Meanwhile in Different Languages
Discover 'Meanwhile' in 134 Languages: Dive into Translations, Hear Pronunciations, and Uncover Cultural Insights.
Meanwhile
Afrikaans intussen | ||
Albanian ndërkohë | ||
Amharic ይህ በእንዲህ እንዳለ | ||
Arabic وفى الوقت نفسه | ||
Armenian միեւնույն ժամանակ | ||
Assamese তাৰ মাজতে | ||
Aymara ukhakamaxa | ||
Azerbaijani bu vaxt | ||
Bambara san ni | ||
Basque bitartean | ||
Belarusian тым часам | ||
Bengali ইতিমধ্যে | ||
Bhojpuri ए बीच | ||
Bosnian u međuvremenu | ||
Bulgarian междувременно | ||
Catalan mentrestant | ||
Cebuano samtang | ||
Chinese (Simplified) 与此同时 | ||
Chinese (Traditional) 與此同時 | ||
Corsican intantu | ||
Croatian u međuvremenu | ||
Czech mezitím | ||
Danish i mellemtiden | ||
Dhivehi މިގޮތަށް ކަންތައް އޮތްއިރު | ||
Dogri इस्सै दरान | ||
Dutch ondertussen | ||
English meanwhile | ||
Esperanto dume | ||
Estonian vahepeal | ||
Ewe le esime esia le edzi yim la | ||
Filipino (Tagalog) samantala | ||
Finnish sillä välin | ||
French pendant ce temps | ||
Frisian tuskentiid | ||
Galician mentres tanto | ||
Georgian ამასობაში | ||
German inzwischen | ||
Greek εν τω μεταξύ | ||
Guarani upe aja | ||
Gujarati દરમિયાન | ||
Haitian Creole pandan se tan | ||
Hausa yayin haka | ||
Hawaiian ʻoiai kēia manawa | ||
Hebrew בינתיים | ||
Hindi इस दौरान | ||
Hmong lub caij no | ||
Hungarian közben | ||
Icelandic á meðan | ||
Igbo ka ọ dị ugbu a | ||
Ilocano itatta | ||
Indonesian sementara itu | ||
Irish idir an dá linn | ||
Italian nel frattempo | ||
Japanese その間 | ||
Javanese kangge | ||
Kannada ಅಷ್ಟರಲ್ಲಿ | ||
Kazakh бұл арада | ||
Khmer ទន្ទឹមនឹងនេះ | ||
Kinyarwanda hagati aho | ||
Konkani इतलेमजगतीं | ||
Korean 그 동안에 | ||
Krio we dis de bi | ||
Kurdish di vê navberê de | ||
Kurdish (Sorani) لە کاتێکدا | ||
Kyrgyz ошол эле учурда | ||
Lao ໃນຂະນະດຽວກັນ | ||
Latin interim | ||
Latvian tikmēr | ||
Lingala na ntango tozozela | ||
Lithuanian tuo tarpu | ||
Luganda mukasera kano | ||
Luxembourgish iwwerdeems | ||
Macedonian во меѓу време | ||
Maithili एहि बीच मे | ||
Malagasy mandritra izany fotoana izany | ||
Malay sementara itu | ||
Malayalam അതേസമയം | ||
Maltese sadanittant | ||
Maori i tenei wa | ||
Marathi दरम्यान | ||
Meiteilon (Manipuri) ꯇꯥꯟꯀꯥꯁꯤꯗ | ||
Mizo chumilai | ||
Mongolian энэ хооронд | ||
Myanmar (Burmese) ဤအတောအတွင်း | ||
Nepali यसै बीचमा | ||
Norwegian i mellomtiden | ||
Nyanja (Chichewa) panthawiyi | ||
Odia (Oriya) ଏହି ସମୟରେ | ||
Oromo yerooma wal fakkaatutti | ||
Pashto په عین حال کې | ||
Persian در همین حال | ||
Polish w międzyczasie | ||
Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) enquanto isso | ||
Punjabi ਇਸ ਦੌਰਾਨ | ||
Quechua chaynapi | ||
Romanian între timp | ||
Russian тем временем | ||
Samoan i le taimi nei | ||
Sanskrit मध्यांतरे | ||
Scots Gaelic san eadar-ama | ||
Sepedi ka go le lengwe | ||
Serbian у међувремену | ||
Sesotho khabareng | ||
Shona ukuwo | ||
Sindhi ساڳئي وقت | ||
Sinhala (Sinhalese) මේ අතර | ||
Slovak zatiaľ | ||
Slovenian medtem | ||
Somali dhanka kale | ||
Spanish mientras tanto | ||
Sundanese samentawis éta | ||
Swahili wakati huo huo | ||
Swedish under tiden | ||
Tagalog (Filipino) samantala | ||
Tajik дар ҳамин ҳол | ||
Tamil இதற்கிடையில் | ||
Tatar шул ук вакытта | ||
Telugu మరోవైపు | ||
Thai ในขณะเดียวกัน | ||
Tigrinya ክሳብ ሽዑ | ||
Tsonga xinkarhana | ||
Turkish o esnada | ||
Turkmen arada | ||
Twi (Akan) nanso | ||
Ukrainian тим часом | ||
Urdu اسی دوران | ||
Uyghur شۇنىڭ بىلەن بىللە | ||
Uzbek bu orada | ||
Vietnamese trong khi đó | ||
Welsh yn y cyfamser | ||
Xhosa okwangoku | ||
Yiddish דערווייל | ||
Yoruba lakoko yii | ||
Zulu okwamanje |
Etymology & Notes
| Language | Etymology / Notes |
|---|---|
| Afrikaans | "Intussen" is derived from the Dutch "intussen", which originally meant "in the time between" or "during that time". |
| Albanian | "Ndërkohë" derives from the Proto-Albanian "endërkohë". In ancient Albanian, it meant "within the course of time". |
| Amharic | The word ይህ በእንዲህ እንዳለ refers a simultaneous event that is of less importance than the primary event |
| Arabic | The Arabic word "وفى الوقت نفسه" can also mean "and at the same time" or "and meanwhile". |
| Azerbaijani | The Azerbaijani word "bu vaxt" can also mean "at this time" or "currently". |
| Basque | In Standard Basque, "bitartean" can also mean "during", "while", or "as". |
| Belarusian | It's a calque of the Russian word “тем часом” (“meanwhile”), which might be a Slavic translation of the Latin adverb “interim” (“interim”). |
| Bengali | ইতিমধ্যে can also mean "in the meantime", "already", "by now", or "at this moment." |
| Bosnian | The word "u međuvremenu" is derived from the Proto-Slavic word "*medjuvrěmenъ", which means "between times". |
| Bulgarian | The word "междувременно" in Bulgarian is cognate with "medium". |
| Catalan | The word "mentrestant" comes from the Latin word "interim", meaning "in the meantime". |
| Cebuano | Samtang is also used colloquially to denote "now" or "at present". |
| Chinese (Simplified) | 与此同时 (zìcìyúshí) is a phrase that can also mean "in addition to this," "furthermore," or "besides." |
| Chinese (Traditional) | 與此同時 is made of the characters 與 (with), 此 (this), 同 (same), and 時 (time), and means "at the same time as this; simultaneously". |
| Corsican | "Intantu" derives from the Latin adverbial phrase inter eantundem, which means "meanwhile". |
| Croatian | The word "u međuvremenu" can also mean "in the meantime" or "meanwhile". |
| Czech | The word "mezitím" originally meant "mean time", i.e. the time in between. |
| Danish | "I mellemtiden" is a compound word combining the preposition "i" (in/at) and the noun "mellemtiden" (the meantime). |
| Dutch | The word "ondertussen" is derived from the Dutch word "onder" (under) and "tussen" (between), meaning "in the meantime" or "during that time". |
| Esperanto | The word "dume" in Esperanto comes from the Latin word "dum", which means "during" or "while". |
| Estonian | The Estonian word "vahepeal" also has other meanings such as "gap" and historically meant "in between". |
| Finnish | The word "sillä välin" can also be used to mean "by the way" or "incidentally". |
| French | "Pendant ce temps" literally means "during this time" but is used to indicate "meanwhile" like the conjunction "and". It can mean "at this time", "at the same time", or "during this interval of time". |
| Galician | Galician's "mentres tanto" is a contraction of "mentres que esta cousa se fai namentres" (while one thing is happening the other is done) |
| German | Inzwischen derives from 'in des Zwischen' ('in the meantime') and can also mean 'by now' or 'currently'. |
| Greek | The ancient Greek word "Εν τω μεταξύ" literally means "in the middle of things" or "in between". |
| Gujarati | Its literal meaning is 'in the middle of' referring to the placement between two other things |
| Haitian Creole | The phrase likely derives from an early 20th-century Cuban popular song titled 'Pan Dan Setan'. |
| Hausa | "Yayin haka" is pronounced "ah-yin aa-kaa" and is also an expression of excitement in Hausa. |
| Hawaiian | ʻOiai kēia manawa literally means "time is this", but has come to mean "meanwhile" in modern usage. |
| Hebrew | בינתיים in Hebrew is an acronym for בינוני של עתיד וזמן עבר (participle of the future and past tense). |
| Hindi | इस दौरान, derived from Sanskrit, also implies 'in the meantime', 'in this time period', and 'in the time of' |
| Hmong | The Hmong word "lub caij no" is a compound word consisting of "lub caij," meaning "time," and "no," meaning "middle," literally translating to "middle of the time." |
| Hungarian | The word 'közben' also means 'intermittently' and is composed of 'köz', meaning 'public' or 'communal', and 'benne', meaning 'in'. It suggests that something is done or happens between other activities or events. |
| Icelandic | "Á meðan" derives from the Old Norse words "á" (on, in, at) and "meðan" (during, while), thus literally meaning "in the middle of" or "during the time that..." |
| Igbo | The term "ka ọ dị ugbu a" also means "for the time being," or "for the present." |
| Indonesian | The word 'sementara itu' is derived from the Arabic word 'samā'u', meaning 'heaven' or 'sky'. |
| Italian | The Italian expression "nel frattempo" comes from the Latin "interea", which means "in the meantime", "in the interval". |
| Japanese | "その間" derives from the noun "間 (ma)" meaning space or interval and "其 (so)" meaning that or the one. |
| Javanese | In Javanese, the word "Kangge" can also mean "as for" or "concerning". |
| Kannada | The word "ಅಷ್ಟರಲ್ಲಿ" in Kannada is also used to mean "then" or "after that". |
| Kazakh | The Kazakh word "бұл арада" also means "in this regard" or "in this context". |
| Korean | "그 동안에" (meanwhile) also means "in the meantime" or "in the intervening time". |
| Kurdish | The word "di vê navberê de" has multiple meanings in Kurdish, including "in the meantime" and "in the middle of." |
| Latin | It means 'in the meantime', and derives from the Latin word 'interim', meaning 'during' and 'being within'. |
| Latvian | Tikmēr is derived from the word |
| Lithuanian | "Tuo tarpu" is a calque from the Russian "между тем", which literally means "among that". |
| Luxembourgish | Iwwerdeems can also mean 'however' or 'but,' depending on the context. |
| Macedonian | The Macedonian phrase "во меѓу време" literally means "in the between time" or "in the meantime" and is used to indicate an event or action that occurs during a period of time between two other events. |
| Malagasy | The Malagasy word for "meanwhile" can also mean "at that time." |
| Malay | The word "sementara itu" is derived from the Sanskrit word "samanantara" meaning "at the same time". |
| Maltese | The word "sadanittant" is derived from the Semitic root "S-D-N", meaning "to proceed" or "to go forth". |
| Maori | The term "i tenei wa" can also refer to "in this case" or "under these circumstances". |
| Marathi | The word "दरम्यान" in Marathi also means "in between" or "during". |
| Mongolian | The word "энэ хооронд" literally means "during this (time)" and can also be used to mean "in the meantime" or "while". |
| Myanmar (Burmese) | It can also mean "by the way" or "in the interim". |
| Nepali | Literally 'in the same midst', यसै बीचमा is also used to mean 'anyhow' and 'in any case'. |
| Norwegian | In Norwegian "i mellomtiden" also means "at the moment". |
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | The word "panthawiyi" is derived from the word "pantha" (time) and the suffix "-i" (in), meaning "during the time". |
| Persian | در همین حال can also mean "in fact" or "indeed," indicating agreement or confirmation. |
| Polish | The Polish word "W międzyczasie" comes from the words "między" (between) and "czas" (time), and it is used to describe an event that occurs in the period between two other events. |
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | "Enquanto isso", em português brasileiro, tem também o significado humorístico de "enquanto bebo". |
| Romanian | "Între timp" can also mean "meantime" in the sense of "during that time" in Romanian. |
| Russian | The Russian word "тем временем" can also mean "in the meantime" or "in the current situation." |
| Samoan | The Samoan phrase "i le taimi nei" can also mean "at the time being," "currently," or "at present." |
| Scots Gaelic | The Scots Gaelic word "san eadar-ama" comes from the Old Irish phrase "san eter-ama", meaning "in the space of time between". |
| Serbian | The word 'у међувремену' can also mean 'in the meantime', 'meanwhile' and 'meantime'. |
| Sesotho | The word 'khabareng' can also mean 'in fact' or 'of course' when used in a sentence. |
| Shona | "Ukuwo" is also used figuratively to describe an intervening moment of time. |
| Sindhi | The word "ساڳئي وقت" can also refer to an unspecified time or place. |
| Sinhala (Sinhalese) | "මේ අතර" can also be used to indicate a change in speaker or scene. |
| Slovak | The words "zatiaľ" and "za to" are homographs but the former derives from "za" and "tiaľ", while the latter derives from "za" and "to". |
| Slovenian | "Medtem" can also mean "meantime" in Slovenian, and has an alternate spelling "medten". |
| Somali | The origin of the term is debated, some linguists suggest an origin from Arabic 'thanaka' ('to mark with dye'), and a possible derivation through Oromo, while others suggest a Somali origin, with 'Dhan' ('there' or 'then') and '-ka' ('the') |
| Spanish | **Mientras** comes from the Latin word "mirare," which means to look or watch, and **tanto** means "so much" or "such a long time." Thus, **mientras tanto** literally means "while looking or watching so much or such a long time." |
| Sundanese | The word "samentawis éta" has the same origin as the Indonesian word "sementara itu", both deriving from the Sanskrit word "samantataḥ" meaning "all on all sides". |
| Swahili | In Swahili, the word "wakati huo huo" can also mean "at the same time" or "at that moment". |
| Swedish | Under tiden', a Swedish word for 'meanwhile', was originally 'i mellan tiden', or 'in between the times'. |
| Tagalog (Filipino) | The word “samantala” comes from the Sanskrit word 'sam-anta-la', where “sam” means “with”, “anta” means “end”, and “la” is a suffix. Thus, the term “samantala” literally means "at the same time." |
| Tajik | The word "дар ин ҳол" (meanwhile) in Tajik is derived from the Persian phrase "dar in hal", meaning "in this state or condition." |
| Telugu | The Telugu word "మరోవైపు" is also used to mean "on the other hand" or "in contrast." |
| Thai | The word "ในขณะเดียวกัน" can also mean "at the same time" or "simultaneously". |
| Turkish | The word "o esnada" in Turkish comes from the Persian word "esnād", which means "during" or "at the time of". |
| Ukrainian | The Ukrainian word "тим часом" also means "in the meantime", "at the same time", or "at that time". |
| Urdu | The Urdu word "اسی دوران" is originally a combination of "اسي "which means "this/here" and "دوران" which means "time" or "period". Thus it originally meant "this particular time" or "this duration". |
| Uzbek | In Uzbek, "bu orada" can also mean "at the same time" or "simultaneously". |
| Vietnamese | Trong khi đó derives from the Chinese word 當其時 (dāngqíshí), meaning "at that time." |
| Welsh | The word "yn y cyfamser" literally translates to "in the meantime" or "at the same time". |
| Xhosa | The term “okwangoku” means “meanwhile” in Xhosa yet bears the meaning of “now” to the initiated Zulu-speaking people as well, a shared characteristic of both languages. |
| Yiddish | 'דער, weyl' is Yiddish for "the", and "weil" means "while" or "because". So you can translate "דערװײל" as "the while" or (more loosely) "currently." |
| Yoruba | Lakoko yii can also mean "in the meantime" or "at the same time". |
| Zulu | The word "okwamanje" in Zulu can also refer to a time period or a pause in an action. |
| English | "Meantime" was once the preferred spelling, and still persists in the phrases "all the meantime" or "in the mean time". |