Afrikaans verbeter | ||
Albanian përmirësohen | ||
Amharic ማሻሻል | ||
Arabic تحسن | ||
Armenian բարելավել | ||
Assamese উন্নত কৰা | ||
Aymara askichaña | ||
Azerbaijani yaxşılaşdırmaq | ||
Bambara ka fisaya | ||
Basque hobetu | ||
Belarusian палепшыць | ||
Bengali উন্নতি | ||
Bhojpuri सुधार | ||
Bosnian poboljšati | ||
Bulgarian подобряване | ||
Catalan millorar | ||
Cebuano sa pagpalambo sa | ||
Chinese (Simplified) 提高 | ||
Chinese (Traditional) 提高 | ||
Corsican migliurà | ||
Croatian poboljšati | ||
Czech zlepšit | ||
Danish forbedre | ||
Dhivehi ކުރިއަށްވުރެ ރަނގަޅު ކުރުން | ||
Dogri सुधारो | ||
Dutch verbeteren | ||
English improve | ||
Esperanto plibonigi | ||
Estonian parandada | ||
Ewe yi ŋgɔ | ||
Filipino (Tagalog) mapabuti | ||
Finnish parantaa | ||
French améliorer | ||
Frisian ferbetterje | ||
Galician mellorar | ||
Georgian გაუმჯობესება | ||
German verbessern | ||
Greek βελτιώσει | ||
Guarani moporãve | ||
Gujarati સુધારો | ||
Haitian Creole amelyore | ||
Hausa inganta | ||
Hawaiian hoʻomaikaʻi | ||
Hebrew לְשַׁפֵּר | ||
Hindi सुधारें | ||
Hmong txhim kho | ||
Hungarian javítani | ||
Icelandic bæta | ||
Igbo melite | ||
Ilocano pasayaaten | ||
Indonesian memperbaiki | ||
Irish feabhsú | ||
Italian ottimizzare | ||
Japanese 改善する | ||
Javanese nambah | ||
Kannada ಸುಧಾರಿಸಿ | ||
Kazakh жақсарту | ||
Khmer ធ្វើឱ្យប្រសើរឡើង | ||
Kinyarwanda gutera imbere | ||
Konkani सुदारणा | ||
Korean 돌리다 | ||
Krio bɛtɛ | ||
Kurdish serrastkirin | ||
Kurdish (Sorani) باشترکردن | ||
Kyrgyz өркүндөтүү | ||
Lao ປັບປຸງ | ||
Latin meliorem | ||
Latvian uzlabot | ||
Lingala kobongisa | ||
Lithuanian tobulėti | ||
Luganda okwongera okulongoosa | ||
Luxembourgish verbesseren | ||
Macedonian подобри | ||
Maithili बेहतर करु | ||
Malagasy manatsara | ||
Malay memperbaiki | ||
Malayalam മെച്ചപ്പെടുത്തുക | ||
Maltese ittejjeb | ||
Maori whakapai ake | ||
Marathi सुधारणे | ||
Meiteilon (Manipuri) ꯐꯒꯠꯄ | ||
Mizo hmasawn | ||
Mongolian сайжруулах | ||
Myanmar (Burmese) တိုးတက်လာသည် | ||
Nepali सुधार गर्नुहोस् | ||
Norwegian forbedre | ||
Nyanja (Chichewa) kusintha | ||
Odia (Oriya) ଉନ୍ନତି କର | | ||
Oromo fooyyessuu | ||
Pashto پرمختګ | ||
Persian بهتر کردن | ||
Polish ulepszać | ||
Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) melhorar | ||
Punjabi ਸੁਧਾਰ | ||
Quechua allinchay | ||
Romanian îmbunătăţi | ||
Russian улучшить | ||
Samoan faaleleia | ||
Sanskrit विशोधयतु | ||
Scots Gaelic adhartachadh | ||
Sepedi kaonafala | ||
Serbian побољшати | ||
Sesotho ntlafatsa | ||
Shona kunatsiridza | ||
Sindhi بهتر ڪرڻ | ||
Sinhala (Sinhalese) වැඩි දියුණු කරන්න | ||
Slovak vylepšiť | ||
Slovenian izboljšati | ||
Somali hagaajin | ||
Spanish mejorar | ||
Sundanese ningkatkeun | ||
Swahili kuboresha | ||
Swedish förbättra | ||
Tagalog (Filipino) mapabuti | ||
Tajik беҳтар кардан | ||
Tamil மேம்படுத்த | ||
Tatar яхшырту | ||
Telugu మెరుగు | ||
Thai ทำให้ดีขึ้น | ||
Tigrinya አማዕብል | ||
Tsonga antswisa | ||
Turkish geliştirmek | ||
Turkmen gowulaşdyrmak | ||
Twi (Akan) tu mpɔn | ||
Ukrainian вдосконалити | ||
Urdu بہتر بنائیں | ||
Uyghur ياخشىلاش | ||
Uzbek yaxshilash | ||
Vietnamese cải tiến | ||
Welsh gwella | ||
Xhosa phucula | ||
Yiddish פֿאַרבעסערן | ||
Yoruba mu dara si | ||
Zulu ngcono |
| Language | Etymology / Notes |
|---|---|
| Afrikaans | In Afrikaans, `verbeter` comes from the Late Latin `verbitare`, meaning `to change into a word.` |
| Albanian | The Albanian word "përmirësohen" comes from the Latin word "meliorare," meaning "to make better." |
| Amharic | The word "ማሻሻል" is derived from the Amharic root word "ሻሻ", meaning "to become good". |
| Arabic | The word "تحسن" is derived from the root "حسن" which also means "beauty" or "goodness". |
| Armenian | The word "բարելավել" shares cognates with words for "good" in several other Indo-European languages, including English "better." |
| Azerbaijani | The word "yaxşılaşdırmaq" comes from the Persian word "behsan" with same meaning. |
| Basque | The Basque word "hobetu" also means "to be beautiful" or "to be good." |
| Belarusian | The word "палепшыць" comes from the Proto-Slavic word *po-lepšiti, which itself derives from *lěpъ, meaning "good" or "better." |
| Bengali | The Bengali word "উন্নতি" is etymologically related to "উন্নত" meaning "raised" or "high" in Sanskrit, indicating an upward trajectory of progress or advancement. |
| Bosnian | The verb 'poboljšati' can also mean 'to improve oneself' or 'to make progress'. |
| Bulgarian | The word "подобряване" ultimately comes from the Old Church Slavonic word "добрый" meaning "good". |
| Catalan | The Catalan verb "millorar" originally meant "to become better" or "to recover," especially from an illness. |
| Chinese (Simplified) | The word "提高" can also mean "to raise" or "to increase". |
| Chinese (Traditional) | Chinese 「提高」 literally means “raise up” and can also refer to increasing the height of something, such as a building or a bridge. |
| Corsican | The Corsican word "migliurà" is derived from the Latin word "meliorare", meaning "to make better" or "to improve". |
| Croatian | The verb "poboljšati" is cognate with the Bulgarian "подобрение" (improvement) and ultimately derives from the Slavic "boljь" (better). |
| Czech | The word "zlepšit" is derived from "lepšiti", meaning "to do something better or to make something prettier". |
| Danish | The word "forbedre" in Danish is derived from the Old Norse word "bota" meaning "to make better". |
| Dutch | 'Verbeteren' comes from the same root as 'verbetern', a nearly obsolete German word meaning 'to chastise' or 'to criticize'. |
| Esperanto | The Esperanto word "plibonigi" is derived from the words "pli" (more) and "boni" (good), and also has the connotation of "mend" or "repair". |
| Estonian | The noun “parandada” also relates to the word “parandus” (correction) — both mean “improvement”, but “parandada” is used with a direct object, and “parandus” without one. |
| Finnish | In older Finnish 'parantaa' meant to 'heal' a person or animal. |
| French | The word "améliorer" is derived from the Latin word "meliorare," meaning "to make better or improve." |
| Frisian | The word "ferbetterje" in Frisian shares its origin with the English word "better" and the Dutch word "beter," all deriving from the Proto-Germanic root *betra-. |
| Galician | The Galician word "mellorar" comes from the Latin "meliorāre", meaning "to make better", and is related to the English word "meliorate". |
| German | "Verbessern" derives from a Middle High German term that meant "turn to good," highlighting the concept of transforming something from bad to good. |
| Greek | The ancient Greek verb βελτιόω (beltiόō) originally meant "to be better" or "to surpass in excellence," reflecting the comparative form of the adjective βελτίων (beltíōn, "better"). |
| Gujarati | The Gujarati word "સુધારો" ultimately derives from the Proto-Indo-European root *h₂er-, meaning "to gather, to join," and also relates to the Sanskrit word "sadharana," meaning "common, ordinary." |
| Haitian Creole | The Haitian Creole word "amelyore" is derived from the French word "améliorer", meaning "to improve", and can also refer to "to refine" or "to enhance". |
| Hausa | The word "inganta" in Hausa is derived from the Arabic word "inghat"," meaning "amendment" or "correction", and also signifies "progress" or "advancement". |
| Hawaiian | The Hawaiian word "hoʻomaikaʻi" can also mean "to make beautiful" or "to make attractive." |
| Hebrew | לְשַׁפֵּר in Hebrew can also mean 'to be pleasant' and comes from a root meaning 'to be fair' in Aramaic. |
| Hindi | The word "सुधारें" also means "reform". |
| Hmong | The Hmong verb "txhim kho" derives from an Austroasiatic root meaning "to make grow" or "to increase in size." |
| Hungarian | The word "javítani" is derived from the Proto-Uralic word *jawe-, meaning "to make straight". It also has the alternate meaning of "to repair". |
| Icelandic | The word "bæta" is derived from the Old Norse word "bota", which means "to make better, to repair, or to amend." |
| Igbo | Igbo "melite" originates from "melie" (to sweeten, to make tasty). |
| Indonesian | The word "memperbaiki" derives from the root "perbaiki" (to correct, to fix), which also means "to improve" or "to repair". |
| Irish | The Irish word "feabhsú" comes from the root "feá" meaning "better" and refers to making something "more good". |
| Italian | The Italian word "Ottimizzare" originates from the Latin word "Optimus", meaning "best". |
| Japanese | 改善する also means "to mend" or "to repair" in certain contexts. |
| Javanese | The word "nambah" in Javanese can also mean "add" or "increase". |
| Kannada | The word "ಸುಧಾರಿಸಿ" in Kannada is derived from the Sanskrit word "सुधारयति" (sudhārayati), which also means "to improve" or "to amend". |
| Korean | "돌리다" (improve) is a native Korean word, and it is not related to any Chinese characters. |
| Kurdish | The word "serrastkirin" originally meant "to make new" or "to renew" in Old Kurdish. |
| Lao | ປັບປຸງ (Phap Phung) is a word borrowed from the Central Thai “ปรับปรุง” which means “improve, restore, or rebuild” and the word “ปรับ” in Lao means “adjust.” |
| Latin | "Meliorem" can also mean "best" or "superior" and is cognate with the English word "mellow". |
| Latvian | The Latvian word "uzlabot" is closely related to the Latin word "labor," meaning "work." |
| Lithuanian | The Lithuanian word "tobulėti" originally meant "to mature, to grow", and is related to the Latvian "tāpūt" (to become). |
| Luxembourgish | The word "verbesseren" originally meant "to make better" in Luxembourgish, but it now also means "to fix" or "to repair". |
| Macedonian | The word "подобри" (improve) in Macedonian comes from the Proto-Slavic word "*podbra-ti", which also means "to support" or "to help". |
| Malagasy | "Manatsara" is derived from the root word "atsara," which means "to adjust" or "to make right." |
| Malay | The Malay word "memperbaiki" originally meant "to make amends" or "to rectify". |
| Maltese | The word "ittejjeb" is derived from the Arabic word "tayyab" which means "good" or "healthy". |
| Maori | The phrase `whakapai ake` can also mean `to heal`, hence improving the overall wellbeing |
| Marathi | "सुधारणे" ( verbessern ) kommt von "सुधार" ( Verbesserung ) und bedeutet "besser machen". |
| Mongolian | The word "сайжруулах" can also mean "to refine". |
| Nepali | The word "सुधार गर्नुहोस्" can also mean "to correct" or "to rectify" in Nepali. |
| Norwegian | The word "forbedre" is derived from the Old Norse "bota, |
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | The verb "kusintha" can also mean to repair, change for the better, alter, renovate, adjust, or convert. |
| Pashto | The word "پرمختګ" can also mean "progress" or "advancement". |
| Persian | The word "بهتر کردن" in Persian is derived from the root word "بهتر", meaning "better" or "good" and the suffix "کردن", meaning "to make" or "to do". It can also refer to making something more beautiful or aesthetically pleasing. |
| Polish | In Polish ulepszać can also mean "sweeten" or "make beautiful" depending on the context. |
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | The original meaning of “melhorar” (“improve” in English) in Portuguese is the same as that of “to get better” in English, but it can also mean “to become better than”, “to improve oneself”, “to make better”, and “to get one's health back. |
| Punjabi | The word "ਸੁਧਾਰ" shares a root with "ਸੁਧ" (knowledge), suggesting a connection between improvement and acquisition of knowledge or understanding. |
| Romanian | The word "îmbunătăţi" comes from the Latin word "bonitas" meaning "goodness" and has the alternate meaning of "embellish" in Romanian. |
| Russian | The verb "улучшить" in Russian also means to "better" (one`s life). |
| Samoan | The word 'faaleleia' in Samoan can also mean 'to prepare' or 'to get ready'. |
| Scots Gaelic | In the context of Gaelic literature and folklore, "adhartachadh" can also mean "mend" or "heal" in a wider sense |
| Serbian | The term "побољшати" originates from the Proto-Slavic root "boljь", referring to "well-being, better, more, advantage" |
| Sesotho | The word "ntlafatsa" also means "to make better" or "to enhance". |
| Sindhi | The Sindhi word "بهتر ڪرڻ" can also mean "betterment" or "improvement." |
| Sinhala (Sinhalese) | The word "improve" comes from the Old French word "emprover," which means "to make better or stronger." |
| Slovak | The word "vylepšiť" in Slovak is derived from the Old Czech word "liepiti", meaning "to make better". |
| Slovenian | The word "izboljšati" is derived from the Proto-Slavic root *boljь, meaning "better". |
| Somali | The word "hagaajin" is derived from the Arabic word "haajja", which means "to perform the Hajj pilgrimage". It can also refer to the act of making something better or more perfect. |
| Spanish | The Spanish word "mejorar" derives from the Latin "meliorare," which means "to make better," and is related to "melius," which means "better." |
| Sundanese | The word "ningkatkeun" in Sundanese can also mean "to make better" or "to enhance". |
| Swahili | The Swahili word "kuboresha" is derived from the Arabic word "hurūsh" meaning "money" or "wealth". |
| Swedish | The word 'förbättra' has Indo-European roots and is related to the word 'better'. |
| Tagalog (Filipino) | The word 'mapabuti' is derived from the Proto-Austronesian root word 'pabulit', meaning 'to become better'. |
| Tamil | The Tamil word "மேம்படுத்த" (improve) is etymologically related to "மேல்" (above), implying a physical or metaphorical upward movement. |
| Telugu | The word "మెరుగు" can also refer to the process of polishing or refining something. |
| Thai | The word "ทำให้ดีขึ้น" can also mean "to make better". |
| Turkish | "Geliştirmek" in Turkish, meaning "improve," is derived from the verb "gelmek" meaning "come," as well as the suffix "-dirmek," which indicates "to make." |
| Ukrainian | The Ukrainian word "вдосконалити" is derived from the Slavic root "ved", meaning "to lead", suggesting the idea of "bringing to perfection".} |
| Urdu | The word بہتر بنائیں originally meant "to make good" but has since come to mean "to improve". |
| Uzbek | The word "yaxshilash" also has the alternate meaning of getting better, as recovering from an illness or doing better at school. |
| Vietnamese | Cải tiến (improve) has a literal meaning of "change for the better" |
| Welsh | Welsh 'gwella' and Irish 'feall' share the same etymology with the meaning of 'better, improve', and are both ultimately traceable back to Proto-Celtic '*ǵʰʷéli-ós' with the same meaning. |
| Xhosa | The word 'phucula' also means 'to recover from an illness', 'to repair', or 'to rectify'. |
| Yiddish | The Yiddish word “פֿאַרבעסערן” comes from the German word “verbessern”, which also means “improve”. |
| Yoruba | The Yoruba word "mu dara si" can also mean "to make beautiful" or "to adorn". |
| Zulu | The word "ngcono" comes from the root "gcona" meaning "to be straight" or "to be correct". Therefore, "ngcono" could possibly mean "to straighten out" or "to correct" which in turn could mean "to improve". |
| English | The word 'improve' comes from the Latin word 'probare', meaning to test or approve. |