Length in Different Languages
Discover 'Length' in 134 Languages: Dive into Translations, Hear Pronunciations, and Uncover Cultural Insights.
Updated on March 6, 2024
The word 'length' holds a significant place in our vocabulary, denoting the extent or distance between two points, whether in physical objects or abstract concepts. Its cultural importance is evident in various fields, including mathematics, engineering, literature, and even music. For instance, the length of a poem's lines can impact its rhythm and meaning, while the length of a musical note determines its duration and tone.
Given the word's universal relevance, one might wonder how 'length' translates across different languages and cultures. After all, understanding such nuances can enrich our cross-cultural communication and broaden our perspectives. For example, in Spanish, 'length' translates to 'longitud,' in French to 'longueur,' and in German to 'Länge.'
Delving into these translations not only reveals linguistic intricacies but also uncovers fascinating historical contexts and cultural associations. So, let's embark on this journey of exploration and discovery together!
Length
Length in Sub-Saharan African Languages
| Afrikaans | lengte | ||
| The Afrikaans word "lengte" derives from the Dutch word "lengte", ultimately originating from the Proto-Germanic word *langijaz (long) | |||
| Amharic | ርዝመት | ||
| The word ርዝመት also means 'duration' in Amharic. | |||
| Hausa | tsawon | ||
| The Hausa word "tsawon" can also mean "measurement", "measure", or "extent". | |||
| Igbo | ogologo | ||
| Igbo word 'ogologo' is also used to describe the length of time or distance. | |||
| Malagasy | halavan'ny | ||
| The word "halavan'ny" in Malagasy also means "to extend". | |||
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | kutalika | ||
| "Kutalika" is derived from the Proto-Bantu root "-tala-", meaning "to stretch" or "to be long." | |||
| Shona | kureba | ||
| "Kureba" can also mean a period of time (typically 24 hours) | |||
| Somali | dherer | ||
| "Dheerer" also means "elongated" and is often used to describe people or objects that are tall or long in stature. | |||
| Sesotho | bolelele | ||
| The etymology of "bolelele" is unknown, but it may be related to the word "lelele", which means "to stretch or extend". | |||
| Swahili | urefu | ||
| The word "urefu" in Swahili also refers to the height or stature of a person or animal, and can be used figuratively to describe the duration or extent of something. | |||
| Xhosa | ubude | ||
| Ubude is the Xhosa word for "length" or "distance," and can refer to geographical distance or the length of an object. | |||
| Yoruba | gigun | ||
| "Gigun" also means "delay" in Yoruba. | |||
| Zulu | ubude | ||
| "Ubude" is also a noun meaning "age" or "generation". | |||
| Bambara | janya | ||
| Ewe | didime | ||
| Kinyarwanda | uburebure | ||
| Lingala | bolai | ||
| Luganda | obuwanvu | ||
| Sepedi | botelele | ||
| Twi (Akan) | tenten | ||
Length in North African & Middle Eastern Languages
| Arabic | الطول | ||
| The word "طول", meaning "length", is also used to refer to "altitude" or "height" in Arabic. | |||
| Hebrew | אורך | ||
| "אורך" also means "light" and is used in contexts like "the light of day" | |||
| Pashto | اوږدوالی | ||
| اوږدوالی (length) is also used to refer to the "duration" of an event or the "distance" traveled. | |||
| Arabic | الطول | ||
| The word "طول", meaning "length", is also used to refer to "altitude" or "height" in Arabic. | |||
Length in Western European Languages
| Albanian | gjatësia | ||
| The Albanian word "gjatësia" comes from the Proto-Indo-European root *ǵʰleh₃tos-, meaning "step," as in "footprint" or "track." It also shares a root with another Albanian word, "gjurma," meaning "track" or "footstep." | |||
| Basque | luzera | ||
| "Luzera" is related to the Proto-Basque root *luz-, *lut "long" and is part of the word for "year" (*urte*). It also means "thread" or "rope" in some dialects. | |||
| Catalan | llargada | ||
| "Llargada" (length) derives from the Latin "largus" (abundant, wide), which also gave Catalan "larg" (wide) and "llarguer" (stretch)" | |||
| Croatian | duljina | ||
| The word 'duljina' is also used to refer to the distance between two points in a line. | |||
| Danish | længde | ||
| In Danish, "længde" also refers to longitude (as opposed to latitude), and derives from the Old Norse "lengd" meaning "distance". | |||
| Dutch | lengte | ||
| The word "lengte" is derived from the Proto-Germanic word "langa", meaning "long". | |||
| English | length | ||
| The word "length" originates from the Old English word "lenge" meaning "long" or "tall". | |||
| French | longueur | ||
| The word "longueur" in French also refers to a slow, drawn-out, or tedious quality in a piece of writing, speech, or performance. | |||
| Frisian | lingte | ||
| In Frisian, the word "lingte" can also refer to the length of time taken to complete a task or the amount of something required. | |||
| Galician | lonxitude | ||
| The word “lonxitude” in Galician comes from the Latin word “longitudo”, which also means “distance” or “duration”. | |||
| German | länge | ||
| "Länge" also refers to "boredom" in Austrian and Bavarian German. | |||
| Icelandic | lengd | ||
| The Icelandic word "lengd" is cognate to the English word "ling" and referred to a fish before it referred to length. | |||
| Irish | fad | ||
| The word fad also means ‘length’ in Irish, and comes from the Proto-Indo-European word for ‘cord’. | |||
| Italian | lunghezza | ||
| "Lunghezza" also means "boredom" in Italian, probably because it derives from the Latin word "longitudo," which means both "length" and "slowness." | |||
| Luxembourgish | längt | ||
| The word "Längt" (length) originates from the Middle High German word "lengde" and also has the meaning of "height". | |||
| Maltese | tul | ||
| The word "tul" comes from the Arabic word "tūl", which means "length". It can also refer to the height or width of something. | |||
| Norwegian | lengde | ||
| The word "lengde" is derived from the Old Norse word "lengd", which also means "distance" or "height". | |||
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | comprimento | ||
| In Portuguese, "comprimento" relates to "compliment" and "meet and greet" due to its root word "comprir", meaning "to embrace". | |||
| Scots Gaelic | faid | ||
| The Gaelic word "faid" can also mean "delay" or "slowness". | |||
| Spanish | longitud | ||
| Longitud, "length" in Spanish, derives from the Latin word longitūdo, meaning "distance" or "extent." | |||
| Swedish | längd | ||
| Längd is cognate with the English word 'long', and also means 'longitude' in Swedish. | |||
| Welsh | hyd | ||
| Hyd can also mean a 'tide', the 'season', or an 'age'. | |||
Length in Eastern European Languages
| Belarusian | даўжыня | ||
| The word "даўжыня" (length) in Belarusian is derived from the Proto-Slavic *dъlьgъ, meaning "long" or "far". | |||
| Bosnian | dužina | ||
| The word "dužina" can also refer to the dimension of an object. | |||
| Bulgarian | дължина | ||
| "Дължина" also means "longitude" in Bulgarian. | |||
| Czech | délka | ||
| The Czech word "délka" also means "duration" and "height." | |||
| Estonian | pikkus | ||
| In Estonian folk tradition "pikkus" also meant "time", as in "a long time ago" and "a short time ago". | |||
| Finnish | pituus | ||
| "Pitu is" means "she/he is tall" in Finnish. | |||
| Hungarian | hossz | ||
| In Hungarian, "hossz" also refers to the duration of an event or the size of a person's step. | |||
| Latvian | garums | ||
| In ancient times, "garums" meant "height" in Latvian, not "length". | |||
| Lithuanian | ilgio | ||
| The Lithuanian word "ilgis" is derived from the Proto-Indo-European root "*h₂elǵʰ-", meaning "to stretch". It is cognate with the Latin word "longus" and the English word "long". | |||
| Macedonian | должина | ||
| The Slavic word "должина" has cognates in most other Slavic languages, all relating to length and extension. | |||
| Polish | długość | ||
| The word "długość" also refers to mathematical longitude. | |||
| Romanian | lungime | ||
| Lungime is derived from the Proto-Slavic word *dl̥gъ meaning "long" or "distance". | |||
| Russian | длина | ||
| "Длина" also means "wave" as in electromagnetic waves or other similar phenomena. | |||
| Serbian | дужина | ||
| "Дужина" means "length" in Serbian, but also "a dozen" or "a set of a dozen". | |||
| Slovak | dĺžka | ||
| The Slovak word "dĺžka" is derived from the Proto-Slavic word *dĭlga, which originally meant "a long object" and later came to refer to the length of an object. | |||
| Slovenian | dolžina | ||
| The word 'dolžina' in Slovenian also refers to a unit of measurement for fabric, specifically the length along the warp. | |||
| Ukrainian | довжина | ||
| "Довжина" is derived from the ancient Indo-European word "delg-," meaning "elongated". | |||
Length in South Asian Languages
| Bengali | দৈর্ঘ্য | ||
| "দৈর্ঘ্য" comes from Sanskrit and means "from one end to the other" or "extending". It can also mean "duration" or "distance". | |||
| Gujarati | લંબાઈ | ||
| The Gujarati word "લંબાઈ" is derived from the Sanskrit word "लम्बाई" which also means "length" and has the same etymology in both languages. | |||
| Hindi | लंबाई | ||
| The word "लंबाई" can also refer to height or stature, and is related to the word "लंबा" meaning "tall". | |||
| Kannada | ಉದ್ದ | ||
| "ಉದ್ದ" in Kannada means "distance", "extent", or "height". | |||
| Malayalam | നീളം | ||
| The Malayalam word "നീളം" is derived from the Sanskrit word "नील" which means "dark blue" or "black". | |||
| Marathi | लांबी | ||
| "लांबी" (length) is a feminine form of "लांब" (long) in Marathi, which also means "tall". | |||
| Nepali | लम्बाइ | ||
| The term "लम्बाइ" is also commonly used for "distance", as both are based on measuring the expanse between extremities. | |||
| Punjabi | ਲੰਬਾਈ | ||
| The Punjabi word "ਲੰਬਾਈ" not only refers to length or distance, but can also indicate the duration of something or the extent or degree of a quality or feeling. | |||
| Sinhala (Sinhalese) | දිග | ||
| දිග (diga) also means a 'period of time' or a 'long time interval'. | |||
| Tamil | நீளம் | ||
| "நீளம்" is also used to refer to the musical scale or raga and the longitude of a place. | |||
| Telugu | పొడవు | ||
| The word "పొడవు" can also refer to a "portion" or a "period of time" in Telugu. | |||
| Urdu | لمبائی | ||
| The word "لمبائی" can also mean "height" or "depth" in Urdu, depending on the context. | |||
Length in East Asian Languages
| Chinese (Simplified) | 长度 | ||
| 长度 can also refer to the number of beats in a piece of music or lines in a poem. | |||
| Chinese (Traditional) | 長度 | ||
| The character 長 can also mean “grow,” while 度 can also mean “extent.” | |||
| Japanese | 長さ | ||
| "長さ" (length) originally refers to the length of cloth and has a nuance of "the length of something hanging down." | |||
| Korean | 길이 | ||
| "길이" is also used to refer to the "duration" of something, such as a movie or song. | |||
| Mongolian | урт | ||
| In Mongolian, 'урт' can also refer to a long object, such as a rod or a pole, or to the distance between two points. | |||
| Myanmar (Burmese) | အရှည် | ||
Length in South East Asian Languages
| Indonesian | panjangnya | ||
| Panjang is also the Indonesian equivalent for the Chinese term 'zhang' used for measuring the length of silk or cloth. | |||
| Javanese | dawane | ||
| The Javanese word dawane also means 'to stretch out', referring to its physical connotation. | |||
| Khmer | ប្រវែង | ||
| Lao | ຄວາມຍາວ | ||
| In addition to its primary meaning, the Lao word ຄວາມຍາວ (kham-yaaw) can refer to the "duration" of an event or the "extent" of a space. | |||
| Malay | panjang | ||
| The Malay word "panjang" can also mean "long-winded" or "exaggerated". | |||
| Thai | ความยาว | ||
| The word "ความยาว" can also refer to the "duration" of an event or the "extent" of something. | |||
| Vietnamese | chiều dài | ||
| The word "chiều dài" literally means "the length of a day". In ancient times, people measured the length of an object by the amount of time it took for the sun to move from one end to the other. | |||
| Filipino (Tagalog) | haba | ||
Length in Central Asian Languages
| Azerbaijani | uzunluq | ||
| The word "uzunluq" in Azerbaijani also means "tallness" or "height" and is derived from the Turkish word "uzun", meaning "long". | |||
| Kazakh | ұзындығы | ||
| "ұзындығы" is also used to refer to the duration or time span of something. | |||
| Kyrgyz | узундук | ||
| The word "узундук" also means "a box for storing clothes" in Kyrgyz. | |||
| Tajik | дарозӣ | ||
| The word "дарозӣ" (length) in Tajik is derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *dʰregh-, meaning "to stretch" or "to grow". | |||
| Turkmen | uzynlygy | ||
| Uzbek | uzunlik | ||
| The word "uzunlik" is derived from the Proto-Turkic word *uzun*, meaning "long". | |||
| Uyghur | ئۇزۇنلۇقى | ||
Length in Pacific Languages
| Hawaiian | lōʻihi | ||
| The verb form of lōʻihi means "to extend," as in making something longer or pulling something out. | |||
| Maori | roa | ||
| The Maori word "roa" also means "tall" or "distant". | |||
| Samoan | umi | ||
| The word "umi" can also refer to the space between two things or the depth of something. | |||
| Tagalog (Filipino) | haba | ||
| "Haba" in Tagalog can also refer to the period of time a pregnant woman carries a fetus. | |||
Length in American Indigenous Languages
| Aymara | qawch'asa | ||
| Guarani | pukukue | ||
Length in International Languages
| Esperanto | longeco | ||
| The word "longeco" (length) comes from Latin "longus" (long), which originally meant to be long in space or time. | |||
| Latin | longitudinem | ||
| The Latin word 'longitudinem' can also refer to the length of a vowel sound or the duration of a note. | |||
Length in Others Languages
| Greek | μήκος | ||
| The term 'μήκος' is used to describe both linear extent as well as duration of an event in ancient Greek. | |||
| Hmong | ntev | ||
| The word "ntev" also means "stretch" or "distance" in Hmong. | |||
| Kurdish | dirêjî | ||
| The word "dirêjî" is derived from the Old Iranian word "darga" meaning "long." | |||
| Turkish | uzunluk | ||
| The word "uzunluk" also means "delay" in Turkish. | |||
| Xhosa | ubude | ||
| Ubude is the Xhosa word for "length" or "distance," and can refer to geographical distance or the length of an object. | |||
| Yiddish | לענג | ||
| The Yiddish word "לענג" comes from the German "Länge" and can also mean "longing" or "yearning". | |||
| Zulu | ubude | ||
| "Ubude" is also a noun meaning "age" or "generation". | |||
| Assamese | দৈৰ্ঘ্য | ||
| Aymara | qawch'asa | ||
| Bhojpuri | लंबाई | ||
| Dhivehi | ދިގުމިން | ||
| Dogri | लंबाई | ||
| Filipino (Tagalog) | haba | ||
| Guarani | pukukue | ||
| Ilocano | kaatiddog | ||
| Krio | lɔng | ||
| Kurdish (Sorani) | درێژی | ||
| Maithili | लंबाई | ||
| Meiteilon (Manipuri) | ꯑꯁꯥꯡꯕ | ||
| Mizo | dung | ||
| Oromo | dheerina | ||
| Odia (Oriya) | ଲମ୍ବ | ||
| Quechua | chutarisqa | ||
| Sanskrit | दैर्घ्यम् | ||
| Tatar | озынлык | ||
| Tigrinya | ንውሓት | ||
| Tsonga | vulehi | ||