ||
| The Tajik word "понздаҳ" is composed of the words for "ten" ("дах") and "five" ("панҷ"), reflecting the base-10 number system. | |||
| Turkmen | on bäş | ||
| Uzbek | o'n besh | ||
| "O'n besh" derives from the Persian words "dah" (ten) and "panj" (five). | |||
| Uyghur | ئون بەش | ||
Fifteen in Pacific Languages
| Hawaiian | umikumālima | ||
| The word "umikumālima" is derived from "umi" (ten) and "kumālima" (five), and can also mean "the fifteenth day of the month". | |||
| Maori | tekau ma rima | ||
| Te kau ma rima ('fifteen') refers to 'the fifteen people' (the digits fingers and toes). | |||
| Samoan | sefulu ma le lima | ||
| "Sefulu ma le lima" literally means "ten and five" in Samoan. | |||
| Tagalog (Filipino) | labinlimang | ||
| In Old Tagalog, "labinlimang" was written as "labinglimá" and referred to the number "fifteen thousand". Today, however, it is spelled "labinlimang" and refers to the number "fifteen". | |||
Fifteen in American Indigenous Languages
| Aymara | tunka phisqhani | ||
| Guarani | papo | ||
Fifteen in International Languages
| Esperanto | dek kvin | ||
| The word "dek kvin" in Esperanto is a combination of the words "dek" (ten) and "kvin" (five), which reflects the base-ten number system used in many languages. | |||
| Latin | quindecim | ||
| The word 'quindecim' is derived from the Proto-Italic word 'penkwe' meaning 'five' and the suffix '-decim' meaning 'ten', forming 'five and ten'. | |||
Fifteen in Others Languages
| Greek | δεκαπέντε | ||
| The word 'δεκαπέντε' is a compound of 'δέκα' (ten) and 'πέντε' (five), but it originally meant 'fifteen hundred'. | |||
| Hmong | kaum tsib | ||
| The word "kaum tsib" can also mean "two hundred seven". | |||
| Kurdish | panzdeh | ||
| The Kurdish word "panzdeh" is also used to mean "a half of thirty" and "a quarter of sixty". | |||
| Turkish | on beş | ||
| "On" means "ten" and "beş" means "five" in Turkish, so "on beş" literally means "ten five". | |||
| Xhosa | shumi elinantlanu | ||
| The Xhosa word "Shumi elinantlanu" derives from the Proto-Bantu word "-dʒana-nandi" meaning "count and then (it is so)". | |||
| Yiddish | פופצן | ||
| "פופצן" is thought to be formed by the root word "פופ" (five) and the suffix "צן" (ten), suggesting that it literally means "five and ten". | |||
| Zulu | ishumi nanhlanu | ||
| In Zulu, 'ishumi nanhlanu' can also mean 'an old person of great importance or value'. | |||
| Assamese | পোন্ধৰ | ||
| Aymara | tunka phisqhani | ||
| Bhojpuri | पंदरह | ||
| Dhivehi | ފަނަރަ | ||
| Dogri | पंदरां | ||
| Filipino (Tagalog) | labinlima | ||
| Guarani | papo | ||
| Ilocano | sangapulo ket lima | ||
| Krio | fiftin | ||
| Kurdish (Sorani) | پازدە | ||
| Maithili | पंद्रह | ||
| Meiteilon (Manipuri) | ꯇꯔꯥꯃꯉꯥ | ||
| Mizo | sawmpanga | ||
| Oromo | kudha shan | ||
| Odia (Oriya) | ପନ୍ଦର | ||
| Quechua | chunka pichqayuq | ||
| Sanskrit | पञ्चदश | ||
| Tatar | унбиш | ||
| Tigrinya | ዓሰርተ ሓሙሽተ | ||
| Tsonga | khumentlhanu | ||