Afrikaans long | ||
Albanian mushkëritë | ||
Amharic ሳንባ | ||
Arabic رئة | ||
Armenian թոքերը | ||
Assamese হাওঁফাওঁ | ||
Aymara pulmonar uñtatawa | ||
Azerbaijani ağciyər | ||
Bambara fogonfogon | ||
Basque birika | ||
Belarusian лёгкіх | ||
Bengali ফুসফুস | ||
Bhojpuri फेफड़ा के बा | ||
Bosnian pluća | ||
Bulgarian бял дроб | ||
Catalan pulmó | ||
Cebuano baga | ||
Chinese (Simplified) 肺 | ||
Chinese (Traditional) 肺 | ||
Corsican pulmone | ||
Croatian pluća | ||
Czech plíce | ||
Danish lunge | ||
Dhivehi ފުއްޕާމޭ | ||
Dogri फेफड़े | ||
Dutch long | ||
English lung | ||
Esperanto pulmo | ||
Estonian kopsu | ||
Ewe lãkusi | ||
Filipino (Tagalog) baga | ||
Finnish keuhkoihin | ||
French poumon | ||
Frisian long | ||
Galician pulmón | ||
Georgian ფილტვის | ||
German lunge | ||
Greek πνεύμονας | ||
Guarani pulmón rehegua | ||
Gujarati ફેફસાં | ||
Haitian Creole poumon | ||
Hausa huhu | ||
Hawaiian māmā | ||
Hebrew ריאה | ||
Hindi फेफड़ा | ||
Hmong ntsws | ||
Hungarian tüdő | ||
Icelandic lunga | ||
Igbo akpa ume | ||
Ilocano bara | ||
Indonesian paru-paru | ||
Irish scamhóg | ||
Italian polmone | ||
Japanese 肺 | ||
Javanese paru-paru | ||
Kannada ಶ್ವಾಸಕೋಶ | ||
Kazakh өкпе | ||
Khmer សួត | ||
Kinyarwanda ibihaha | ||
Konkani फुफ्फुस | ||
Korean 폐 | ||
Krio di lɔng | ||
Kurdish pişik | ||
Kurdish (Sorani) سی | ||
Kyrgyz өпкө | ||
Lao ປອດ | ||
Latin pulmonem | ||
Latvian plaušas | ||
Lingala mimpululu | ||
Lithuanian plaučių | ||
Luganda amawuggwe | ||
Luxembourgish longen | ||
Macedonian белите дробови | ||
Maithili फेफड़ा | ||
Malagasy avokavoka | ||
Malay paru-paru | ||
Malayalam ശാസകോശം | ||
Maltese pulmun | ||
Maori pūkahukahu | ||
Marathi फुफ्फुस | ||
Meiteilon (Manipuri) ꯂꯪꯁꯇꯥ ꯂꯩꯕꯥ꯫ | ||
Mizo lung | ||
Mongolian уушиг | ||
Myanmar (Burmese) အဆုတ် | ||
Nepali फोक्सो | ||
Norwegian lunge | ||
Nyanja (Chichewa) mapapo | ||
Odia (Oriya) ଫୁସଫୁସ | ||
Oromo sombaa | ||
Pashto سږي | ||
Persian ریه | ||
Polish płuco | ||
Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) pulmão | ||
Punjabi ਫੇਫੜੇ | ||
Quechua pulmón nisqa | ||
Romanian plămân | ||
Russian легкое | ||
Samoan māmā | ||
Sanskrit फुफ्फुसः | ||
Scots Gaelic sgamhan | ||
Sepedi maswafo | ||
Serbian плућа | ||
Sesotho matšoafo | ||
Shona mapapu | ||
Sindhi .ڙن | ||
Sinhala (Sinhalese) පෙනහළු | ||
Slovak pľúca | ||
Slovenian pljuča | ||
Somali sambabka | ||
Spanish pulmón | ||
Sundanese paru-paru | ||
Swahili mapafu | ||
Swedish lunga | ||
Tagalog (Filipino) baga | ||
Tajik шуш | ||
Tamil நுரையீரல் | ||
Tatar үпкә | ||
Telugu ఊపిరితిత్తుల | ||
Thai ปอด | ||
Tigrinya ሳንቡእ እዩ። | ||
Tsonga lung | ||
Turkish akciğer | ||
Turkmen öýken | ||
Twi (Akan) ahurututu mu | ||
Ukrainian легеня | ||
Urdu پھیپھڑا | ||
Uyghur ئۆپكە | ||
Uzbek o'pka | ||
Vietnamese phổi | ||
Welsh ysgyfaint | ||
Xhosa umphunga | ||
Yiddish לונג | ||
Yoruba ẹdọfóró | ||
Zulu amaphaphu |
| Language | Etymology / Notes |
|---|---|
| Afrikaans | The Afrikaans word "long" is derived from the Dutch word "long" meaning "lung", and is also used to refer to the lungs in Afrikaans. |
| Albanian | The word "mushkëritë" is derived from the Proto-Albanian word *muk-, meaning "nostril". |
| Amharic | In addition to "lung," the word "ሳንባ" in Amharic also means "throat" or "esophagus." |
| Arabic | رئة can also refer to a person's character, personality, or disposition. |
| Armenian | In Armenian, the word |
| Azerbaijani | The word "ağciyər" is derived from the Persian word "acīgar", meaning "internal organ" or "liver". |
| Basque | The Basque word |
| Belarusian | The Belarusian word "лёгкіх" means both "lungs" and "lightly". |
| Bengali | The word "ফুসফুস" (lung) in Bengali comes from the Sanskrit word "पुष्प" (flower), as the lungs are said to resemble flowers in their shape and color. |
| Bosnian | "Pluća" can also mean "insides" (of a person or an animal) in Bosnian. |
| Bulgarian | "Бял дроб" literally means "white tree" |
| Catalan | The Latin pulmō, genitive pulmōnis, means lung; but in Catalan, its descendant “pulmó” is the organ and also means a blow in the chest. |
| Cebuano | In Filipino, the Cebuano term "baga" can translate to either "charcoal" or "ashes", as well as "lungs". |
| Chinese (Simplified) | The Chinese character "肺" (lung) is also used to represent the concept of "courage" or "morale". |
| Chinese (Traditional) | 肺 in Traditional Chinese is composed of 肺 (fèi) meaning 'lung' and 頁 (yè) meaning 'page'; so 肺 refers to the pulmonary system and also to pages in a book, and can be used figuratively in the sense 'heart' |
| Corsican | The word 'pulmone' in Corsican also means 'mind' or 'heart'. |
| Croatian | The word 'pluća' is also the name for a traditional Dalmatian wind instrument that resembles a bagpipe, but is shorter and narrower than the Scottish instrument, with a goat skin bag and two pipes. |
| Czech | The word "plíce" in Czech also means "buoyancy" or "float". |
| Danish | "Lunge" also means "attack" from the Middle French "alongier" (to stretch out, lengthen). |
| Dutch | The Dutch word "long" also has the alternate meaning of "yearn" or "desire", stemming from the Old English word "langian". |
| Esperanto | "Pulmo" also means "soul" in Latin and "spirit" in some Romance languages. |
| Estonian | The word "kopsu" is also used in Estonian to refer to the lungs of animals, especially those of livestock. |
| Finnish | Keuhkot, a Finnish word for 'lungs', originally referred to a 'cavity' |
| French | French "poumon" comes from Greek and Latin "pulmo" (lung), which may be related to "flare, blow". |
| Frisian | In Frisian, "long" can also refer to a type of dance. |
| Galician | Galician "pulmón" derives from Latin "pulmō, -ōnis", but is also used colloquially to mean "strength, vigor, courage." |
| Georgian | The Georgian word for "lung", ფილტვის, is a borrowing of Persian پِلتَه (pilta), which is a diminutive form of پِلت (pilt), a word for "elephant". It also means "a kind of skin disease" in Persian. |
| German | The German word "Lunge" has other meanings, including "lunge" (a sudden movement forward), "lung" (a hollow pipe), "lung" (a cavity in a reef), "lung" (a type of dance), and "lung" (a type of fish) |
| Greek | πνεύμονας in Greek is derived from πνεῖν (breath), and originally meant "anything that blows": lungs, bellows, or wind instruments. |
| Haitian Creole | "Poumon" also means "love" in Haitian Creole, highlighting the strong connection between breath and life, and the vital role of love in sustaining life. |
| Hausa | The word "huhu" in Hausa also means "something that is empty or hollow". |
| Hawaiian | The word "māmā" in Hawaiian has the alternate meaning of "to be bright" and the etymology of "bright, shining." |
| Hebrew | The Hebrew word "ריאה" (lung) derives from the Akkadian word "ri'tu" (wind), emphasizing the role of the lungs in respiration. |
| Hindi | The word फेफड़ा (phephṛā) is derived from the Proto-Indo-Aryan word *puhpura-, meaning 'that which blows or inflates'. |
| Hmong | The Hmong word "ntsws" not only means "lung," but also refers to the respiratory system and the vital force of life. |
| Hungarian | The word "tüdő" is related to the Turkish word "tütün","tobacco", suggesting that lungs were seen as tobacco containers. |
| Icelandic | The Icelandic word "lunga" also refers to a type of traditional Icelandic sausage. |
| Igbo | The Igbo word 'akpa ume' literally translates to 'a bag of breath,' highlighting its function as the organ that holds the breath of life. |
| Indonesian | The word “paru-paru” originally refers to a bamboo musical instrument. |
| Irish | In Irish mythology, a scámhóg was a legendary animal that could change its shape and lived in the lungs of people and animals. |
| Italian | "Polmone" derives from the Greek "pneumōn", which also gave us the word "pneumonia" |
| Japanese | "肺" also refers to the lungs of animals when consumed as a dish, often translated to "offal" in English. |
| Javanese | Paru-paru in Javanese can also mean 'to be pregnant' or 'to be with child'. |
| Kannada | ಶ್ವಾಸಕೋಶ is derived from the Sanskrit word 'श्वास', meaning 'breath', and 'कोश', meaning 'container'. This suggests its role in respiration. |
| Kazakh | The Kazakh word "өкпе" also refers to an "armpit" or the area in the armpit. |
| Khmer | "សួត" ('suot') is derived from the Sanskrit word "śvāsa" meaning "breath" and also refers to the "intestines". |
| Korean | The Hanja for 폐 can also mean 'ruin', 'injury', or 'destruction'. |
| Kurdish | In Kurdish, |
| Kyrgyz | "Өпкө" also means "breath" or "soul" in Kyrgyz. |
| Lao | The word "ປອດ" can also mean "to escape" or "to avoid" in Lao. |
| Latin | The word "pulmonem" can also refer to the "soft substance of the lungs" or "the parenchyma of the lungs". |
| Latvian | The word "plaušas" also translates to "raft" in Latvian, and is possibly derived from the Latvian word "plāvu" meaning "to float". |
| Lithuanian | The word "plaučių" derives from the Proto-Indo-European root "pleu-," meaning "to float" or "to breathe." |
| Luxembourgish | The word "Longen" is derived from the Old High German word "lunga", which also means "lung". |
| Macedonian | In Macedonian, the plural "белите дробови" can also refer to a type of mushroom known as "lungwort". |
| Malagasy | The word "avokavoka" in Malagasy can also refer to a person's chest or a person's anger. |
| Malay | The term "paru-paru" in Malay is derived from the Sanskrit word "paru", meaning "leaf", as the lungs resemble leaves in appearance. |
| Malayalam | The Malayalam word "ശാസകോശം" (shaasakosha) literally translates to "ruler ("shaashaka") of the cavities ("kocha")". |
| Maltese | The Maltese word 'pulmun' ('lung') is derived from the Arabic word 'ri'ah'. In modern Maltese, 'ri'ah' typically refers to the 'womb'. |
| Marathi | The word "फुफ्फुस" in Marathi is derived from the Sanskrit word "पुष्प" meaning "flower" and "उस" meaning "to grow". |
| Mongolian | The Mongolian word "уушиг" (lung) also means "windpipe". |
| Nepali | The word "फोक्सो" (lung) in Nepali is derived from the Sanskrit word "फुप्फुस" (pupusa), which means "a pair of bellows". |
| Norwegian | "Lunge" in Norwegian can also mean "a nap" or "a short break". |
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | The word "mapapo" can also refer to a small type of fish in the Lake Malawi region. |
| Pashto | The Pashto word "سږي" can also mean "breath" or "soul." |
| Persian | The word 'ریه' ('lung') is derived from the Old Persian word 'riyah', meaning 'breath' or 'wind'. |
| Polish | The etymology of the Polish word 'płuco' is thought to come from an Indo-European root meaning 'to inflate or swell'. |
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | The Portuguese word for "lung", "pulmão", is derived from the Latin word "pulmo" and has several additional meanings like a cavity in a building or an inflatable balloon. |
| Punjabi | The word "ਫੇਫੜੇ" likely originates from the Sanskrit word "phupphusa" which means "that which swells". |
| Romanian | The Romanian word "plămân" is derived from the Latin word "pulmo", which also means "lung". |
| Russian | The word "легкое" can also mean "easy" or "light" in Russian. |
| Samoan | "Māmā" means "lung", but can also mean "breath" or "spirit" in Samoan. |
| Scots Gaelic | The Gaelic word "sgamhan" shares the same root with the Welsh word "ysgam" meaning "spleen". |
| Serbian | In Serbian, the word "плућа" (lung) is derived from the Proto-Slavic "pljuča", which also means "flow" or "stream". |
| Sesotho | The word "matšoafo" can also refer to a type of traditional Sesotho medicine used to treat respiratory ailments. |
| Shona | The word mapapu, meaning 'lung' in Shona, is also used to refer to the 'mind' or 'intellect'. |
| Sindhi | The Sindhi word `.ڙن` (lung) is likely derived from the Sanskrit word `अरणः` (araṇaḥ), which means 'forest' or 'wilderness'. |
| Sinhala (Sinhalese) | The word "පෙනහළු" is derived from the Sanskrit word "phena" meaning "foam" and "aśana" meaning "eating", referring to the spongy texture of the lungs. |
| Slovak | "Pľúca" is related to the Slavic words for "to spit" and can also refer to "spittle" or "saliva". |
| Slovenian | The word "pljuča" is derived from the Proto-Slavic word "pljucha", meaning "water" or "liquid". |
| Somali | The term derives from the Proto-Cushitic word ""saam-ba"" meaning "organ that fills up with air" and is related to the word for "breath" in Somali and Afar. |
| Spanish | The word "pulmón" also means "bellows" in Spanish, referring to a device used to increase airflow into a fire. |
| Sundanese | The word "paru-paru" is derived from the Sanskrit word "plavani", which means "floating" or "swimming". This is because the lungs float in the chest cavity. |
| Swahili | The root word of "mapafu" is "-pafu" meaning air passageway but can also refer to a bellows of an accordion. |
| Swedish | In Swedish, "lunga" also means "slow", akin to the English "languid". |
| Tagalog (Filipino) | The word "baga" in Tagalog (Filipino) can also refer to a type of tobacco or gunpowder. |
| Tajik | Tajik "шуш" (lung) comes from Persian "شش" (six), referring to the six pulmonary lobes in humans. |
| Tamil | நுரையீரல் literally means "foaming air" in Tamil, highlighting its role in respiration. |
| Telugu | This word also means "vital energy" and is the root of the idiom "ప్రాణం ఊదిపోవు" which means "to breathe life into". |
| Thai | 'ปอด' is cognate with 'pud' ('heart') in Malay and is likely derived from Proto-Austronesian *pudan ('to breathe'). |
| Turkish | "Akciğer" (lung) comes from Arabic "akciğer" (meaning "dry organ"), and is also used figuratively to refer to dry plants or substances. |
| Ukrainian | In addition to "lung", "легеня" can also mean "legend" in Ukrainian. |
| Urdu | The word 'پھیپھڑا' (phep-hrah) is derived from the Sanskrit word 'phupphusa', which means 'blown up' or 'inflated'. |
| Uzbek | The word "o'pka" can also refer to the "breath" or "spirit" of a person. |
| Vietnamese | In Vietnamese, the word 'phổi' also refers to a type of dumpling made from minced meat and herbs. |
| Welsh | As well as meaning "lung", "ysgyfaint" derives from "ysgyf" (shadow), implying a hidden respiratory function, and "aint" (breath). |
| Xhosa | In Xhosa, the word umphunga also refers to an organ used for breathing and located in the chest. |
| Yiddish | The Yiddish word "לונג" shares the same root as the English word "lung" but can also mean "to desire". |
| Yoruba | The Yoruba word "ẹdọfóró" (lung) also refers to a type of basket used to store clothes. |
| Zulu | The word 'amaphaphu' can also refer to the leaves of a type of wild spinach plant or the foam that forms on the surface of a liquid. |
| English | The word "lung" derives from the Old English word "lungen", meaning the edible parts of an animal's lungs. |