Food in Different Languages
Discover 'Food' in 134 Languages: Dive into Translations, Hear Pronunciations, and Uncover Cultural Insights.
Food
Afrikaans kos | ||
Albanian ushqim | ||
Amharic ምግብ | ||
Arabic طعام | ||
Armenian սնունդ | ||
Assamese আহাৰ | ||
Aymara manq'aña | ||
Azerbaijani yemək | ||
Bambara dumuni | ||
Basque janari | ||
Belarusian харчаванне | ||
Bengali খাদ্য | ||
Bhojpuri खाना | ||
Bosnian hrana | ||
Bulgarian храна | ||
Catalan menjar | ||
Cebuano pagkaon | ||
Chinese (Simplified) 餐饮 | ||
Chinese (Traditional) 餐飲 | ||
Corsican manghjà | ||
Croatian hrana | ||
Czech jídlo | ||
Danish mad | ||
Dhivehi ކާތަކެތި | ||
Dogri रुट्टी | ||
Dutch voedsel | ||
English food | ||
Esperanto manĝaĵo | ||
Estonian toit | ||
Ewe nuɖuɖu | ||
Filipino (Tagalog) pagkain | ||
Finnish ruokaa | ||
French nourriture | ||
Frisian iten | ||
Galician comida | ||
Georgian საკვები | ||
German lebensmittel | ||
Greek φαγητό | ||
Guarani hi'upyrã | ||
Gujarati ખોરાક | ||
Haitian Creole manje | ||
Hausa abinci | ||
Hawaiian mea ʻai | ||
Hebrew מזון | ||
Hindi खाना | ||
Hmong cov khoom noj | ||
Hungarian étel | ||
Icelandic matur | ||
Igbo nri | ||
Ilocano makan | ||
Indonesian makanan | ||
Irish bia | ||
Italian cibo | ||
Japanese 食物 | ||
Javanese panganan | ||
Kannada ಆಹಾರ | ||
Kazakh тамақ | ||
Khmer អាហារ | ||
Kinyarwanda ibiryo | ||
Konkani खाण | ||
Korean 음식 | ||
Krio it | ||
Kurdish xûrek | ||
Kurdish (Sorani) خواردن | ||
Kyrgyz тамак-аш | ||
Lao ອາຫານ | ||
Latin cibus | ||
Latvian ēdiens | ||
Lingala bilei | ||
Lithuanian maistas | ||
Luganda emmere | ||
Luxembourgish iessen | ||
Macedonian храна | ||
Maithili खाद्य | ||
Malagasy sakafo | ||
Malay makanan | ||
Malayalam ഭക്ഷണം | ||
Maltese ikel | ||
Maori kai | ||
Marathi अन्न | ||
Meiteilon (Manipuri) ꯆꯤꯟꯖꯥꯛ | ||
Mizo chaw | ||
Mongolian хоол хүнс | ||
Myanmar (Burmese) အစားအစာ | ||
Nepali खाना | ||
Norwegian mat | ||
Nyanja (Chichewa) chakudya | ||
Odia (Oriya) ଖାଦ୍ୟ | ||
Oromo nyaata | ||
Pashto خواړه | ||
Persian غذا | ||
Polish jedzenie | ||
Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) comida | ||
Punjabi ਭੋਜਨ | ||
Quechua mikuna | ||
Romanian alimente | ||
Russian еда | ||
Samoan meaai | ||
Sanskrit आहारः | ||
Scots Gaelic biadh | ||
Sepedi dijo | ||
Serbian храна | ||
Sesotho lijo | ||
Shona chikafu | ||
Sindhi کاڌو | ||
Sinhala (Sinhalese) ආහාර | ||
Slovak jedlo | ||
Slovenian hrano | ||
Somali cuntada | ||
Spanish comida | ||
Sundanese tuangeun | ||
Swahili chakula | ||
Swedish mat | ||
Tagalog (Filipino) pagkain | ||
Tajik хӯрок | ||
Tamil உணவு | ||
Tatar ризык | ||
Telugu ఆహారం | ||
Thai อาหาร | ||
Tigrinya ምግቢ | ||
Tsonga swakudya | ||
Turkish gıda | ||
Turkmen iýmit | ||
Twi (Akan) aduane | ||
Ukrainian їжа | ||
Urdu کھانا | ||
Uyghur يېمەكلىك | ||
Uzbek ovqat | ||
Vietnamese món ăn | ||
Welsh bwyd | ||
Xhosa ukutya | ||
Yiddish עסנוואַרג | ||
Yoruba ounjẹ | ||
Zulu ukudla |
Etymology & Notes
| Language | Etymology / Notes |
|---|---|
| Afrikaans | Etymology unknown, possibly an early loan from a Bantu language or via Dutch from an Indonesian language. |
| Albanian | The Albanian word "ushqim" is derived from the Proto-Albanian word "*h₁edh-skó" meaning "sustenance". |
| Amharic | "ምግብ" (food) derives from a root meaning "to feed, nourish, or sustain." |
| Arabic | The Arabic word "طعام" (food) is derived from the root "طعم" (taste), referring to the sensory experience associated with eating. |
| Armenian | "Սնունդ" derives from the Proto-Indo-European root "*sue-n-dh-", meaning "to nourish", and is related to the Sanskrit "sunanda" and the Latin "sanus" (healthy), both meaning "well-nourished or healthy". |
| Azerbaijani | The word "yemək" in Azerbaijani also means "to eat". |
| Basque | The Basque word "janari" may be related to the words "jan" (to eat) or "jani" (food) found in other Basque languages such as Proto-Basque, Aquitanian, and Iberian. |
| Belarusian | Харчаванне, meaning "food" in Belarusian, derives from the Proto-Indo-European root *kʰer-, meaning "to nourish." |
| Bengali | The term is a shortened form of ''খাদ্য পদার্থ'' or ''eating substance''. |
| Bosnian | In Bosnian, the word “hrana” can also mean “nourishment,” “sustenance,” or “nutrition.” |
| Bulgarian | The word 'храна' comes from an old Slavic root meaning 'to nourish' and is related to words like 'хлеб' ('bread') and 'хоровать' ('to be ill'). |
| Catalan | The Catalan word "menjar" comes from the Latin verb "mandere," meaning "to chew" or "to eat." |
| Chinese (Simplified) | '餐饮' literally means 'drinking and eating' |
| Chinese (Traditional) | The word "餐飲" (food) in Chinese (Traditional) is composed of two characters: "餐", meaning "meal" or "course", and "飲", meaning "drink" or "beverage". |
| Corsican | The word "manghjà" is also used to refer to the act of eating. |
| Croatian | The Croatian word 'hrana' derives from the Proto-Indo-European root *k̂er- ('to grow, nourish'), also seen in the English word 'corn'. |
| Czech | The Czech word "jídlo" can also refer to a meal or a course or dishes |
| Danish | In Danish, "mad" can also refer to a meal or a feast. |
| Dutch | The word "voedsel" is derived from the Old Dutch "voedsel", meaning "nourishment" or "what one feeds on". |
| Esperanto | The word "manĝaĵo" also has an alternate meaning of "food storage". |
| Estonian | Toit also means fodder, nourishment or pasture in the Estonian language. |
| Finnish | The word 'ruokaa' is derived from the Proto-Uralic word *ruka, meaning 'something to feed oneself' |
| French | Nourriture is derived from the Latin word "nutrire," meaning "nourish," but can also refer to "education" or "spiritual sustenance." |
| Frisian | The Frisian word "iten" shares a common origin with the English word "eat" and the German word "essen" |
| Galician | In Galician, 'comida' also means an occasion when food is provided, such as a meal, a snack or a banquet |
| Georgian | The word "საკვები" can also refer to the act of consuming food or the state of being nourished. |
| German | Literally translating to "means of living", "Lebensmittel" also includes animal feed, tobacco, and stimulants. |
| Greek | The word 'φαγητό' is derived from the word 'Φάω', which means 'to eat', and is related to the word 'Φάρος', which means 'lighthouse', due to its role in attracting people during meal times. |
| Gujarati | The word "ખોરાક" also means "sustenance" or "nourishment" in Gujarati. |
| Haitian Creole | From Spanish "manjar", meaning "delicacy, dish" |
| Hausa | In Hausa, |
| Hawaiian | The word "mea ʻai" can also mean "something eaten", such as a meal or a snack. |
| Hebrew | The word 'מזון' (food) in Hebrew also refers to 'nourishment,' 'sustenance,' and 'provisions.' |
| Hindi | In Hindi the word "खाना" (food) has a double meaning - the food itself and a place where it is served. |
| Hmong | The Hmong word "cov khoom noj" literally translates to "things that are swallowed". |
| Hungarian | Étel originates in Proto-Uralic, where it had a wider variety of meanings like 'provision', 'food', and even 'medicine'. |
| Icelandic | In Icelandic, "matur" not only means "food", but also "bait" or "decoy", highlighting its importance in the cultural traditions of fishing and hunting. |
| Igbo | "Nri" also means "life" or "to live" in Igbo, capturing the vital role of food in sustaining life. |
| Indonesian | The Indonesian word "makanan" can also refer to a particular dish or type of food. |
| Irish | The Irish word 'bia' is a cognate of the Latin word 'cibus', meaning 'food', and is also related to the Greek word 'βιος' (bios), meaning 'life'. |
| Italian | "Cibo" derives from the Latin "cibus" meaning "food" or "sustenance". |
| Japanese | The Japanese word for food, "食物", is literally translated as "the stuff that feeds the body". |
| Javanese | In ancient Javanese, "panganan" also meant "offering to the gods." |
| Kannada | The word |
| Kazakh | Тамақ in Kazakh can also mean |
| Khmer | The Khmer word "aharn" (អាហារ) is derived from the Sanskrit word "āhāra" (आहार) and ultimately originates from the Proto-Indo-European root *aǵʰ- "to drive, move, carry". |
| Korean | "음식" (food), in addition to its primary meaning, can also mean nourishment (영양) or a treat or dessert (과일). |
| Kurdish | The Kurdish word "xûrek" derives from the Proto-Indo-European root "*ǵʰréw-", meaning "to grow, ripen, gather". |
| Kyrgyz | The Kyrgyz word "тамак-аш" originally referred to a traditional festive dish served at special occasions. |
| Lao | The Lao word "ອາຫານ" (food) is derived from the Sanskrit word "आहार" (ahara), meaning "intake". It can also refer to the act of eating or the material taken into an organism for nourishment and growth. |
| Latin | The word 'cibus' has the rare secondary meaning 'sustenance for life and spirit'. |
| Latvian | Ēdiens can also refer to a dish, a meal, or provisions. |
| Lithuanian | The word "maistas" is derived from the verb "maitinti" which means "to nourish or feed". |
| Luxembourgish | Iessen may also refer to the act or process of devouring something. |
| Macedonian | The word "храна" in Macedonian also means "provision" or "sustenance". |
| Malagasy | The word 'sakafo' in Malagasy is a loanword from the Proto-Austronesian word 'kaen' meaning 'to eat' or 'food'. |
| Malay | "Makanan" is the Malay word for "food," but it also has roots in Sanskrit, where it means "substance," "essence," or "matter." |
| Malayalam | The Malayalam word 'ഭക്ഷണം' can also refer to the act of eating food or the place where food is served. |
| Maltese | "Ikel" is a derivative of the Arabic word "akl" with the same meaning and cognate with the Hebrew "okhel". |
| Maori | Maori word kai may mean the food itself or the process of eating depending on context. |
| Marathi | The word "अन्न" (food) in Marathi also means "grain" and is derived from the Sanskrit word "अन्नम्". |
| Mongolian | The word "хоол хүнс" can also mean "provisions" or "supplies". |
| Myanmar (Burmese) | "အစား" is derived from the Sanskrit word "ācāra", meaning "custom, practice, or behavior," as food is a fundamental aspect of everyday life. |
| Nepali | The word "खाना" ("food" in Nepali) originally referred to the act of cooking or eating, rather than the food itself. |
| Norwegian | The Norwegian word "mat" (food) comes from the Old Norse word "matur", which also meant "food". |
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | The word "chakudya" in Nyanja (Chichewa) is also used to refer to the act of eating. |
| Pashto | The Pashto word "خواړه" is likely derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *gʷʰer- "to warm, heat," and is also cognate with the Sanskrit word "gharma" and the Avestan word "garəma," both of which mean "heat, warmth." |
| Persian | The word "غذا" ("food") in Persian comes from the Proto-Indo-European root "*ghēd-", meaning "to eat" or "to consume". |
| Polish | "Jedzenie" can also mean "eating" in Polish. |
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | The word 'comida' derives from the Latin 'comedere', meaning 'to eat', and can also refer to a specific meal or dish. |
| Punjabi | ਭੋਜਨ ultimately derives from the word 'bhoj' meaning 'to eat'. It is also a synonym for 'prasad' or 'sanctified food' in the spiritual context. |
| Romanian | In Romanian, 'alimente' is derived from the Latin 'alere' (to nourish) and also refers to 'goods' or 'supplies' in a general sense. |
| Russian | The word "еда" is derived from the Proto-Slavic word "*jẹdъ", meaning "to eat" or "meal". |
| Samoan | The word "meaai" in Samoan derives from the Proto-Austronesian root "*ma-kan", meaning "to eat". |
| Scots Gaelic | The word "biadh" is also used to refer to cooked food as opposed to raw ingredients, while "dalan" refers to cooked meat. |
| Serbian | The word "храна" in Serbian comes from the Proto-Slavic word "*xъrana", which also means "nourishment", "sustenance", or "sustenance". |
| Sesotho | The Sesotho word for 'food' is thought to be derived from the Proto-Bantu word *lidyo, meaning 'to swallow'. |
| Shona | The word 'chikafu' can also refer to agricultural produce or a meal. |
| Sindhi | The word "کاڌو" (food) in Sindhi is derived from the Sanskrit word "काठ" (unripe), indicating the importance of consuming unripe foods in the traditional Sindhi diet. |
| Sinhala (Sinhalese) | The word 'ආහාර' in Sinhala means 'food', and it can be traced back to the Sanskrit word 'आहार' (āhāra), which means 'to eat'. |
| Slovak | The word "jedlo" in Slovak derives from the Proto-Slavic word "*jьdlo", meaning "that which is eaten". |
| Slovenian | The word "hrano" is derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *k̂rew- meaning "to cut, tear". |
| Spanish | Comida can also refer to the act of eating, a meal, or the provisions for a journey in Spanish. |
| Sundanese | Tuangeun also means "provisions" or "rations" and may originate from the word "tuang" which means "to pour". |
| Swahili | The Swahili word "chakula" originally referred to "sustenance" and also means "that which is eaten". |
| Swedish | In Swedish, "mat" is derived from the Proto-Indo-European root "*ed-," and also means "meal" or "supper." |
| Tagalog (Filipino) | "Pagkain," meaning "food" in Tagalog, is derived from the root word "kain," meaning "to eat," and the prefix "pag," which denotes an activity or process. |
| Tajik | The word "хӯрок" in Tajik is derived from the Persian word "خوراک" (khurāk), meaning "food, sustenance, or nourishment." |
| Tamil | "உணவு" also means "feeling" or "sensation" in some Tamil dialects |
| Telugu | ఆహారం (āhāram) derives from ā (to eat) and hāram (nourishment); an alternate meaning is 'the nourishment to the spirit' |
| Thai | Derived from Sanskrit 'आहार' (a-ha-ra), meaning 'to convey', referring to the process of taking food into the body. |
| Turkish | The Turkish word "Gıda" originally meant "provisions", suggesting its use in a military context. |
| Ukrainian | The word "їжа" originates from the Proto-Slavic word *jьdъ, meaning "meal" or "sustenance". |
| Urdu | The word "کھانا" is derived from the Sanskrit word "खादित" (khādita), meaning "eaten" or "consumed." |
| Uzbek | The Uzbek word "ovqat" is a derivative of the Persian loanword "awqāt" (أوقات), which can refer to both set times (like prayer times) and food eaten at those times. |
| Vietnamese | The word "món ăn" can also refer to the individual servings or dishes of food that make up a meal |
| Welsh | "Bwyd" is borrowed from the Old Norse word "bǫð", meaning "provisions" or "rations". |
| Xhosa | The word 'ukutya' in Xhosa is also used to describe plants used as food, emphasizing its organic origin. |
| Yiddish | עסנוואַרג derives from Middle High German 'ëssen' (to eat) and 'ware,' a collective term for goods. |
| Yoruba | The Yoruba word ọ̀únjẹ, meaning "food", is a compound formed from the words "ọ̀ún" ("to drink") and "jẹ́" ("to eat"), suggesting that the act of eating in Yoruba culture traditionally encapsulates both drinking and eating. |
| Zulu | "Ukudla" can also refer to a feast or a large quantity of food. |
| English | "Food" comes from the Old English "foda," which also meant "young animal". |