Literally in Different Languages
Discover 'Literally' in 134 Languages: Dive into Translations, Hear Pronunciations, and Uncover Cultural Insights.
Literally
Afrikaans letterlik | ||
Albanian fjalë për fjalë | ||
Amharic በጥሬው | ||
Arabic حرفيا | ||
Armenian բառացիորեն | ||
Assamese আক্ষৰিকভাৱে | ||
Aymara litiraljama | ||
Azerbaijani eynən | ||
Bambara a kɔrɔ yɛrɛ | ||
Basque hitzez hitz | ||
Belarusian літаральна | ||
Bengali আক্ষরিক অর্থে | ||
Bhojpuri पूरा तरह से | ||
Bosnian bukvalno | ||
Bulgarian буквално | ||
Catalan literalment | ||
Cebuano sa literal | ||
Chinese (Simplified) 从字面上看 | ||
Chinese (Traditional) 從字面上看 | ||
Corsican littiralmente | ||
Croatian doslovno | ||
Czech doslova | ||
Danish bogstaveligt talt | ||
Dhivehi ޙަޤީޤަތުގައި | ||
Dogri सच्चे | ||
Dutch letterlijk | ||
English literally | ||
Esperanto laŭvorte | ||
Estonian sõna otseses mõttes | ||
Ewe le nyagbᴐgblᴐa nu | ||
Filipino (Tagalog) literal | ||
Finnish kirjaimellisesti | ||
French au sens propre | ||
Frisian letterlik | ||
Galician literalmente | ||
Georgian სიტყვასიტყვით | ||
German buchstäblich | ||
Greek κυριολεκτικά | ||
Guarani he'ihaichaite | ||
Gujarati શાબ્દિક | ||
Haitian Creole literalman | ||
Hausa a zahiri | ||
Hawaiian maoli | ||
Hebrew פשוטו כמשמעו | ||
Hindi वस्तुतः | ||
Hmong cia | ||
Hungarian szó szerint | ||
Icelandic bókstaflega | ||
Igbo n'ụzọ nkịtị | ||
Ilocano literal | ||
Indonesian secara harfiah | ||
Irish go litriúil | ||
Italian letteralmente | ||
Japanese 文字通り | ||
Javanese secara harfiah | ||
Kannada ಅಕ್ಷರಶಃ | ||
Kazakh сөзбе-сөз | ||
Khmer ព្យញ្ជនៈ | ||
Kinyarwanda uko bisanzwe | ||
Konkani अक्षरशः | ||
Korean 말 그대로 | ||
Krio tru tru | ||
Kurdish bi rastî | ||
Kurdish (Sorani) واتایی | ||
Kyrgyz түзмө-түз | ||
Lao ຮູ້ຫນັງສື | ||
Latin ad litteram | ||
Latvian burtiski | ||
Lingala ndenge ezali | ||
Lithuanian pažodžiui | ||
Luganda kiringa | ||
Luxembourgish wuertwiertlech | ||
Macedonian буквално | ||
Maithili अक्षरसः | ||
Malagasy ara-bakiteny | ||
Malay secara harfiah | ||
Malayalam അക്ഷരാർത്ഥത്തിൽ | ||
Maltese litteralment | ||
Maori mooni | ||
Marathi अक्षरशः | ||
Meiteilon (Manipuri) ꯋꯥꯍꯩꯒꯤ ꯑꯣꯏꯕ | ||
Mizo a ngial a ngan chuan | ||
Mongolian шууд утгаараа | ||
Myanmar (Burmese) စာသား | ||
Nepali शाब्दिक | ||
Norwegian bokstavelig | ||
Nyanja (Chichewa) kwenikweni | ||
Odia (Oriya) ବସ୍ତୁତଃ | ||
Oromo kallattiidhumaan | ||
Pashto په لفظي ډول | ||
Persian به معنای واقعی کلمه | ||
Polish dosłownie | ||
Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) literalmente | ||
Punjabi ਸ਼ਾਬਦਿਕ | ||
Quechua hinapuni | ||
Romanian literalmente | ||
Russian буквально | ||
Samoan moni lava | ||
Sanskrit अक्षरशः | ||
Scots Gaelic gu litearra | ||
Sepedi ntšukantšu | ||
Serbian буквално | ||
Sesotho ka ho toba | ||
Shona sezvazviri | ||
Sindhi لفظي طور تي | ||
Sinhala (Sinhalese) වචනාර්ථයෙන් | ||
Slovak doslova | ||
Slovenian dobesedno | ||
Somali macno ahaan | ||
Spanish literalmente | ||
Sundanese sacara harfiah | ||
Swahili halisi | ||
Swedish bokstavligen | ||
Tagalog (Filipino) literal | ||
Tajik айнан | ||
Tamil உண்மையாகவே | ||
Tatar туры мәгънәдә | ||
Telugu అక్షరాలా | ||
Thai แท้จริง | ||
Tigrinya ቃል ብቃል | ||
Tsonga entiyisweni | ||
Turkish kelimenin tam anlamıyla | ||
Turkmen sözme-söz | ||
Twi (Akan) traa | ||
Ukrainian буквально | ||
Urdu لفظی | ||
Uyghur مەنىسى | ||
Uzbek so'zma-so'z | ||
Vietnamese theo nghĩa đen | ||
Welsh yn llythrennol | ||
Xhosa ngokoqobo | ||
Yiddish ממש | ||
Yoruba gangan | ||
Zulu ngokoqobo |
Etymology & Notes
| Language | Etymology / Notes |
|---|---|
| Afrikaans | The word "letterlik" in Afrikaans can also mean "precisely" or "exactly". |
| Amharic | The word "በጥሬ" (literally) is derived from the verb "ለጠረ", which means to peel, strip or scrape. Hence it alludes the state something has when its outer layer has been removed. |
| Arabic | حرفيًا (literally) comes from the Arabic root ح ر ف (harf), meaning "letter" or "character", and can also refer to the first letter of a word or the first word of a sentence. |
| Azerbaijani | The word "eynən" can also mean "exactly" or "precisely". |
| Basque | The Basque phrase "hitzez hitz" has several meanings, including "in detail" and "literally" |
| Belarusian | У слове "літаральна" можна виділити два кореня: "літар" ("буквений") і "на" ("на"), що разом утворюють значення "буквально; у прямому сенсі слова". |
| Bengali | আক্ষরিক অর্থে can be used with a figurative sense to indicate that something is true in a metaphorical sense. |
| Bosnian | "Bukvalno" in Bosnian can also mean "for real" or "really" in an informal context. |
| Bulgarian | "Буквално" освен в смисъла на „буквално“, се използва и в смисъла на „наистина“ или „съвсем“. |
| Catalan | "Literalment" in Catalan comes from the Latin word "literaliter", meaning "letter by letter". |
| Cebuano | Sa literal, or 'literally' in English, also means 'to be accurate' or 'to be precise' in Cebuano. |
| Chinese (Simplified) | 字面上看可以表示字面的意思，也可以表示表面上的意思或一般意义上来说的意思。 |
| Chinese (Traditional) | 從字面上看, the Chinese word for "literally" has two meanings: (1) according to the original meaning of the word; (2) in fact; actually |
| Corsican | The Corsican word "littiralmente" comes from the Latin word "littera", meaning "letter", and can also mean "exactly" or "precisely" in some contexts. |
| Croatian | The word "doslovno" can also mean "verbatim" or "word for word". |
| Czech | "Doslova" means accurately or word for word, from an original German loan of "das Wort" ("the word"). |
| Danish | The word "bogstaveligt talt" (literally) literally means "letter by letter" in Danish. |
| Dutch | In Dutch, "letterlijk" can also mean "word-for-word" or "exactly". |
| Esperanto | Esperanto's "laŭvorte" is literally "according to the word"} |
| Estonian | The word "sõna otseses mõttes" can also mean "in the dictionary sense" or "in the strict sense". |
| Finnish | The word 'kirjaimellisesti' also means 'according to the letter of the law' or 'formally'. |
| French | In medieval law, "au sens propre" meant "the meaning intended by the speaker". |
| Frisian | In Frisian, letterlik can also mean 'literally' or 'in the true sense of the word' |
| Galician | In Galician, "literalmente" can mean "literally" but also "exactly" or "completely". |
| Georgian | It literally translates as "word by word" |
| German | The German word "buchstäblich" can also mean "exactly" or "specifically". |
| Greek | Κυριολεκτικά is derived from the Greek words κύριος (lord) and λέγω (to say), and can also mean "in the proper sense" or "strictly speaking." |
| Gujarati | The Sanskrit cognate **शब्दिक** also refers to a person who works with words, like a lexicographer or a grammarian. |
| Haitian Creole | The phrase "literelman" is a Haitian Creole expression translating to "literally" and used to describe something that is "in a literal sense". |
| Hausa | In Hausa, 'a zahiri' can also mean 'without reason' or 'without cause'. |
| Hawaiian | The word "maoli" in Hawaiian also means "native" or "indigenous." |
| Hebrew | The phrase 'פשוטו כמשמעו' has alternative meanings that refer to the obvious, straightforward, or plain sense of something. |
| Hindi | "वस्तुतः" can also mean "in fact, actually, really, clearly". |
| Hmong | In Hmong, "cia" can also mean "only" or "just." |
| Hungarian | Besides its literal meaning, "szó szerint" in Hungarian can also mean "exactly" or "precisely". |
| Icelandic | The word bókstaflega comes from the Old Norse word bókstafr, meaning 'letter'. |
| Igbo | N'ụzọ nkịtị is an Igbo phrase that also means "in the usual way" or "as is customary" |
| Indonesian | The phrase literally in Indonesian can mean 'in a literal sense' or 'in a figurative sense'. |
| Irish | The word 'go litriúil' also means 'by the letter' and is used to refer to a strict or literal interpretation of something. |
| Italian | In Italian, 'letteralmente' can also mean 'strictly speaking' or 'figuratively', depending on the context. |
| Japanese | The Japanese word "文字通り" can also refer to the exact wording or text of something |
| Javanese | Secara harfiah means 'literally' in Javanese, but it can also mean 'in a real sense' or 'without exaggeration'. |
| Kannada | ಅಕ್ಷರಶಃ ('literally') derives from 'ಅಕ್ಷರ' ('letter') + 'ಶಃ' (a nominal suffix often indicating 'of the nature of, in the form of'). |
| Kazakh | The literal meaning of сөзбе-сөз is "word-by-word", implying the exact correspondence between the source and target text. |
| Khmer | The Khmer word "ព្យញ្ជនៈ" can also mean "consonant" in the context of linguistics. |
| Korean | 말 그대로 (literally) is a Korean adverb that can also mean "exactly" or "as is." |
| Kurdish | Bi rastî means "with truth" and can also mean "for real" or "in fact". |
| Kyrgyz | The word "түзмө-түз" in Kyrgyz can also refer to something that is flat, level, or even-keeled. |
| Latin | "Ad litteram" comes from the Latin phrase "ad litteram scriptam," meaning "according to the written letter." |
| Latvian | In informal speech, "burtiski" can also refer to the strict and literal interpretation or translation of something. |
| Lithuanian | "Pažodžiui" is related to the word "žodis", which means "word" in Lithuanian. |
| Luxembourgish | The word "wuertwiertlech" can also be used to emphasize a statement, similar to "really" or "truly" in English. |
| Macedonian | In Macedonian, "буквално" also means "word-for-word", "exactly as written", or "in the most literal sense". |
| Malagasy | The Malagasy word 'ara-bakiteny' not only means 'literally,' but also 'face-to-face, clearly, and directly'. |
| Malay | Literally, "secara harfiah" means "according to the letters", emphasizing that something has been conveyed verbatim. |
| Maltese | In Maltese, "litteralment" also means "exactly" or "precisely". |
| Maori | In the Maori language, the word "mooni" can also refer to "a small amount" of something. |
| Marathi | The Marathi word "अक्षरशः" has multiple meanings, one being "according to the rules of grammar" and another being "exactly". |
| Mongolian | The word 'шууд утгаараа' ('literally') is often used in Mongolian to indicate the original or primary meaning of a word, as opposed to its figurative or metaphorical meaning. |
| Nepali | In Nepali, Shabdhik refers to meanings that are expressed explicitly or directly, but can also describe meanings understood through gestures or actions. |
| Norwegian | "Bokstavelig" kommer fra norrønt "bókstafligr," som betyr "bokstav for bokstav." |
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | "Kwenikweni" can also refer to "the truth or an honest person." |
| Pashto | In Pashto, the word "په لفظي ډول" can also mean "in name only" or "for the sake of it." |
| Persian | The Persian word "به معنای واقعی کلمه" literally means "to the real meaning" but is used figuratively to mean "actually". |
| Polish | In Polish, "dosłownie" can also mean "really" or "truly." |
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | Literalmente originally meant "according to the letter" but over time it came to mean "precisely or exactly" |
| Punjabi | In Punjabi, the word "literally" can refer to both the literal meaning and the figurative meaning of words, depending on the context. |
| Romanian | The Romanian word "literalmente" can have a humorous or ironic sense, implying that something is exaggerated or not quite literal. |
| Russian | Буквально means not only "literally" but also "very" or "in fact" |
| Samoan | The word "moni lava" comes from a Tongan word for 'money' that refers to the coins brought by European traders and a Proto-Austronesian word for 'clean' |
| Scots Gaelic | The Gaelic "gu litearra" means literally, but can also mean "according to the letter," "in the narrowest sense," "exactly," or "in a narrow sense." |
| Serbian | In Serbian, "буквално" can also mean "in the true sense of the word" or "in the fullest sense of the word." |
| Sesotho | The Sesotho phrase "ka ho toba" originated from a proverb that literally translates to "it is by falling that you learn to walk". |
| Shona | Sezvaviri (literally) can also mean 'exactly', 'properly', 'precisely', 'strictly', 'accordingly' or 'indeed' depending on the context. |
| Sinhala (Sinhalese) | It can also be used to express the idea of 'in the true sense of the word' or 'in the strictest sense'. |
| Slovak | In Slovak, "doslova" also has the archaic meaning "in letters", which may not have been common usage in its etymology. |
| Slovenian | 'Dobesedno', which means literally in English, can also mean 'in the true sense of the word' in Slovenian. |
| Somali | The word "macno ahaan" can also mean "exactly" or "indeed". |
| Spanish | In Spanish, the word 'literalmente' can also mean 'strictly' or 'exactly' |
| Sundanese | In Sundanese, sacara harfiah (literally) also means "to do it with your own hands". |
| Swahili | Halisi is also used figuratively to mean 'genuine' or 'authentic'. |
| Swedish | The word "bokstavligen" comes from the Swedish word "bokstav" meaning "letter," and is related to the German word "Buchstabe" with the same meaning. |
| Tagalog (Filipino) | "Literal" in Tagalog also means "actual, real, true". |
| Tajik | The word "айнан" can also mean "truth" or "indeed" in Tajik. |
| Telugu | In Telugu, "అక్షరాలా" can also mean "without missing a word" or "according to the text". |
| Thai | แท้จริง means "genuinely" or "in reality", and it is derived from the Pali word "saccaṃ", meaning "truth". |
| Turkish | In Turkish, the word "kelimenin tam anlamıyla" can also mean "figuratively" or "symbolically". |
| Ukrainian | "Буквально" may also mean "letter by letter" or "as it is written" in Ukrainian. |
| Urdu | لفظی can also mean 'verbal' or 'oral', referring to communication through speech. |
| Uzbek | The Uzbek word "so'zma-so'z" can also mean "word for word" or "verbatim". |
| Vietnamese | "Theo nghĩa đen" means "literally" but can also mean "in the biblical sense" or "in the literal sense". |
| Welsh | The word 'yn llythrennol' can also be translated as 'in the lettering' or 'in the characters'. |
| Xhosa | The Xhosa word "ngokoqobo" is derived from the word "iqobo," which means "word." |
| Yiddish | In Yiddish, "ממש" can also mean "very" or "exactly". |
| Yoruba | "Gangan" can also mean a double-faced drum that is played with two sticks. |
| Zulu | Ngogoqobo also means "without a doubt" or "in fact". |
| English | "Literally" originally meant "conforming to the letter of a document" and only later came to mean "without exaggeration or metaphor." |