Afrikaans inspireer | ||
Albanian frymëzoj | ||
Amharic አነሳሳ | ||
Arabic إلهام | ||
Armenian ոգեշնչել | ||
Assamese অনুপ্ৰাণিত কৰা | ||
Aymara lup'ikipaña | ||
Azerbaijani ruhlandırmaq | ||
Bambara ka sama | ||
Basque inspiratu | ||
Belarusian натхняць | ||
Bengali অনুপ্রেরণা | ||
Bhojpuri प्रेरित कईल | ||
Bosnian nadahnuti | ||
Bulgarian вдъхновяват | ||
Catalan inspirar | ||
Cebuano pagdasig | ||
Chinese (Simplified) 启发 | ||
Chinese (Traditional) 啟發 | ||
Corsican inspirà | ||
Croatian nadahnuti | ||
Czech inspirovat | ||
Danish inspirere | ||
Dhivehi އިންސްޕަޔަރ | ||
Dogri प्रेरना देना | ||
Dutch inspireren | ||
English inspire | ||
Esperanto inspiri | ||
Estonian inspireerima | ||
Ewe de dziƒo | ||
Filipino (Tagalog) magbigay ng inspirasyon | ||
Finnish innostaa | ||
French inspirer | ||
Frisian ynspirearje | ||
Galician inspirar | ||
Georgian გააჩინოს | ||
German inspirieren | ||
Greek εμπνέω | ||
Guarani mokyre'ỹ | ||
Gujarati પ્રેરણા | ||
Haitian Creole enspire | ||
Hausa wahayi | ||
Hawaiian hoʻoulu manaʻo | ||
Hebrew השראה | ||
Hindi को प्रेरित | ||
Hmong txhawb nqa | ||
Hungarian inspirálja | ||
Icelandic hvetja | ||
Igbo kpalie | ||
Ilocano pareggeten | ||
Indonesian mengilhami | ||
Irish spreagadh | ||
Italian ispirare | ||
Japanese インスパイア | ||
Javanese menehi inspirasi | ||
Kannada ಸ್ಫೂರ್ತಿ | ||
Kazakh шабыттандыру | ||
Khmer បំផុស | ||
Kinyarwanda guhumeka | ||
Konkani प्रेरणा | ||
Korean 고취하다 | ||
Krio push | ||
Kurdish eyankirin | ||
Kurdish (Sorani) ئیلهام | ||
Kyrgyz дем берүү | ||
Lao ດົນໃຈ | ||
Latin inspíra | ||
Latvian iedvesmot | ||
Lingala kopesa makanisi | ||
Lithuanian įkvėpti | ||
Luganda okulungamya | ||
Luxembourgish inspiréieren | ||
Macedonian инспирира | ||
Maithili प्रेरित करनाइ | ||
Malagasy aingam-panahy | ||
Malay memberi inspirasi | ||
Malayalam പ്രചോദിപ്പിക്കുക | ||
Maltese tispira | ||
Maori whakaaweawe | ||
Marathi प्रेरणा | ||
Meiteilon (Manipuri) ꯏꯊꯤꯜ ꯄꯤꯕ | ||
Mizo fuih | ||
Mongolian урам зориг өгөх | ||
Myanmar (Burmese) လာအောင် | ||
Nepali प्रेरणा | ||
Norwegian inspirere | ||
Nyanja (Chichewa) kulimbikitsa | ||
Odia (Oriya) ପ୍ରେରଣା ଦିଅ | ||
Oromo kakaasuu | ||
Pashto الهام ورکول | ||
Persian الهام بخشیدن | ||
Polish inspirować | ||
Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) inspirar | ||
Punjabi ਪ੍ਰੇਰਣਾ | ||
Quechua kamaykuy | ||
Romanian a inspira | ||
Russian вдохновлять | ||
Samoan musuia | ||
Sanskrit प्रेरय | ||
Scots Gaelic brosnachadh | ||
Sepedi hlohleletša | ||
Serbian надахнути | ||
Sesotho hlasimolla | ||
Shona inspire | ||
Sindhi متاثر ڪندڙ | ||
Sinhala (Sinhalese) දේවානුභාවයෙන් | ||
Slovak inšpirovať | ||
Slovenian navdihujejo | ||
Somali dhiirrigelin | ||
Spanish inspirar | ||
Sundanese mere ilham | ||
Swahili kuhamasisha | ||
Swedish inspirera | ||
Tagalog (Filipino) magbigay ng inspirasyon | ||
Tajik илҳом мебахшад | ||
Tamil ஊக்குவிக்கவும் | ||
Tatar илһам бирү | ||
Telugu ప్రేరేపించండి | ||
Thai สร้างแรงบันดาลใจ | ||
Tigrinya ምልዕዓል | ||
Tsonga khutaza | ||
Turkish ilham vermek | ||
Turkmen ylham ber | ||
Twi (Akan) hyɛ nkuran | ||
Ukrainian надихати | ||
Urdu حوصلہ افزائی | ||
Uyghur ئىلھام | ||
Uzbek ilhomlantirmoq | ||
Vietnamese truyền cảm hứng | ||
Welsh ysbrydoli | ||
Xhosa khuthaza | ||
Yiddish באַגייַסטערן | ||
Yoruba iwuri | ||
Zulu gqugquzela |
| Language | Etymology / Notes |
|---|---|
| Afrikaans | The Afrikaans word "inspireer" is a doublet derived from Dutch, with the variant "inspireer" being borrowed directly from French. |
| Albanian | The word "frymëzoj" is derived from the Latin word "spirare," meaning "to breathe," and ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European root "*spē-," meaning "to blow." |
| Amharic | The Amharic word "አነሳሳ" ("inspire") derives from the Ge'ez root "ንስ" ("to breathe"), hence its literal meaning of "to give breath to". |
| Arabic | إلهام" "Inspiration" derives originally from the root (أ ل ه م) the root that means "to hint" hence "to inspire." |
| Armenian | նչել is a cognate of the Proto-Indo-European root *an- "to breathe," found in Latin words such as “anima” (soul, life) |
| Azerbaijani | "Ruhlandırmaq" (inspire) is derived from "ruh" (spirit), meaning it implies instilling someone with motivation by uplifting their spirit. |
| Basque | Basque "inspiratu" traces back to Latin "inspiration-/-tionis" for both the physical "breath", and intellectual/emotional/moral concepts. |
| Belarusian | The Belarusian word "натхняць" ("inspire") is also used in colloquial language to describe the process of coming to a sudden realization, gaining a new understanding or perspective on something, often in the context of a creative process or problem-solving. |
| Bengali | Inspired from the Sanskrit roots 'anu' [after] and 'pra' [forward], 'অনুপ্রেরণা' implies 'to induce to go forward' |
| Bosnian | "Nadahnuti" can also mean to inhale or to infuse with a spirit. |
| Bulgarian | The word "вдъхновяват" is derived from the Proto-Slavic word *дъхъ* ("breath"), and thus shares a root with the words "дух" ("spirit") and "душа" ("soul"). |
| Catalan | "Inspirar" in Catalan also refers to breathing in. |
| Cebuano | The word "pagdasig" is derived from the root word "dasig," which means "to urge or to encourage." |
| Chinese (Simplified) | 启发, meaning "enlightenment" and "inspire", originated as a Buddhist term representing the initial enlightenment that precedes the attainment of Buddhahood |
| Chinese (Traditional) | "啟發" (inspire) includes the word "發" (to issue), suggesting that it's the act of initiating or triggering something new or creative. |
| Corsican | The Corsican word "inspirà" can also mean to "draw in", "inflame", or "perspire". |
| Croatian | The Croatian word "nadahnuti" can also mean "to fill up" or "to pour over". |
| Czech | The Czech word "inspirovat" is etymologically related to "spirit," and is also used in the context of breathing or blowing air |
| Danish | The word 'inspirere' also means 'to inhale' in Danish, like 'inspirere dybt' ('to inhale deeply'). |
| Dutch | The Dutch word "inspireren" also means to inhale, as it derives from the Latin "inspirare" (in- "in" + spirare "to breathe"). |
| Esperanto | Esperanto “inspiri” derives from Latin “inspirare”, but with an altered meaning from "breathe into" to "breathe from", i.e. "draw breath" from a place, "visit" the place. |
| Estonian | "Inspireerima" (inspire), from French, has the original meaning of "breath into." In English, "aspire" has a similar, though slightly different usage. |
| Finnish | The Finnish word 'innostaa' can also mean 'to make something happen', 'to encourage', or 'to stimulate'. |
| French | In French, the word "inspirer" can also mean "to install", e.g. "inspirer la confiance". |
| Frisian | Frisian's ynspirearje shares its root with the English 'spirit' and the Latin 'spirare', meaning 'to breathe'. |
| Galician | In Galician, "inspirar" has the alternate meaning of "to draw in air as in a breath". |
| Georgian | "გააჩინოს" means "to give inspiration" but can also mean "to give life to" or "to make live." |
| German | "Inspirieren" also means "to blow into" in German, referring to its origin in the Latin word "inspirare," meaning "to breathe into." |
| Greek | The ancient Greek word "εμπνέω" meant "to blow into" before it came to mean "inspire". |
| Haitian Creole | The word enspire (inspire) in Haitian Creole can also mean to breathe in or inhale. |
| Hausa | The Hausa word "wahayi" is a loanword from the Arabic word "waḥy" which means "divine revelation" or "inspiration". |
| Hawaiian | Hoʻoulu manaʻo is the Hawaiian concept of inspiration, meaning to awaken the mind and give rise to new ideas. |
| Hebrew | The Hebrew word השראה has its roots in the biblical term |
| Hindi | The Sanskrit origin of को प्रेरित (inspire) is 'prī', with the word 'prerana' carrying similar meanings in Hindi and Sanskrit. |
| Hmong | "Txhawb nqa" in Standard Hmong (txhais nqa in Hmong Daw) is a verb that means "inspire" or "encourage." Both of these words are derived from the Proto-Hmong-Mien root "*saŋ⁴," which means "to urge" or "to incite." |
| Hungarian | The verb "inspirál" also means "instruct" in Hungarian, a meaning retained from Latin, its language of origin. |
| Icelandic | The term "hvetja" in Icelandic likely shares an etymological root with the noun "hvatr" which means "courage" or "heart". |
| Igbo | The word "kpalie" in Igbo can also mean "to encourage," "to incite," or "to provoke." |
| Indonesian | The word "mengilhami" is derived from the Malay word "mengilhamkan" which means "to inspire, to suggest". It is related to the Sanskrit word "ilhām" meaning "revelation, inspiration". |
| Irish | The Irish word "spreagadh" can also mean "sprinkling" or "scattering", which relates to its original meaning of "dispersing knowledge or ideas" |
| Italian | The Italian word “ispirare” originally meant “fill” or “breathe into” , and came from the Latin expression “*in spirare*”. |
| Japanese | The word “インスパイア” (inspire) comes from the Latin “in” and “spirare,” meaning “to breathe into” or “to blow upon”. |
| Javanese | The term 'menehi inspirasi' is a Javanese phrase which directly translates to 'to give inspiration', but can have broader interpretations based on context. |
| Kannada | The word "ಸ್ಫೂರ್ತಿ" comes from the root "ಸ್ಫುರ್" (to move, to spring) and originally meant "a sudden movement" or "an impulse". |
| Khmer | "បំផុស" is also used to mean "incite" or "stir up" emotions or actions. |
| Korean | "고취하다"는 본래 "고치다(고치가 되다)"의 의미에서 비롯됨. |
| Kurdish | The word "eyankirin" is derived from the Kurdish root "eyn", meaning "eye", and the suffix "-kirin", meaning "to make". Thus, the literal meaning of "eyankirin" is "to make the eye", which figuratively means "to inspire". |
| Kyrgyz | The word "дем берүү" is also used in Kyrgyz to refer to the process of giving birth to a child. |
| Lao | The Lao word ດົນໃຈ (“inspire”) may come from the Thai word ดลใจ, meaning "to influence the mind". The Chinese word 頓然, meaning "suddenly" or "all at once", is also a possible etymology. |
| Latin | Inspíra comes from the Latin word inspiro, meaning 'to breathe in' or 'to draw in' from an external source. |
| Latvian | The word "iedvesmot" comes from the Slavic word "vedati," meaning "to know," and is often used in the context of "knowledge" or "inspiration." |
| Lithuanian | Įkvėpti also means "to inhale" and comes from the Latin word "inspirare". |
| Luxembourgish | The Luxembourgish word "inspiréieren" is derived from the Latin word "inspirare", meaning "to breathe into" or "to give life to". |
| Macedonian | The Latin verb "inspirare" means "to breathe into" and is the root for both "inspire" and its synonym "insufflate". |
| Malagasy | "Ainga" means "soul", while "pa" is a prefix indicating a plural, and the suffix "-nahy" derives from the verbal form "ma-naha", meaning "to make alive, revive". Thus "aingam-panahy" may be understood as "that which revives/makes alive multiple souls." |
| Malay | The Malay word "memberi inspirasi" has a dual definition: it can mean either 'to inspire' or 'to give inspiration', giving it a more active sense than the passive 'terinspirasi' or 'diilhami', both of which translate as 'to be inspired'. |
| Maltese | The Maltese word "tispira" derives from the Italian "ispirare", which also means "exhale". |
| Maori | "Whakaaweawe" also means "to intertwine" or "to bind together" in Maori. |
| Marathi | In Marathi, the word "प्रेरणा" also has a spiritual connotation of divine guidance. |
| Nepali | The word "प्रेरणा" derives from the Sanskrit root "pri" meaning "to fill" or "to delight," and thus also means "joy," "affection," or "devotion." |
| Norwegian | The Norwegian word "inspirere" derives from the Latin "inspirare," meaning "breathe into" or "infuse with breath." |
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | "Kulimbikitsa" also means to encourage or animate someone. |
| Pashto | The etymology of الهام ورکول traces back to 'inspiration' and 'to fill in', respectively, in Dari Persian and Sanskrit |
| Persian | Its root, nafas (breath), links it to the notion of inspiration as divine breath or influence. |
| Polish | The verb "inspirować" comes from the Latin word "inspiro," meaning "to breathe into" or "to animate." |
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | The verb "inspirar" means to breathe in, but comes from the Latin "inspirare," meaning "to breathe into or inspire." |
| Punjabi | "ਪ੍ਰੇਰਣਾ" shares the same root word "pran" as the Hindi word "prerna" and the Sanskrit word "prana", meaning "breath" or "life force." |
| Romanian | "A inspira" comes from the Latin “inspirare”, meaning "breathe into" or "insufflate". |
| Russian | The word "вдохновлять" in Russian comes from the word "дух," which means "spirit." |
| Samoan | Samoan musuia is a compound of two words: mu "to" and suia "to blow", with suia being the causative form of sui "to blow" or "to breathe." |
| Scots Gaelic | "Brosnachadh" can mean encouragement, incitement or instigation. |
| Serbian | The verb 'надахнути' ultimately derives from the Proto-Slavic word meaning 'to breathe' |
| Sesotho | The word "hlasimolla" is also spelled "hla simolla", where "simolla" originates from the Proto-Bantu noun "*simola" meaning "breath, soul, life". |
| Shona | The Shona word for "inspire" is "furidzira," which also means "to blow into," suggesting the idea of providing someone with new ideas or motivation. |
| Sindhi | The word "متاثر ڪندڙ" can also mean "to motivate" or "to encourage" in Sindhi. |
| Sinhala (Sinhalese) | It is derived from the Sanskrit word 'devānubhāva', meaning 'divine inspiration or blessing'. |
| Slovak | The Slovak word "inšpirovať" ultimately derives from the Latin "inspirare", meaning "to breathe into" or "to animate". |
| Slovenian | The word "navdihujejo" is derived from the Slavic root "dъх-/*dъx-" meaning "to breathe" or "to blow". |
| Spanish | The Spanish word "inspirar" comes from the Latin word "inspirare," meaning "to breathe in" or "to inhale." |
| Sundanese | In Sundanese, 'mere ilham' also means 'to give life to something' or 'to make something alive'. |
| Swahili | The verb 'kuhamasisha' shares the same root with the word 'hamu', which means 'enthusiasm', hence the connotation of inspiring or motivating. |
| Swedish | The Swedish verb "inspirera" also means to breathe in or to pump air into something, similar to the English word "inflate". |
| Tagalog (Filipino) | The verb 'magbigay ng inspirasyon' derives from Latin 'inspiro,' meaning 'to breathe, to blow in,' and was first used figuratively in the 1300s. |
| Tamil | In Tamil, the word "ஊக்குவிக்கவும்" can also mean "to fan" or "to blow on", highlighting the connection between inspiration and the concept of airflow. |
| Thai | In Thai, "สร้างแรงบันดาลใจ" ("inspire") also implies "to create a cause or reason" and "to bring into being". |
| Turkish | The word "ilham vermek" is derived from the Arabic word "ilhām", which means "to convey a message or idea". It is also used as a noun to describe a source of inspiration or motivation. |
| Ukrainian | The word "надихати" is ultimately derived from the Latin word "spiritus", meaning "breath" or "spirit". |
| Uzbek | The word "ilhomlantirmoq" is derived from the Persian word "elham" meaning "inspiration" |
| Vietnamese | The word "truyền cảm hứng\” (literally "transmit feeling\”) is a calque from French "inspirer", which originally meant "breathe into\” or "infuse\”. |
| Welsh | The word "ysbrydoli" can also refer to a breath, a spirit, or a ghost in Welsh. |
| Xhosa | The word "khuthaza" is also used to describe the act of encouraging or motivating someone. |
| Yiddish | The Yiddish word "באַגייַסטערן" (bagaystern) is derived from the German word "begeistern" and the Old High German word "gabeistarōn", meaning "to be possessed by a spirit or passion". |
| Yoruba | The word 'iwuri' in Yoruba can also mean 'motivation' or 'encouragement'. |
| Zulu | The Zulu word "gqugquzela" can also mean "to incite" or "to stir up". |
| English | **Etymology:** Latin: inspirare (to breathe into) > Old French: inspirer > Middle English: inspiren > Modern English: inspire |