Investigation in Different Languages
Discover 'Investigation' in 134 Languages: Dive into Translations, Hear Pronunciations, and Uncover Cultural Insights.
Updated on March 6, 2024
At its core, an 'investigation' is an in-depth exploration or examination aimed at discovering the truth about something. This concept has been a fundamental part of human society since the dawn of time, playing a crucial role in solving crimes, uncovering scientific truths, and driving the progress of civilization.
The significance of investigations extends beyond their practical uses, as they also hold a prominent place in various cultures and forms of storytelling. From the detective novels of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to the courtroom dramas of today, investigations capture our collective imagination and remind us of the power of knowledge and critical thinking.
For those interested in language and culture, understanding the translation of 'investigation' in different languages can offer fascinating insights into how different societies approach the concept. For instance, in Spanish, 'investigación' emphasizes the systematic nature of the process, while in German, 'Untersuchung' highlights the idea of a thorough examination.
Join us as we delve into the translations of 'investigation' in various languages, shedding light on the fascinating cultural nuances that shape our understanding of this important concept.
Investigation
Investigation in Sub-Saharan African Languages
| Afrikaans | ondersoek | ||
| The Afrikaans word "ondersoek" also means "research" or "inquiry". | |||
| Amharic | ምርመራ | ||
| The word ምርመራ also means "to smell" in Amharic. | |||
| Hausa | bincike | ||
| Bincike is also a word used to refer to a microscope, magnifying glass, or any device used to magnify or aid in seeing small objects | |||
| Igbo | nyocha | ||
| In Nigerian Pidgin, "nyocha" is sometimes used to refer to gossip or news. | |||
| Malagasy | fanadihadiana | ||
| Derived from "hadihady" (investigation) and "fandinihina" (research), it emphasizes thorough and comprehensive examination. | |||
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | kufufuza | ||
| Kufufuza can also mean 'to search' or 'to inspect' something in Nyanja. | |||
| Shona | kuferefeta | ||
| The word "kuferefeta" in Shona is derived from the Proto-Bantu *kwerep, a word meaning to ask around and discover something. | |||
| Somali | baaritaanka | ||
| The word 'baaritaanka' is derived from the root verb 'baar', meaning 'to search' or 'to inquire' | |||
| Sesotho | lipatlisiso | ||
| 'Lipatlisiso' stems from the root '-patlis-', meaning 'to look carefully' or 'to examine', and is related to the noun 'mapatlisiso', meaning 'scrutiny'. | |||
| Swahili | uchunguzi | ||
| The word "uchunguzi" can also refer to a type of plant found in East Africa, known for its medicinal properties. | |||
| Xhosa | uphando | ||
| In some African languages like Xhosa, the word "uphando" can also refer to a "scientific research" or "inquiry" | |||
| Yoruba | iwadi | ||
| The Yoruba word "iwadi" can also refer to a person's character or disposition. | |||
| Zulu | uphenyo | ||
| The Zulu word "uphenyo" can also refer to a judicial inquiry or a scientific experiment. | |||
| Bambara | sɛgɛsɛgɛli kɛli | ||
| Ewe | numekuku wɔwɔ | ||
| Kinyarwanda | iperereza | ||
| Lingala | bolukiluki ya mosala | ||
| Luganda | okunoonyereza | ||
| Sepedi | dinyakišišo | ||
| Twi (Akan) | nhwehwɛmu a wɔyɛ | ||
Investigation in North African & Middle Eastern Languages
| Arabic | تحقيق | ||
| The Arabic word "تحقيق" also means "making something true" or "realizing something." | |||
| Hebrew | חֲקִירָה | ||
| The word 'חֲקִירָה' also bears religious meaning, referring to a 'biblical examination' or 'study' of the Torah. | |||
| Pashto | پلټنې | ||
| The word "پلټنې" in Pashto also means "inquiry" or "examination". | |||
| Arabic | تحقيق | ||
| The Arabic word "تحقيق" also means "making something true" or "realizing something." | |||
Investigation in Western European Languages
| Albanian | hetimi | ||
| The word "hetimi" is derived from the Proto-Albanian word *het-, meaning "to search" or "to seek" | |||
| Basque | ikerketa | ||
| In Medieval Basque, the word “ikerketa” meant “to get to know.” | |||
| Catalan | investigació | ||
| Investigació' shares its Latin roots with the English word 'vestigation' meaning to follow or track. | |||
| Croatian | istraga | ||
| The word 'istraga' is of Slavic origin and is related to the word 'traga', meaning 'trace' or 'path' | |||
| Danish | efterforskning | ||
| The word 'efterforskning' is derived from the Old Norse words 'eftir' (after) and 'forskning' (investigation or research), and can also refer to historical research, exploration, or police investigation. | |||
| Dutch | onderzoek | ||
| The word "onderzoek" is derived from Middle Dutch "ondsoek", meaning "inquiry" or "examination." | |||
| English | investigation | ||
| The word 'investigation' shares an etymological root with 'inquisition' and 'vestigial', suggesting a connection to searching, inquiry, and remains. | |||
| French | enquête | ||
| The French word "enquête" comes from the Latin word "inquirere," which means "to seek" or "to inquire. | |||
| Frisian | ûndersyk | ||
| The word "ûndersyk" in Frisian ultimately derives from the Old Saxon word "undirseokian," meaning "to search underneath." | |||
| Galician | investigación | ||
| The Galician word "investigación" also means "inquisition" and derives from the Latin word "Inquisitio". | |||
| German | ermittlung | ||
| Ermittlung shares its root with Ermittelung, meaning 'avoidance,' as well as with the Middle Low German 'ermieden,' meaning 'to avoid,' and 'ermittelen,' meaning 'to remove' or 'to prevent'. | |||
| Icelandic | rannsókn | ||
| Rannsókn's cognates include the words 'ransack' and 'ransom', which share its base meaning of 'searching' or 'taking by force'. | |||
| Irish | imscrúdú | ||
| The second element comes from scrúdú "scrutiny, examination" (from Latin scrutinium). | |||
| Italian | indagine | ||
| "Indagine" derives from the Latin verb "indagare" meaning "to track, to trace". | |||
| Luxembourgish | enquête | ||
| In Luxembourgish, "Enquête" can also refer to a police investigation or a questionnaire. | |||
| Maltese | investigazzjoni | ||
| "Investigazzjoni" is derived from the Latin word "investigatio," meaning "a tracking or pursuit; inquiry, examination," and is related to the verb "vestigare," meaning "to track, follow up, search out." | |||
| Norwegian | etterforskning | ||
| The Norwegian word "etterforskning" is derived from the Old Norse word "eftirspyrja", meaning "to inquire into, investigate". | |||
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | investigação | ||
| Portuguese "investigação" derives from Latin verb "investigare", meaning both "to search" and "to track". | |||
| Scots Gaelic | sgrùdadh | ||
| Derived from Old Irish scrúd and related to the word scrúdú ('scrutiny'), from an old Celtic root meaning 'to search thoroughly'. | |||
| Spanish | investigación | ||
| The term "investigación" can also mean a scientific journal published by a university or research institution. | |||
| Swedish | undersökning | ||
| The word "undersökning" can also mean "examination" or "inquiry". | |||
| Welsh | ymchwiliad | ||
| The word 'ymchwiliad' shares its root with 'chwilio', meaning 'seek' or 'search', in Welsh. | |||
Investigation in Eastern European Languages
| Belarusian | расследаванне | ||
| The Belarusian word "расследаванне" originates from the Russian word "расследование," which in turn originates from the Old Church Slavonic word "следъ," meaning "track" or "path." | |||
| Bosnian | istraga | ||
| The word 'istraga' in Bosnian also means 'exploration' or 'inquest', derived from the same root as 'istrazivati' (to investigate). | |||
| Bulgarian | разследване | ||
| The Bulgarian word "разследване" is derived from the Old Church Slavonic word "след" meaning "track", and is also related to the word "слêда" meaning "trail". | |||
| Czech | vyšetřování | ||
| The word "vyšetřování" is derived from the verb "šetřit", meaning "to save", and the prefix "vy-", which gives it the meaning of "to examine" or "to investigate". | |||
| Estonian | uurimine | ||
| In Estonian "uurimine" also means a "mine", a place where you extract minerals, like gold, from the Earth. | |||
| Finnish | tutkinta | ||
| "Tutkinta" is derived from the word "tutkia" meaning "to examine" or "to scrutinize". | |||
| Hungarian | vizsgálat | ||
| "Vizsgálat" can refer to a medical exam or an academic test. | |||
| Latvian | izmeklēšana | ||
| "Izmeklēšana" also means "inquiry" and "examination". | |||
| Lithuanian | tyrimas | ||
| The word "tyrimas" is also used in Lithuanian to refer to a medical examination or test. | |||
| Macedonian | истрага | ||
| The modern Macedonian word "истрага" derives from the Ottoman Turkish word for investigation, "istiğā". | |||
| Polish | dochodzenie | ||
| The noun dochodzenie's root stems from dochodzić, which means 'to complete,' with the addition of the suffix -enie that forms action nouns. | |||
| Romanian | anchetă | ||
| The word "anchetă" is a loan from the French "enquête", meaning a formal inquiry or investigation. | |||
| Russian | расследование | ||
| Расследование is also used in Russian to refer to the act of research or exploration. | |||
| Serbian | истрага | ||
| The word "истрага" is derived from the Proto-Slavic root *strogъ, meaning "to arrange" or "to set in order." | |||
| Slovak | vyšetrovanie | ||
| "Vyšetrovanie" is also used in the context of criminal investigations in Slovak."} | |||
| Slovenian | preiskavo | ||
| The word "preiskavo" in Slovenian also carries the meaning of "search" or "inquiry". | |||
| Ukrainian | розслідування | ||
| The word "розслідування" comes from the Ukrainian word "слід", which means "track" or "trace". | |||
Investigation in South Asian Languages
| Bengali | তদন্ত | ||
| The word "তদন্ত" also refers to searching for a lost thing or a missing person. | |||
| Gujarati | તપાસ | ||
| The Gujarati word "તપાસ" is derived from the Sanskrit root "tap," which means "to heat" or "to burn." | |||
| Hindi | जाँच पड़ताल | ||
| **Jaanch padtaals** can also mean **enquiry** or **scrutiny**. | |||
| Kannada | ತನಿಖೆ | ||
| The Kannada word "ತನಿಖೆ" can also refer to a specific type of legal inquiry conducted by a magistrate or police officer. | |||
| Malayalam | അന്വേഷണം | ||
| The Malayalam word "അന്വേഷണം" literally means "search for" or "ask after" and is often used in the context of inquiring about someone's well-being. | |||
| Marathi | तपास | ||
| The origin of the word "तपास" ("investigation") can be traced to the Sanskrit term "tap" which implies heat, fervor, and the process of extracting the pure essence of substances. | |||
| Nepali | अनुसन्धान | ||
| In Nepali, "अनुसन्धान" is also used in the context of academic research, referring to a comprehensive inquiry conducted to add to an existing body of knowledge in a particular field of study. | |||
| Punjabi | ਪੜਤਾਲ | ||
| Sinhala (Sinhalese) | පරීක්ෂණයක් | ||
| Tamil | விசாரணை | ||
| "விசாரணை" (investigation) also means 'inquiry' in Tamil. | |||
| Telugu | దర్యాప్తు | ||
| The word దర్యాప్తు is derived from the Persian word 'daryāft' meaning 'to acquire knowledge'. | |||
| Urdu | تحقیقات | ||
| The word "تحقیقات" comes from Arabic and can also mean inquiries, studies, or research. | |||
Investigation in East Asian Languages
| Chinese (Simplified) | 调查 | ||
| Originally meant 'to seek a crime', now means 'to investigate'. | |||
| Chinese (Traditional) | 調查 | ||
| "調查" is a compound word formed from two Chinese characters: "調", which means to adjust or tune, and "查", which means to examine or inspect. | |||
| Japanese | 調査 | ||
| 調査 can mean either “investigation” or “survey”. | |||
| Korean | 조사 | ||
| The word 조사 can also mean 'assistant' or 'surveyor', indicating its broader sense of 'gathering information' beyond criminal investigations. | |||
| Mongolian | мөрдөн байцаалт | ||
| Myanmar (Burmese) | စုံစမ်းစစ်ဆေးရေး | ||
Investigation in South East Asian Languages
| Indonesian | penyelidikan | ||
| In Malaysian, the term "siasatan" is commonly used, but it is derived from the Arabic word "tafsīr", which usually refers to exegesis, interpretation, or commentary. | |||
| Javanese | investigasi | ||
| In Javanese, "investigasi" may also refer to the act of scrutinizing something in great detail. | |||
| Khmer | ការស៊ើបអង្កេត | ||
| Lao | ການສືບສວນ | ||
| Malay | penyiasatan | ||
| The word 'penyiasatan' is derived from the Malay word 'siasat', meaning 'to inquire or investigate,' and the suffix '-an', which forms nouns from verbs. | |||
| Thai | ตรวจสอบ | ||
| ตรวจสอบ (trutsop) also can means 'to check', 'to examine', 'to audit' | |||
| Vietnamese | cuộc điều tra | ||
| Cuộc điều tra is the Vietnamese word for investigation, but it can also mean "investigation of a crime" or "inquiry". | |||
| Filipino (Tagalog) | pagsisiyasat | ||
Investigation in Central Asian Languages
| Azerbaijani | istintaq | ||
| The word "istintaq" in Azerbaijani originates from the Arabic word "istintaq", which means "inquiry" or "interrogation". | |||
| Kazakh | тергеу | ||
| The term "тергеу" may also refer to a search, an inspection, or an exploration in Kazakh. | |||
| Kyrgyz | тергөө | ||
| The word "тергөө" ultimately derives from the Old Turkic word "terig" meaning "to search", "to inquire", or "to investigate". | |||
| Tajik | тафтишот | ||
| The word "тафтишот" (investigation) comes from the Persian word "tafteesh", which in turn is derived from the Arabic word "taftish" (to search or examine). | |||
| Turkmen | derňew | ||
| Uzbek | tergov | ||
| The Uzbek word "tergov" derives ultimately from the Persian word for "asking" and "investigation". | |||
| Uyghur | تەكشۈرۈش | ||
Investigation in Pacific Languages
| Hawaiian | hoʻokolokolo | ||
| "Hoʻokolokolo" can refer to 'research' and other meanings that involve the process of investigation. | |||
| Maori | whakawakanga | ||
| Whakawakanga has connotations of exploring an issue and making it clear, revealing, or uncovering. | |||
| Samoan | suesuega | ||
| Samoan term "suesuega" can also refer to the "process of finding out someone's family". | |||
| Tagalog (Filipino) | pagsisiyasat | ||
| The word 'pagsisiyasat' can also refer to the act of inspecting or examining something. | |||
Investigation in American Indigenous Languages
| Aymara | yatxataña | ||
| Guarani | investigación rehegua | ||
Investigation in International Languages
| Esperanto | esploro | ||
| The word "esploro" is derived from an Esperanto root, meaning "to unfold" or "to show". | |||
| Latin | inquisitio | ||
| "Inquisitio" was also used in the medieval legal system to refer to a formal inquiry or investigation carried out by a magistrate or other official. | |||
Investigation in Others Languages
| Greek | έρευνα | ||
| "Έρευνα" in Greek, from "ἐρευνάω" ('ereunao'), originally meant "to dig up" or "to search thoroughly" | |||
| Hmong | kev tshawb nrhiav | ||
| "Kev tshawb nrhiav" is a compound word that literally translates to "asking and searching" in Hmong. | |||
| Kurdish | lêkolînî | ||
| The word "lêkolînî" in Kurdish originally meant "to look at", but now it also means "investigation". | |||
| Turkish | araştırma | ||
| In Ottoman Turkish "araştırmak" means "to make a judgment" or "to make a trial". | |||
| Xhosa | uphando | ||
| In some African languages like Xhosa, the word "uphando" can also refer to a "scientific research" or "inquiry" | |||
| Yiddish | ויספאָרשונג | ||
| The Yiddish word "ויספאָרשונג" can also mean "experiment" or "research". | |||
| Zulu | uphenyo | ||
| The Zulu word "uphenyo" can also refer to a judicial inquiry or a scientific experiment. | |||
| Assamese | তদন্ত | ||
| Aymara | yatxataña | ||
| Bhojpuri | जांच के काम हो रहल बा | ||
| Dhivehi | ތަހުގީގު ކުރަމުންނެވެ | ||
| Dogri | जांच कीती | ||
| Filipino (Tagalog) | pagsisiyasat | ||
| Guarani | investigación rehegua | ||
| Ilocano | imbestigasion | ||
| Krio | invɛstigeshɔn we dɛn de du | ||
| Kurdish (Sorani) | لێکۆڵینەوە | ||
| Maithili | जांच के लिये | ||
| Meiteilon (Manipuri) | ꯏꯅꯚꯦꯁ꯭ꯇꯤꯒꯦꯁꯟ ꯇꯧꯕꯥ꯫ | ||
| Mizo | chhui chian a ni | ||
| Oromo | qorannoo | ||
| Odia (Oriya) | ଅନୁସନ୍ଧାନ | ||
| Quechua | investigacion ruway | ||
| Sanskrit | अन्वेषणम् | ||
| Tatar | тикшерү | ||
| Tigrinya | መርመራ ምግባር | ||
| Tsonga | vulavisisi | ||