Impossible in Different Languages
Discover 'Impossible' in 134 Languages: Dive into Translations, Hear Pronunciations, and Uncover Cultural Insights.
Impossible
Afrikaans onmoontlik | ||
Albanian e pamundur | ||
Amharic የማይቻል | ||
Arabic غير ممكن | ||
Armenian անհնարին | ||
Assamese অসম্ভৱ | ||
Aymara impusiwli | ||
Azerbaijani qeyri-mümkün | ||
Bambara abada | ||
Basque ezinezkoa | ||
Belarusian немагчыма | ||
Bengali অসম্ভব | ||
Bhojpuri असंभव | ||
Bosnian nemoguće | ||
Bulgarian невъзможен | ||
Catalan impossible | ||
Cebuano imposible | ||
Chinese (Simplified) 不可能 | ||
Chinese (Traditional) 不可能 | ||
Corsican impussibule | ||
Croatian nemoguće | ||
Czech nemožné | ||
Danish umulig | ||
Dhivehi ނުކުރެވޭ | ||
Dogri ना-मुमकन | ||
Dutch onmogelijk | ||
English impossible | ||
Esperanto neebla | ||
Estonian võimatu | ||
Ewe mate ŋu adzɔ o | ||
Filipino (Tagalog) imposible | ||
Finnish mahdotonta | ||
French impossible | ||
Frisian ûnmooglik | ||
Galician imposible | ||
Georgian შეუძლებელია | ||
German unmöglich | ||
Greek αδύνατο | ||
Guarani ikatu'ỹva | ||
Gujarati અશક્ય | ||
Haitian Creole enposib | ||
Hausa ba zai yiwu ba | ||
Hawaiian hiki ʻole | ||
Hebrew בלתי אפשרי | ||
Hindi असंभव | ||
Hmong tsis yooj yim sua | ||
Hungarian lehetetlen | ||
Icelandic ómögulegt | ||
Igbo agaghị ekwe omume | ||
Ilocano imposible | ||
Indonesian mustahil | ||
Irish dodhéanta | ||
Italian impossibile | ||
Japanese 不可能な | ||
Javanese mokal | ||
Kannada ಅಸಾಧ್ಯ | ||
Kazakh мүмкін емес | ||
Khmer មិនអាចទៅរួចទេ | ||
Kinyarwanda ntibishoboka | ||
Konkani अशक्य | ||
Korean 불가능한 | ||
Krio nɔ pɔsibul | ||
Kurdish nemimkûn | ||
Kurdish (Sorani) نەگونجاو | ||
Kyrgyz мүмкүн эмес | ||
Lao ເປັນໄປບໍ່ໄດ້ | ||
Latin potest | ||
Latvian neiespējami | ||
Lingala ekoki kosalema te | ||
Lithuanian neįmanomas | ||
Luganda tekisoboka | ||
Luxembourgish onméiglech | ||
Macedonian невозможно | ||
Maithili असंभव | ||
Malagasy azo atao | ||
Malay mustahil | ||
Malayalam അസാധ്യമാണ് | ||
Maltese impossibbli | ||
Maori kore e taea | ||
Marathi अशक्य | ||
Meiteilon (Manipuri) ꯑꯣꯏꯊꯣꯛꯂꯣꯏꯗꯕ | ||
Mizo theihloh | ||
Mongolian боломжгүй | ||
Myanmar (Burmese) မဖြစ်နိုင်ဘူး | ||
Nepali असम्भव | ||
Norwegian umulig | ||
Nyanja (Chichewa) zosatheka | ||
Odia (Oriya) ଅସମ୍ଭବ | ||
Oromo kan hin danda'amne | ||
Pashto ناممکن | ||
Persian غیرممکن | ||
Polish niemożliwy | ||
Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) impossível | ||
Punjabi ਅਸੰਭਵ | ||
Quechua mana atina | ||
Romanian imposibil | ||
Russian невозможно | ||
Samoan lē mafai | ||
Sanskrit असंभवः | ||
Scots Gaelic do-dhèanta | ||
Sepedi sa kgonagalego | ||
Serbian немогуће | ||
Sesotho khoneha | ||
Shona zvisingaite | ||
Sindhi ناممڪن | ||
Sinhala (Sinhalese) කළ නොහැකි | ||
Slovak nemožné | ||
Slovenian nemogoče | ||
Somali aan macquul ahayn | ||
Spanish imposible | ||
Sundanese teu mungkin | ||
Swahili haiwezekani | ||
Swedish omöjlig | ||
Tagalog (Filipino) imposible | ||
Tajik номумкин | ||
Tamil சாத்தியமற்றது | ||
Tatar мөмкин түгел | ||
Telugu అసాధ్యం | ||
Thai เป็นไปไม่ได้ | ||
Tigrinya ዘይክኣል | ||
Tsonga koteki | ||
Turkish imkansız | ||
Turkmen mümkin däl | ||
Twi (Akan) ɛnyɛ yie | ||
Ukrainian неможливо | ||
Urdu ناممکن | ||
Uyghur مۇمكىن ئەمەس | ||
Uzbek imkonsiz | ||
Vietnamese không thể nào | ||
Welsh amhosib | ||
Xhosa ayinakwenzeka | ||
Yiddish אוממעגלעך | ||
Yoruba ko ṣee ṣe | ||
Zulu akunakwenzeka |
Etymology & Notes
| Language | Etymology / Notes |
|---|---|
| Afrikaans | Onmoontlik derives from Dutch "onmogelijk" and is a combination of the prefixes "on" and "moont", which mean "not" and "possible", respectively. |
| Albanian | E pamundur is thought to have originated from the Greek word "adunaton," meaning "unattainable" or "impossible." |
| Amharic | The root 'አል' means 'not', while 'ቻል' means 'possible', making 'የማይቻል' literally 'not possible'. |
| Arabic | In Arabic, "غير ممكن" (impossible) literally means "other than possible". |
| Azerbaijani | "Qeyri" is derived from Persian and means "non-", "mümkün" is derived from Arabic and means "possible". |
| Basque | The word "ezinezkoa" is related to the Basque word "ezin" (cannot), which is also used in the negative forms of verbs. |
| Belarusian | The suffix "ма" is often used in Belarusian to create abstract nouns that refer to situations, processes, or states. |
| Bengali | The Bangla word 'অসম্ভব' is derived from the Sanskrit word 'असंभव', which literally means 'not possible'. |
| Bosnian | The word 'nemoguće' derives from the Old Slavic root 'moči' which also meant 'power', and thus 'nemoguće' originally carried a connotation that something is literally 'beyond one's power'. |
| Bulgarian | "Невъзможен" is derived from the Old Church Slavonic prefix "не" (not) and the root "възможно" (that is possible). In modern Bulgarian, "невъзможен" can also mean difficult or improbable. |
| Catalan | "Impossible" in Catalan originally meant "not possible" but has now taken on the stronger meaning of "impossible". |
| Cebuano | The word "imposible" in Cebuano can also be used to express the idea of "not being able to do something." |
| Chinese (Simplified) | The word "不可能" also means "inconceivable" and "unlikely" in Chinese. |
| Chinese (Traditional) | In addition to its primary meaning of "impossible," 不可能 can also colloquially suggest "very difficult" or "unbelievable." |
| Corsican | "Impussibule" is the Corsican equivalent of "impossible" and is derived from the Latin "impussibilis", meaning "not possible". |
| Croatian | Nemoć, meaning 'inability' in Croatian, is related to the word nemoguće ('impossible'). |
| Czech | The word "nemožné" in Czech originated from the Latin phrase "non posse", meaning "not to be able". |
| Danish | "Umulig" comes from the old Norse word "u-mœguligr," meaning "not mighty." |
| Dutch | Despite its similarity, 'onmogelijk' is not connected to 'im possible', its roots are in 'mogelijk' (possible) preceded by 'on-' (not). |
| Esperanto | The word "neebla" has been used in Esperanto since at least 1905, but is also used to mean "unclear, indistinct". |
| Estonian | "Võimatu" is derived from the word "võim", meaning "power" or "ability", and "tu", meaning "lack" or "absence". |
| Finnish | The word "mahdotonta" likely comes from the Finnish word "mahd", meaning "can, able". |
| French | In French, the word "impossible" can also mean "unrealistic" or "very difficult". |
| Frisian | The Frisian word "ûnmooglik" is ultimately derived from Proto-Germanic *un- + *mug- ( |
| Galician | The Galician word "imposible" derives from the Latin "impossibilis", meaning "not possible". |
| German | The German word "unmöglich" is formed from two roots meaning "not" and "possible," but its original meaning was not simply "impossible." |
| Greek | The word 'αδύνατο' in Greek also means 'feeble' or 'impracticable'. |
| Gujarati | "અશક્ય" is derived from the Sanskrit words "na" (not), "shak" (to be able), and "ya" (suffix), meaning literally "not able to be." |
| Haitian Creole | Enposib originates from the French word "impossible" which itself comes from the Latin word "impossibilis" meaning "not possible". |
| Hausa | The word "ba zai yiwu ba", meaning "impossible", in Hausa is etymologically related to the phrase "ba za a yiwu ba", meaning "it will not be possible". |
| Hawaiian | In Hawaiian, "hiki ʻole" literally means "cannot move" or "does not go." |
| Hebrew | "בלתי אפשרי" in Hebrew literally means "without the possible". |
| Hindi | The Hindi word असंभव (asambhava) contains the negative prefix असं (asam) and the noun संभव (sambhava) meaning 'possibility', and thus literally means 'non-possibility'. |
| Hmong | This phrase is derived from the idea of "to separate and throw away". |
| Hungarian | The Hungarian word "lehetetlen" derives from the verb "lehet" (can) and the suffix "-etlen" (unable), signifying its opposite meaning. |
| Icelandic | The Icelandic word "ómögulegt" literally translates to "not meeting". |
| Igbo | When an Igbo native says something is 'agaghị ekwe omume', they may be referring to more than just its impossibility but also its absurdity or improbability. |
| Indonesian | The word "mustahil" originated from the Arabic word "mustahīl" and can also mean "difficult" or "hard to achieve". |
| Irish | The Irish word "dodhéanta" derives from the Old Irish "do dénta," meaning "not permitted" or "outlawed." |
| Italian | The Italian word "impossibile" derives from the Latin phrase "in" (not) and "possibilis" (possible), and can also mean "unlikely" or "difficult" rather than strictly impossible. |
| Japanese | "不可能な" can also mean "unlikely" or "improbable". |
| Javanese | "Mokal" can also mean "hard to obtain" or "sacred item." |
| Kannada | The word "ಅಸಾಧ್ಯ" is derived from the Sanskrit word "असाध्य" which means "incurable" or "invincible". |
| Kazakh | The word "мүмкін емес" comes from the Persian word "ممكن نيست" which means "not possible" or "cannot be done". |
| Korean | 불가능한 has its roots in the Buddhist concept of sunyata, or emptiness, suggesting that nothing is truly impossible from a certain perspective. |
| Kurdish | The word "nemimkûn" originates from Persian, composed of the negative prefix "na-" and the word "imkân" meaning "possibility, chance, capability." |
| Kyrgyz | The Kyrgyz word "мүмкүн эмес" ("impossible") is derived from the Arabic word "impossible" and has its etymology in several other languages. |
| Lao | The Lao word for 'impossible' can also mean 'it can't be done' or 'it's not possible'. The word is made up of the verb 'ເປັນ' (to be) and the noun 'ໄປ' (to go). |
| Latin | "Potest" can mean "able to" or "possible" in Latin. |
| Latvian | The word "neiespējami" derives from the Proto-Indo-European root *nes-, meaning "not" or "no". |
| Lithuanian | The word "neįmanomas" is derived from the negation "ne-" and the root "įmanoma"," which means "possible," and therefore literally means "not possible." |
| Luxembourgish | The word "onméiglech" derives from the Middle High German word "unmüglich", meaning "not possible". |
| Macedonian | The word "невозможно" (impossible) is derived from the root "мож" (to be able), prefixed with the negative "не" and the suffix "-ен" (indicating a passive state), suggesting that something is not within one's power. |
| Malagasy | In Malagasy, "azo atao" can also refer to something that is difficult or challenging |
| Malay | The word 'mustahil' is derived from the Arabic word 'mustahil', which means 'unlikely' or 'difficult to achieve'. |
| Malayalam | The word അസാധ്യമാണ് (asādhyamāṇ) derives from the Sanskrit roots 'a-' (lacking) and 'sādhya' (feasible), meaning 'that which cannot be accomplished'. |
| Maltese | "Impossibbli" derives from the Latin word "impossibilis" (im + possibilis), meaning not possible. |
| Maori | The word 'kore e taea' can also be translated as 'can't be done' in English. |
| Marathi | The word 'अशक्य' is derived from the Sanskrit word 'shakya', which means 'possible', and the negative prefix 'a', which means 'not'. |
| Mongolian | The Mongolian word боломжгүй (impossible) was used during the Stalinist era to silence criticism. |
| Nepali | "असम्भव" comes from the Sanskrit word "asambhavya," meaning "not to happen". |
| Norwegian | The word "umulig" may have originated from the Old Norse word "úmegligr," meaning "without leisure time" or "unable to do something due to lack of time." |
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | The word "zosatheka" has several alternate meanings including "impossible" but the root is actually "zosatheka" in a non-physical sense. |
| Pashto | The word "ناممکن" also refers to something that is unlikely to happen or is highly improbable. |
| Persian | In Persian, the word 'impossible' (غیرممکن) literally means 'not possible' (غیر + ممکن), highlighting the idea that something is not within the realm of possibility. |
| Polish | The Polish word "niemożliwy" comes from the Old Polish "nie možny," meaning literally "unable." |
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | The Portuguese word "impossível" comes from the Latin word "impossibilis" which means "that cannot be done". |
| Punjabi | The word "ਅਸੰਭਵ" can also mean "improbable" or "unlikely" in Punjabi, and is derived from the Sanskrit word "asambhava," meaning "non-existence" or "absence of means." |
| Romanian | The Romanian word "imposibil" is derived from the Latin word "impossibilis", meaning "not possible". The prefix "im" in Latin means "not" or "opposite", and the root "possibilis" means "possible". |
| Russian | The Russian word "невозможно" can also refer to something unusual or unexpected. |
| Samoan | The word "lē mafai" in Samoan does not literally mean "impossible," but rather "cannot be done in a particular way or under certain circumstances." |
| Scots Gaelic | "Do-dhèanta" derives from "deach", the Gaelic root meaning both "done" and "to be possible," and can also be used to imply "finished," "complete," or "dead". |
| Serbian | The Serbian word "немогуће" (impossible) is derived from the Proto-Slavic term *nemogǫ, meaning "helpless" or "unable to do something." |
| Sesotho | The word "khoneha" also means "unbelievable" or "unthinkable" in Sesotho. |
| Shona | Zvisingaite in Shona is also used to describe something that is not possible to happen or something that is very difficult to do. |
| Sindhi | The Sindhi word "ناممڪن" can also mean "unthinkable" or "inconceivable". |
| Slovak | The word "nemožné" in Slovak comes from the Latin "non posse", meaning "not to be able to". |
| Slovenian | Nemo is Latin for "nobody," and "goče" is the Slovene root for "speech". |
| Somali | "Aan macquul ahayn" literally translates to "not being reasonable" in Somali, highlighting the idea of impossibility as something beyond the bounds of logic and reason. |
| Spanish | The word "imposible" in Spanish comes from the Latin phrase "in posse", meaning "in potential" and conveys the notion that something might be within one's abilities. |
| Sundanese | The word "teu mungkin" in Sundanese is a combination of "teu" which means "not" and "mungkin" which means "possible" and also "maybe". |
| Swahili | Haiwezekani derives from the negative form of the verb 'weza' ('to be able'), thus literally meaning 'it is not possible'. |
| Swedish | "Omöjlig" comes from the Old Swedish "möja", meaning "possible". |
| Tagalog (Filipino) | "Posible" is the root word of "imposible" and it means "possible" in Tagalog. |
| Tajik | The word "номумкин" can also mean "inconceivable" or "unthinkable" in Tajik. |
| Tamil | In addition to its primary meaning of "impossible," "சாத்தியமற்றது" can also refer to "improbable" or "unsuitable." |
| Telugu | In addition to meaning 'impossible,' the word 'asadhyam' also means 'unachievable,' 'impracticable,' or 'infeasible' in Telugu. |
| Thai | The word "เป็นไปไม่ได้" is derived from the word "เป็นไป" meaning "to be able" and the word "ได้" meaning "possible". |
| Turkish | The word "imkansız" derives from the Arabic word "imkân" (possibility), and literally means "lack of possibility". |
| Ukrainian | The word "неможливо" in Ukrainian is derived from the Old East Slavic word "немог", meaning "powerless" or "weak". The root "мог" means "to be able" or "to can". Thus, "неможливо" literally means "unable" or "powerless". |
| Urdu | The word "ناممکن" literally means "not possible" in Urdu. |
| Uzbek | The word "imkonsiz" is derived from the Persian word "imkan", meaning "possibility" or "ability", and the suffix "-siz", meaning "without". |
| Vietnamese | The Vietnamese word “Không thể nào” (impossible) shares its roots with the word “nhau” (each other) |
| Welsh | Amhosib comes from amddif + hosib and literally means "without expectation" in Welsh. |
| Xhosa | The Xhosa word “ayinakwenzeka” translates into English as “cannot be done,” and is derived from “ayina” (not) and “kwenzeka” (happen). |
| Yiddish | The Yiddish word "אוממעגלעך" (impossible) shares its root with the German word "möglich" (possible), suggesting a reversal of meaning over time. |
| Yoruba | "Ko si ese" literally means "there is no leg" in Yoruba, indicating the inability to move or progress, making it synonymous with "impossible." |
| Zulu | The name 'akunakwenzeka' translates to 'not capable of being done' in Zulu. |
| English | The word "impossible" comes from the Latin words "in-" (not) and "possibilis" (possible), meaning "not possible". |