Fifty in Different Languages
Discover 'Fifty' in 134 Languages: Dive into Translations, Hear Pronunciations, and Uncover Cultural Insights.
Updated on March 6, 2024
The number 'fifty' holds a unique significance in many cultures and languages around the world. It marks a halfway point, a milestone, and is often associated with important historical events and cultural references. For instance, in Japan, 'fifty' is a 'half-century', and in Nigeria, the Yoruba people have a saying, 'Ise logun fifty', which means 'work for fifty', emphasizing the importance of hard work and dedication.
Moreover, understanding the translation of 'fifty' in different languages can be a fun and enriching experience, providing insights into the culture and history of the people who speak those languages. Here are a few examples:
- Spanish: cincuenta
- French: cinquante
- German: fünfzig
- Mandarin: 五十 (wǔ shí)
- Japanese: 五十 (go-jū)
- Russian: пятьдесят (pyatnadtsat')
- Hebrew: חמשים (ḥamishim)
- Arabic: خمسون (khamsūn)
Explore the world of language and culture through the translations of 'fifty' and discover the beauty and diversity of human expression.
Fifty
Fifty in Sub-Saharan African Languages
| Afrikaans | vyftig | ||
| The Afrikaans word "vyftig" derives from the Dutch "vijftig", originally meaning "five tens" in Old Dutch (c. 1100–1500). | |||
| Amharic | ሃምሳ | ||
| The word "ሃምሳ" in Amharic also means "a group of five". | |||
| Hausa | hamsin | ||
| The Hausa word “hamsin” is closely related to the Arabic term “khamsah” or “khamsin” meaning “fifty”. | |||
| Igbo | iri ise | ||
| The Igbo word 'iri ise' is said to originate from 'iri ato' and 'ise' or 'ase,' as in 'five at ten.' | |||
| Malagasy | dimam-polo | ||
| The word "dimam-polo" in Malagasy also means "counting five by five". | |||
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | makumi asanu | ||
| Although 'makumi asanu' literally means 'ten times five', it is often used as a general term for 50. | |||
| Shona | makumi mashanu | ||
| The name 'makumi mashanu' originates from an Old Bantu root, 'tâkû-mi' or 'ku-mi', which refers to a bundle or bunch of items. | |||
| Somali | konton | ||
| Konton is thought to have originated from the verb konton ('to be equal') or from konton ('to be straight' or 'to make straight'). | |||
| Sesotho | mashome a mahlano | ||
| "Mashome a mahlano" is derived from "mashome a mahla", meaning "five times ten." | |||
| Swahili | hamsini | ||
| The word "hamsini" in Swahili can also refer to the period between the forty-ninth and fiftieth days of pregnancy. | |||
| Xhosa | amashumi amahlanu | ||
| In the past, Xhosas counted using their fingers and toes. The word "amahlanu" derives from the word "hlanu" meaning "five", and "ama" meaning "many". Therefore, "amahlanu" literally means "many fives." | |||
| Yoruba | aadọta | ||
| "Adota" also refers to "half a hundred" in Yoruba | |||
| Zulu | amashumi amahlanu | ||
| In addition to its literal meaning, "amashumi amahlanu" also refers to the celebration of a 50th anniversary, particularly a marriage anniversary. | |||
| Bambara | biduuru | ||
| Ewe | blaatɔ̃ | ||
| Kinyarwanda | mirongo itanu | ||
| Lingala | ntuku mitano | ||
| Luganda | amakumi ataano | ||
| Sepedi | masomehlano | ||
| Twi (Akan) | aduonum | ||
Fifty in North African & Middle Eastern Languages
| Arabic | خمسون | ||
| The word خمسون (fifty) is derived from the Proto-Semitic *hamš-un, meaning "five each." | |||
| Hebrew | חמישים | ||
| חמישים shares a root with "חמש" ("five") and "מש" ("man"), suggesting its origin in groups of five men counting collectively. | |||
| Pashto | پنځوس | ||
| The word "پنځوس" ("fifty") in Pashto derives from the Proto-Indo-European root "*penkwe" meaning "five" and the suffix "-os" meaning "ten". It is also a multiple of fifteen, referred to as "درو لس" ("three tens"). | |||
| Arabic | خمسون | ||
| The word خمسون (fifty) is derived from the Proto-Semitic *hamš-un, meaning "five each." | |||
Fifty in Western European Languages
| Albanian | pesëdhjetë | ||
| The word "pesëdhjetë" (fifty) in Albanian literally translates to "five-tens". | |||
| Basque | berrogeita hamar | ||
| The word "berrogeita hamar" can also be used to mean "half of a hundred" in Basque. | |||
| Catalan | cinquanta | ||
| The Catalan word "cinquanta" derives from the Latin word "quinquaginta", which means "fifty". It is also related to the French word "cinquante" and the Italian word "cinquanta", all of which have the same meaning. | |||
| Croatian | pedeset | ||
| Pedeset comes from the Proto-Slavic word *pędę, which also means "five" in some Slavic languages. | |||
| Danish | halvtreds | ||
| Halvtreds is derived from "halv" meaning half and "tre" meaning three, referring to the number being halfway to the next hundred. | |||
| Dutch | vijftig | ||
| "Vijftig" is derived from the Old Dutch word "fiftig," which means "five tens" | |||
| English | fifty | ||
| "Fifty" derives from Old English "fiftig," meaning "the count of five tens." | |||
| French | cinquante | ||
| The word "cinquante" comes from the Latin word "quinquaginta," which means "fifty." | |||
| Frisian | fyftich | ||
| "Fyftich" is derived from Old Frisian "fiftich" and is related to the English word "fifty," with its root in Proto-Germanic "fimftig". | |||
| Galician | cincuenta | ||
| In Spanish, "cincuenta" comes from Arabic "hamsun" "fifty" while in Galician it derives from Latin "quinquaginta". | |||
| German | fünfzig | ||
| The word "fünfzig" is derived from the Proto-Germanic word "*fimftig" meaning "five tens". | |||
| Icelandic | fimmtíu | ||
| The word "fimmtíu" derives from Old Norse "fimtigi" and is cognate with English "fifty", German "fünfzig" and French "cinquante". | |||
| Irish | caoga | ||
| 'Caoga' derives from the Proto-Celtic word 'kankant', meaning 'four twenties'. | |||
| Italian | cinquanta | ||
| The word "cinquanta" derives from the Latin "quinquaginta" and its variant form "cinquantena" | |||
| Luxembourgish | fofzeg | ||
| The Luxembourgish word "fofzeg" has also been used in some dialects to denote half a hundred, and, colloquially, "two" in the context of money. | |||
| Maltese | ħamsin | ||
| The word 'ħamsin' ('fifty') is also used to refer to the hot wind that blows from the Sahara Desert during the summer months in Malta. | |||
| Norwegian | femti | ||
| "Femti" is a feminine form derived from the ordinal number "fempte", which retains its use in modern Norwegian as the ordinal "fifth". | |||
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | cinquenta | ||
| ''Cinquenta'', meaning ''fifty'', derives from the Latin ''quinquaginta'', and is used in both Portugal and Brazil. | |||
| Scots Gaelic | còigead | ||
| The word "còigead" has alternate meanings depending on the context, including "fifth" and "province". | |||
| Spanish | cincuenta | ||
| Cincuenta derives from the Latin | |||
| Swedish | femtio | ||
| The word 'femtio' is derived from the Old Norse word 'fimtögr', which means 'five tens'. | |||
| Welsh | hanner cant | ||
| In the old Welsh counting system, 'hanner cant' was used to represent the number 50, but could also refer to a 'half-century' or 25 years. | |||
Fifty in Eastern European Languages
| Belarusian | пяцьдзесят | ||
| "Пяцьдзесят" (fifty) shares the root "пять" (five) with other Slavic languages like Russian "пятьдесят" and Polish "pięćdziesiąt". | |||
| Bosnian | pedeset | ||
| The archaic form of "pedeset" was "pedesąte" which evolved through the loss of the nasal vowel "-ą" over time. | |||
| Bulgarian | петдесет | ||
| "Петдесет" in Bulgarian derives from the Old Slavic "pęti desęte," meaning "5 * 10." The number 50 has also been used to mean "large quantity" or "indeterminate number." | |||
| Czech | padesáti | ||
| The Czech word "padesáti" comes from the Proto-Slavic word *pędęsate, meaning "four fifties". | |||
| Estonian | viiskümmend | ||
| Estonian word "viiskümmend" also means a half-century or 50-year anniversary. | |||
| Finnish | viisikymmentä | ||
| Viisi is the Finnish word for five and kymmentä means ten, fifty being the sum of these two.} | |||
| Hungarian | ötven | ||
| "Ötven" originally meant "five tens", and it is pronounced "otven", not "fifty". | |||
| Latvian | piecdesmit | ||
| Latvian "piecdesmit" has Proto-Baltic roots, meaning "five tens," and in Lithuanian is spelled "penkiasdešimt." | |||
| Lithuanian | penkiasdešimt | ||
| The word 'penkiasdešimt' is derived from the Proto-Indo-European word 'penkwe', meaning 'five', and the Lithuanian word 'dešimt', meaning 'ten'. | |||
| Macedonian | педесет | ||
| "Педесет" is likely derived from the Proto-Slavic word "*pędьdesętь" which was also influenced by the Greek word "pentaconta" (πεντηκοντα). | |||
| Polish | pięćdziesiąt | ||
| "Pięćdziesiąt" is a compound word consisting of two old Slavic words, "pięć" and "dziesiąt", which respectively mean "five" and "ten", i.e. "five tens". Hence its original meaning was "five groups of ten". Similar words exist in other Slavic languages, e.g. Russian "пятдесят" (piatdiesyat). | |||
| Romanian | cincizeci | ||
| "Cincizeci" comes from the Proto-Indo-European root "*kʷenkʷe" meaning "five" and "*-dḱm" meaning "ten." | |||
| Russian | пятьдесят | ||
| "Пятьдесят" is derived from the Old Slavic "pętь" (five) and "desęte" (ten), thus literally meaning "five tens". It also has an archaic meaning of "two and a half" (as in "дважды по пятьдесят" (2 * 50) = 100). | |||
| Serbian | педесет | ||
| In Croatian, "педесет" also means "one hundred". | |||
| Slovak | päťdesiat | ||
| The word "päťdesiat" derives from the Proto-Slavic word "pętь", meaning "five", and the suffix "-desiat", meaning "ten". | |||
| Slovenian | petdeset | ||
| "Petdeset" derives from "pet" (five) and "deset" (ten). | |||
| Ukrainian | п'ятдесят | ||
| The word "п'ятдесят" is derived from the Proto-Slavic word "*pętьdesętu" and originally meant "four times ten" or "five times ten". | |||
Fifty in South Asian Languages
| Bengali | পঞ্চাশ | ||
| The word "পঞ্চাশ" comes from the Sanskrit words "पञ्च" (five) and "आश" (ten), meaning five tens or fifty. | |||
| Gujarati | પચાસ | ||
| Hindi | पचास | ||
| The word 'पचास' is derived from the Sanskrit word 'panchāśat', which means 'five tens'. | |||
| Kannada | ಐವತ್ತು | ||
| The word "ಐವತ್ತು" (fifty) derives from the Proto-Dravidian root "*paṃt-u", also found in Tamil "ஐம்பது" and Telugu "ఐదువది". | |||
| Malayalam | അമ്പത് | ||
| The word "അമ്പത്" (ambaṯ) is derived from the Malayalam word "അമ്പ" (amba), meaning "arrow", and "പത്" (pat), meaning "ten", indicating that fifty is represented by five arrows (tens). | |||
| Marathi | पन्नास | ||
| "पन्नास" का शब्द "पण" (शर्त) और "आस" (आशा) से बना है, जिसका अर्थ है "पण लगाना" या "आशा करना" कि कोई चीज़ सफल हो जाए। | |||
| Nepali | पचास | ||
| The word "पचास" literally translates to "five tens" in Nepali. | |||
| Punjabi | ਪੰਜਾਹ | ||
| The word "ਪੰਜਾਹ" originates from the Sanskrit word "पञ्चाशत्" (pañcāśat), which also means "fifty". | |||
| Sinhala (Sinhalese) | පනහ | ||
| The Sinhala word "පනහ" can also refer to the five "panchadasha" (pentagonal) shapes found on the Buddhist "siri pathula" (sacred footprint). | |||
| Tamil | ஐம்பது | ||
| The word இம்பதற ("aimbadhu") could also mean "five times ten"} | |||
| Telugu | యాభై | ||
| The word 'యాభై' is derived from the Sanskrit word 'पञ्चाशत्' which means 'fifty', while its alternate meaning is 'half' or 'share'. | |||
| Urdu | پچاس | ||
| Despite "پچاس" (fifty) deriving from Sanskrit "पञ्चाशत्" (fifty), it can also mean "fifty-fifty" or "sharing equally" in Urdu. | |||
Fifty in East Asian Languages
| Chinese (Simplified) | 五十 | ||
| 五十 (fifty) also means 'half of hundred' (百/佰, the Chinese character for 'hundred', is pronounced bǎi). | |||
| Chinese (Traditional) | 五十 | ||
| 五十 in Chinese can mean both "fifty" and "fifty years old". | |||
| Japanese | 50 | ||
| "Go" as a standalone word can mean both "five" or "the number 50". | |||
| Korean | 오십 | ||
| 오십 is thought to have come from an Old Korean form meaning either "five groups of ten" or "two hands of twenty-five." | |||
| Mongolian | тавин | ||
| The word "тавин" also means "five times ten" in Mongolian. | |||
| Myanmar (Burmese) | ငါးဆယ် | ||
Fifty in South East Asian Languages
| Indonesian | lima puluh | ||
| "Lima puluh" is derived from Old Javanese "lima" (five) and "puluh" (ten), but also refers to the number of fingers and toes (five fingers on each hand and ten toes on each foot). | |||
| Javanese | seket | ||
| The word "seket" also means "group" or "crowd" in Javanese. | |||
| Khmer | ហាសិប | ||
| Lao | ຫ້າສິບ | ||
| The word | |||
| Malay | lima puluh | ||
| The term "lima puluh" literally means "five tens" in Malay, a reflection of the base-10 number system used in the language. | |||
| Thai | ห้าสิบ | ||
| "ห้าสิบ" is also an old measure equivalent to ten thousand | |||
| Vietnamese | năm mươi | ||
| "Năm mươi" is related to the Sino-Vietnamese word "오십" (pronounced "ngũ thập"), which literally means "five ten". | |||
| Filipino (Tagalog) | limampu | ||
Fifty in Central Asian Languages
| Azerbaijani | əlli | ||
| The Azerbaijani word "əlli" comes from the Proto-Turkic word *ellik, which also meant "hand". | |||
| Kazakh | елу | ||
| "Елу" is also used to express large amounts or the idea of a lot. | |||
| Kyrgyz | элүү | ||
| Элүү also means "people" in Kyrgyz. | |||
| Tajik | панҷоҳ | ||
| The word "панҷоҳ" in Tajik means "fifty," and is derived from the Persian word "پنجاه" (panjāh), which is itself derived from the Middle Persian word "panjāk". | |||
| Turkmen | elli | ||
| Uzbek | ellik | ||
| The Uzbek word "ellik" meaning "fifty" comes from the Proto-Turkic word "elliq" and also means "a hand"} | |||
| Uyghur | ئەللىك | ||
Fifty in Pacific Languages
| Hawaiian | kanalima | ||
| The word "kanalima" comes from the Proto-Austronesian word "sa-lima" meaning "five hands". | |||
| Maori | rima tekau | ||
| "Rima tekau" can also mean "a thousand" when referring to money. | |||
| Samoan | lima sefulu | ||
| Lima sefulu (50) can also mean "ten fives". | |||
| Tagalog (Filipino) | limampu | ||
| "Limampu" (fifty) may be rooted from "limang pu": five "pu". "Pu" is an older unit of counting, similar to "dosena" (dozen), which is equal to 12. | |||
Fifty in American Indigenous Languages
| Aymara | phisqha tunka | ||
| Guarani | popa | ||
Fifty in International Languages
| Esperanto | kvindek | ||
| "Kvindek" also means "women" (in the plural). | |||
| Latin | quinquaginta | ||
| The Latin word "quinquaginta" (fifty) comes from the root "quinque" (five) and "aginta" (ten), indicating a group of five tens. | |||
Fifty in Others Languages
| Greek | πενήντα | ||
| The word "πενήντα" (fifty) in Greek is derived from the Proto-Indo-European word "*penkʷe" (five), and is related to English "fifty" and Russian "пятьдесят" (fifty). | |||
| Hmong | tsib caug | ||
| "Tsib caug" means "fifty" in Hmong and is a compound word consisting of "tsib" (five) and "caug" (ten). | |||
| Kurdish | pêncî | ||
| The Kurdish word "pêncî" also translates to "five times ten" in Persian | |||
| Turkish | elli | ||
| The word 'el' (hand) in 'elli', the Turkish word for fifty, is also used in counting, indicating multiples of 5. | |||
| Xhosa | amashumi amahlanu | ||
| In the past, Xhosas counted using their fingers and toes. The word "amahlanu" derives from the word "hlanu" meaning "five", and "ama" meaning "many". Therefore, "amahlanu" literally means "many fives." | |||
| Yiddish | פופציק | ||
| "פופציק" is derived from the German word "Putzen", meaning "to clean" or "to tidy up". | |||
| Zulu | amashumi amahlanu | ||
| In addition to its literal meaning, "amashumi amahlanu" also refers to the celebration of a 50th anniversary, particularly a marriage anniversary. | |||
| Assamese | পঞ্চাছ | ||
| Aymara | phisqha tunka | ||
| Bhojpuri | पचास | ||
| Dhivehi | ފަންސާސް | ||
| Dogri | पंजाह् | ||
| Filipino (Tagalog) | limampu | ||
| Guarani | popa | ||
| Ilocano | lima a pulo | ||
| Krio | fifti | ||
| Kurdish (Sorani) | پەنجا | ||
| Maithili | पचास | ||
| Meiteilon (Manipuri) | ꯌꯥꯡꯈꯩ | ||
| Mizo | sawmnga | ||
| Oromo | shantama | ||
| Odia (Oriya) | ପଚାଶ | ||
| Quechua | pichqa chunka | ||
| Sanskrit | पञ्चाशा | ||
| Tatar | илле | ||
| Tigrinya | ሓምሳ | ||
| Tsonga | makumentlhanu | ||