Letter in Different Languages
Discover 'Letter' in 134 Languages: Dive into Translations, Hear Pronunciations, and Uncover Cultural Insights.
Letter
Afrikaans brief | ||
Albanian letër | ||
Amharic ደብዳቤ | ||
Arabic رسالة | ||
Armenian նամակ | ||
Assamese চিঠি | ||
Aymara qillqata | ||
Azerbaijani məktub | ||
Bambara bataki | ||
Basque gutuna | ||
Belarusian ліст | ||
Bengali চিঠি | ||
Bhojpuri चिट्ठी पतरी | ||
Bosnian pismo | ||
Bulgarian писмо | ||
Catalan carta | ||
Cebuano sulat | ||
Chinese (Simplified) 信件 | ||
Chinese (Traditional) 信件 | ||
Corsican lettera | ||
Croatian pismo | ||
Czech dopis | ||
Danish brev | ||
Dhivehi ސިޓީ | ||
Dogri चिट्ठी | ||
Dutch brief | ||
English letter | ||
Esperanto litero | ||
Estonian kiri | ||
Ewe lɛta | ||
Filipino (Tagalog) sulat | ||
Finnish kirje | ||
French lettre | ||
Frisian letter | ||
Galician carta | ||
Georgian წერილი | ||
German brief | ||
Greek γράμμα | ||
Guarani kuatiañe'ẽ | ||
Gujarati પત્ર | ||
Haitian Creole lèt | ||
Hausa wasika | ||
Hawaiian leka | ||
Hebrew מִכְתָב | ||
Hindi पत्र | ||
Hmong tsab ntawv | ||
Hungarian levél | ||
Icelandic bréf | ||
Igbo leta | ||
Ilocano surat | ||
Indonesian surat | ||
Irish litir | ||
Italian lettera | ||
Japanese 文字 | ||
Javanese layang | ||
Kannada ಪತ್ರ | ||
Kazakh хат | ||
Khmer លិខិត | ||
Kinyarwanda ibaruwa | ||
Konkani चीट | ||
Korean 편지 | ||
Krio lɛta | ||
Kurdish name | ||
Kurdish (Sorani) نامە | ||
Kyrgyz кат | ||
Lao ຈົດ ໝາຍ | ||
Latin litterae | ||
Latvian vēstule | ||
Lingala mokanda | ||
Lithuanian laiškas | ||
Luganda ebbaluwa | ||
Luxembourgish bréif | ||
Macedonian писмо | ||
Maithili पत्र | ||
Malagasy taratasy | ||
Malay surat | ||
Malayalam കത്ത് | ||
Maltese ittra | ||
Maori reta | ||
Marathi पत्र | ||
Meiteilon (Manipuri) ꯆꯤꯊꯤ | ||
Mizo lehkhathawn | ||
Mongolian захидал | ||
Myanmar (Burmese) စာ | ||
Nepali चिठी | ||
Norwegian brev | ||
Nyanja (Chichewa) kalata | ||
Odia (Oriya) ଚିଠି | ||
Oromo xalayaa | ||
Pashto خط | ||
Persian حرف | ||
Polish list | ||
Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) carta | ||
Punjabi ਪੱਤਰ | ||
Quechua carta | ||
Romanian scrisoare | ||
Russian письмо | ||
Samoan tusi | ||
Sanskrit पत्रम् | ||
Scots Gaelic litir | ||
Sepedi lengwalo | ||
Serbian писмо | ||
Sesotho lengolo | ||
Shona tsamba | ||
Sindhi خط | ||
Sinhala (Sinhalese) ලිපියක් | ||
Slovak list | ||
Slovenian pismo | ||
Somali warqad | ||
Spanish letra | ||
Sundanese surat | ||
Swahili barua | ||
Swedish brev | ||
Tagalog (Filipino) sulat | ||
Tajik мактуб | ||
Tamil கடிதம் | ||
Tatar хат | ||
Telugu లేఖ | ||
Thai จดหมาย | ||
Tigrinya ደብዳበ | ||
Tsonga papila | ||
Turkish mektup | ||
Turkmen hat | ||
Twi (Akan) lɛtɛ | ||
Ukrainian лист | ||
Urdu خط | ||
Uyghur خەت | ||
Uzbek xat | ||
Vietnamese lá thư | ||
Welsh llythyr | ||
Xhosa ileta | ||
Yiddish בריוו | ||
Yoruba lẹta | ||
Zulu incwadi |
Etymology & Notes
| Language | Etymology / Notes |
|---|---|
| Afrikaans | The Afrikaans word "brief" can also mean a legal document or a short summary of a case in court. |
| Albanian | The word "letër" in Albanian derives from the Latin word "littera", meaning "letter of the alphabet" or "writing." |
| Amharic | The word "ደብዳቤ" is derived from the Ge'ez root "כתב" meaning "to write" and can also refer to a message written on a scroll or other material. |
| Arabic | "رسالة" is derived from (رسل) meaning "messengers", implying information transmitted by a messenger. It can also refer to a mission or message from God, as in "رسالات السماء". |
| Armenian | The Armenian word "նամակ" can also refer to a document, a note, or a message. |
| Azerbaijani | The word "məktub" is derived from the Arabic word "maktūb" meaning "written" or "letter." |
| Basque | The word gutuna in Basque has the additional meaning of "letter" or "missive", and is related to the word "gutu" meaning "voice" or "sound." |
| Belarusian | The word "ліст" in Belarusian is cognate with the Russian word "лист" and originally referred to a tree leaf, hence the green color of Belarusian stamps. |
| Bengali | চিঠি or চীঠি denotes a letter (a written message) or a type of bird (sparrow). |
| Bosnian | The Bosnian word "pismo" comes from the Proto-Slavic word "pisati", which means "to write" or "to draw." |
| Bulgarian | The word "писмо" ("letter") also refers to the Cyrillic alphabet as a writing system. |
| Catalan | The Catalan word "carta" also means "chart" or "map" and comes from the Latin word "charta", meaning "paper" or "papyrus." |
| Cebuano | The word "sulat" in Cebuano can also refer to writing or a document, and is derived from the Sanskrit "shruta", meaning knowledge. |
| Chinese (Simplified) | 信件 in Chinese, with its two component Chinese characters 信 and 件, can also refer to a document that requires certification and validation, such as a diploma or certificate. |
| Chinese (Traditional) | The word can also be used to refer to an official letter, a religious creed, or a message sent from a higher power. |
| Corsican | The Corsican word "lettera" also means "typeface" in Italian. |
| Croatian | The Croatian word 'pismo' also refers to the Cyrillic alphabet used in Serbian, unlike the Latin alphabet used in Croatian. |
| Czech | Dopis' shares etymological roots with 'dopisovat' ('to write a letter'), 'píšu' ('I write') and 'píseň' ('song') |
| Danish | Brev is derived from the Dutch word brief, which originally meant 'letter' or 'order' and is related to the English word 'brief'. |
| Dutch | Originally, a 'brief' was a summary of a case given to a lawyer in writing. |
| Esperanto | Literon is one of the two base words for the noun "literaturo" (literature) in Esperanto, but it can also be used as a root word for words related to the alphabet, writing, and reading. |
| Estonian | The word "kiri" in Estonian can also refer to a piece of fabric, a layer or stratum, or a written message carved into a surface. |
| Finnish | "Kirje" comes from the Proto-Finnic root *kirje- and originally meant "a written document". |
| French | "Lettre" is also used to refer to the individual characters of a written alphabet. |
| Frisian | In Frisian, "letter" means both the literal letters in the alphabet as well as a person that is a "man of distinction", similar to the word "gentleman" in English. |
| Galician | "Carta" also means "map" in Galician as well as "charter" in Portuguese and Spanish. |
| Georgian | The Georgian word "წერილი" can refer to both a letter and the ancient Georgian script known as "Asomtavruli," which means "capital letters." |
| German | In German the word "Brief" also means "letter" but it is derived from the Latin word "brevis" meaning "short". |
| Greek | Γράμμα in Greek originated from the word for "drawn line" used for writing tablets, and also means "knowledge" or "document." |
| Gujarati | "પત્ર" in Gujarati can also refer to 'leaves' of plants or a 'document' used as an evidence. |
| Haitian Creole | The term "lèt" can also refer to "knowledge" or "information" in Haitian Creole, showcasing its versatile usage beyond the literal notion of a written message. |
| Hausa | "Wasika" in Hausa can also refer to a document or a message. |
| Hawaiian | The word "leka" is derived from the Proto-Polynesian root */leqa/, which also means "mark" or "sign". |
| Hebrew | The Hebrew word מִכְתָב means both "letter of the alphabet" and "written document". |
| Hindi | The Hindi word 'पत्र' (letter) also refers to leaves, and can mean "an inscribed document," or "a newspaper." |
| Hmong | The word "tsab ntawv" in Hmong can also refer to a "book" or "document". |
| Hungarian | In modern Hungarian, "levél" can also mean "leaf" or "page (of a book)." |
| Icelandic | In Icelandic, the word "bréf" also refers to a piece of paper or a document, and is thought to derive from the Old Norse word "bref", meaning "a small piece of wood or bone used for writing or engraving." |
| Igbo | The Igbo word 'leta' also means 'speech' or 'language'. |
| Indonesian | Can also be a formal way of addressing someone as 'Mr/Ms' |
| Irish | In Irish, "litir" not only means letter, but also a syllable, a unit of sound in speech or writing |
| Italian | The Italian word "lettera" can also refer to an encyclical or a document with official or legal status. |
| Japanese | The word "文字" (moji) can also refer to "written characters" or "script" more broadly, encompassing not only letters of the alphabet but also ideograms, syllabaries, and other writing systems. |
| Javanese | Layang can also refer to a kite in Javanese. |
| Kannada | The Kannada word "ಪತ್ರ" can also refer to a leaf, a document, or a playing card. |
| Kazakh | In Kazakh, the word "хат" can also refer to a letter of the alphabet or a written message. |
| Khmer | The word "លិខិត" can also refer to a document, a script, or a written record. |
| Korean | The Korean word "편지" can also refer to a "book", deriving from the Chinese "편적" (片籍). |
| Kurdish | The word "name" in Kurdish also refers to a "letter of the alphabet". |
| Kyrgyz | Кат also means “line” or “row” in Kyrgyz |
| Latin | Although litterae commonly meant "letter" in Latin, it also referred to writings or literature more broadly. |
| Latvian | Cognate with Russian "вѣсти" meaning "news" in Russian and "vest" meaning "sign" in Latin. |
| Lithuanian | The word "laiškas" comes from the Proto-Indo-European root *leikʷ- "to leave". |
| Luxembourgish | Bréif can also refer to a document or a message. |
| Macedonian | The word 'писмо' is etymologically related to the word 'писати', which means 'to write'. |
| Malagasy | The Malagasy word 'taratasy' is a derivative of the Arabic word 'tarasul,' meaning 'to correspond' or 'to exchange messages'. |
| Malay | In Old Malay, "surat" also meant "to write" or "to draw". |
| Malayalam | The word "കത്ത്" (kattu) is also used to refer to a wooden box or a drawer. |
| Maltese | The word 'ittra' in Maltese is derived from the Latin word 'littera', meaning 'letter of the alphabet'. |
| Maori | The Maori word "reta" can also refer to a mark, line, or groove, highlighting its connection to the act of writing and recording. |
| Marathi | The word "पत्र" in Marathi is derived from the Sanskrit word "पत्रम" meaning "leaf" or "document written on a leaf", and it also means "playing card" or "newspaper". |
| Mongolian | "Захидал" can also mean "the letter D" (Cyrillic) or "the letter Z" (Latin). |
| Myanmar (Burmese) | The word "စာ" in Myanmar derives from the same Proto-Sino-Tibetan root as the Chinese word "字" and the Tibetan word "ཡིག་". |
| Nepali | "चिठी" can also refer to a small piece of cloth, a strip of leather used in sewing, a strip of cloth worn around the head or turban, or a narrow strip or piece of paper. |
| Norwegian | The word "brev" in Norwegian can also refer to the playing cards of a spade suit. |
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | "Kalata" also means "message" or "piece of paper" in Nyanja. |
| Pashto | "خط" means "handwriting" in Pashto, and is related to the word "خطاطی" (khattati), which means "calligraphy". |
| Persian | "حرف" (harf) can also refer to a profession, trade, or a rank in the military hierarchy. |
| Polish | The word 'lista' in Polish originally meant 'a border' or 'a strip of land' and was only later applied to written documents. |
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | The word 'carta' in Portuguese originally meant 'charter' and referred to documents granting privileges or rights. |
| Punjabi | "ਪੱਤਰ" originally meant leaves, but later became associated with written communication. |
| Romanian | "Scrisoare" is derived from the Latin "scribere" (to write) and also means "deed" or "certificate" in Romanian. |
| Russian | "Письмо" in Russian can also refer to scripture or written communication in general. |
| Samoan | The word "tusi" also means "mark" or "sign" in Samoan, and can refer to any written or drawn symbol. |
| Scots Gaelic | The Gaelic word "litir" comes from the Latin "litera", meaning both "letter" and "literature". |
| Serbian | The word “писмо” (“letter”) also has an alternate meaning which is the Cyrillic alphabet script used as the writing system for Serbian and other Slavic languages. |
| Sesotho | In the SeSotho language, 'lengolo' derives from the root word 'goloza' meaning 'to swallow whole'. |
| Shona | In the Shona language, the word "tsamba" can also mean "message" or "news". |
| Sindhi | The Sindhi word "خط" is related to the Sanskrit root "likh", meaning "to write". |
| Sinhala (Sinhalese) | ලිපියක් has a related word in Sanskrit, "lipi" meaning writing, writing materials, or script. |
| Slovak | In addition to its meaning as "letter", list in Slovak can also refer to an inventory or collection. |
| Slovenian | The word 'pismo' comes from the Proto-Slavic word '*pьsmo' (writing), itself deriving from the Old Slavonic word 'писъмо' (writing), and is also the origin of the Czech and Croatian word for letter ('psaní' and 'pismo'). |
| Somali | Warqad can also refer to the 'page' of a book or a document, or to a 'flat object' such as a plate or a piece of paper |
| Spanish | In Spanish, "letra" can also refer to song lyrics, or the typeface used to write. |
| Sundanese | In Sundanese, the word "surat" can also refer to a religious text, a document, or a certificate. |
| Swahili | The Swahili word "barua" can also refer to a book or a document. |
| Swedish | The word "brev" is derived from the Low German word "bref" and can also refer to a document or written communication. |
| Tagalog (Filipino) | Sulat is derived from the Malay-Indonesian word 'surat' meaning 'document' or 'writing' |
| Tajik | "Maktab" also means a school in Persian and Arabic. |
| Tamil | The Dravidian cognate of 'കത്ത്' and a borrowing for the same idea from Sanskrit; cognate with the Indo-Aryan 'गठ्' that produced Persian 'گدشتن' |
| Telugu | The Telugu word "lēkha" can also mean "writing" or "account". |
| Thai | The Thai word จดหมาย (jot-mai) is derived from the Sanskrit word पत्र (patra), meaning "leaf". This reflects the fact that, historically, letters were often written on palm leaves. |
| Turkish | "Mektup" originates from the Arabic word "maktub", meaning "written". In Ottoman Turkish, "mektup" was pronounced as "mahdûd". |
| Ukrainian | The word 'лист' ('letter') in Ukrainian also refers to a 'leaf' on a tree and derives from the Proto-Slavic word 'listъ', meaning a flat or thin object. |
| Urdu | The word "خط" in Urdu can also refer to a line, a stroke, or a mark. |
| Uzbek | “Xat” has two other meanings outside the context of epistolary: 1) the written script or calligraphic style, and 2) a mark or line (as made in writing, drawing, or cutting something). |
| Vietnamese | The word "lá thư" in Vietnamese literally means "leaf of paper"} |
| Welsh | The word "llythyr" in Welsh can also refer to a "message" or a "missive". |
| Xhosa | The word 'ileta' can also mean message, news, report, or document in Xhosa. |
| Yiddish | "Briv" comes from the Proto-Germanic "bref", which also gave us words like "brief" and "brava." |
| Yoruba | The Yoruba word "lẹta" can also refer to a "stamp" or "seal". |
| Zulu | Incwadi, meaning "letter" in Zulu, can also refer to a book, document, or message. |
| English | In addition to "a written message", "letter" can also refer to a single character in the alphabet or a document sent by post. |