Merely in Different Languages
Discover 'Merely' in 134 Languages: Dive into Translations, Hear Pronunciations, and Uncover Cultural Insights.
Merely
Afrikaans bloot | ||
Albanian thjesht | ||
Amharic ብቻ | ||
Arabic مجرد | ||
Armenian զուտ | ||
Assamese কেৱল | ||
Aymara miraminti | ||
Azerbaijani sadəcə | ||
Bambara dama | ||
Basque besterik ez | ||
Belarusian проста | ||
Bengali নিছক | ||
Bhojpuri महज | ||
Bosnian samo | ||
Bulgarian просто | ||
Catalan simplement | ||
Cebuano yano ra | ||
Chinese (Simplified) 仅仅 | ||
Chinese (Traditional) 僅僅 | ||
Corsican solu | ||
Croatian samo | ||
Czech pouze | ||
Danish blot | ||
Dhivehi ކިރިޔާ | ||
Dogri सिर्फ | ||
Dutch slechts | ||
English merely | ||
Esperanto simple | ||
Estonian lihtsalt | ||
Ewe ʋee ko | ||
Filipino (Tagalog) basta | ||
Finnish vain | ||
French seulement | ||
Frisian gewoan | ||
Galician simplemente | ||
Georgian მხოლოდ | ||
German nur | ||
Greek απλώς | ||
Guarani tasy'ỹ | ||
Gujarati માત્ર | ||
Haitian Creole senpleman | ||
Hausa kawai | ||
Hawaiian wale | ||
Hebrew רק | ||
Hindi केवल | ||
Hmong yuav luag | ||
Hungarian csupán | ||
Icelandic bara | ||
Igbo nanị | ||
Ilocano maymaysa | ||
Indonesian hanya | ||
Irish ach | ||
Italian semplicemente | ||
Japanese 単に | ||
Javanese namung | ||
Kannada ಕೇವಲ | ||
Kazakh тек | ||
Khmer គ្រាន់តែ | ||
Kinyarwanda gusa | ||
Konkani क्वचित | ||
Korean 단지 | ||
Krio jɔs | ||
Kurdish tenê | ||
Kurdish (Sorani) بە تەنها | ||
Kyrgyz жөн гана | ||
Lao ພຽງແຕ່ | ||
Latin modo | ||
Latvian tikai | ||
Lingala kaka | ||
Lithuanian tik | ||
Luganda ekyo kyoka | ||
Luxembourgish just | ||
Macedonian само | ||
Maithili केवल मात्र | ||
Malagasy fotsiny | ||
Malay semata-mata | ||
Malayalam കേവലം | ||
Maltese sempliċement | ||
Maori noa | ||
Marathi फक्त | ||
Meiteilon (Manipuri) ꯈꯖꯤꯛꯈꯛ | ||
Mizo chauhin | ||
Mongolian зүгээр л | ||
Myanmar (Burmese) မျှမျှတတ | ||
Nepali केवल | ||
Norwegian bare | ||
Nyanja (Chichewa) chabe | ||
Odia (Oriya) କେବଳ | ||
Oromo qofa | ||
Pashto یوازې | ||
Persian صرفا - فقط | ||
Polish jedynie | ||
Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) apenas | ||
Punjabi ਸਿਰਫ | ||
Quechua yanqalla | ||
Romanian doar | ||
Russian просто | ||
Samoan naʻo | ||
Sanskrit नाममात्रेण | ||
Scots Gaelic dìreach | ||
Sepedi fela | ||
Serbian само | ||
Sesotho feela | ||
Shona chete | ||
Sindhi فقط | ||
Sinhala (Sinhalese) හුදෙක් | ||
Slovak iba | ||
Slovenian zgolj | ||
Somali kaliya | ||
Spanish simplemente | ||
Sundanese ngan ukur | ||
Swahili tu | ||
Swedish endast | ||
Tagalog (Filipino) lamang | ||
Tajik танҳо | ||
Tamil வெறுமனே | ||
Tatar бары тик | ||
Telugu కేవలం | ||
Thai เพียง | ||
Tigrinya ጥራሕ | ||
Tsonga ntsena | ||
Turkish sadece | ||
Turkmen diňe | ||
Twi (Akan) kɛkɛ | ||
Ukrainian просто | ||
Urdu محض | ||
Uyghur پەقەت | ||
Uzbek shunchaki | ||
Vietnamese đơn thuần | ||
Welsh yn unig | ||
Xhosa nje | ||
Yiddish merely | ||
Yoruba lásán | ||
Zulu nje |
Etymology & Notes
| Language | Etymology / Notes |
|---|---|
| Afrikaans | "Bloot" in Afrikaans can also mean "only," "exclusively" or "just like that." |
| Albanian | The word "thjesht" in Albanian is a shortened form of the ancient Greek word "theastos", meaning "divine" or "sacred". |
| Amharic | "ብቻ" is related to the verb "በቻ" (to be able) and literally means "only if able". |
| Arabic | The word 'مجرد' in Arabic also has spiritual meanings and can refer to divine beings' transcendence of the material world. |
| Armenian | The word "զուտ" (zut) has alternate meanings in Armenian, including "pure" and "unmixed". |
| Azerbaijani | The word "sadəcə" also means "simply" and "only". |
| Basque | The Basque term "besterik ez" has additional meanings besides "merely", including "only" and "nothing but". |
| Belarusian | "Проста" in Belarusian is derived from the Proto-Slavic word "prostь" meaning "emptiness, void". |
| Bengali | "নিছক" derives from the Sanskrit word "निश्चय" (niścay), meaning 'firmness,' 'determination,' or 'decision'. |
| Bosnian | The word "samo" is also used in the sense of "only" in the expression "samo on," which means "only this," and in the sense of "except" in the expression "samo ti," which means "except you." |
| Bulgarian | "Просто" can sometimes mean "simply" or "just" instead of "merely". |
| Catalan | The Catalan 'simplement' means 'merely' but also 'simply', 'just', or 'only', and even 'naïvely', or 'foolishly' |
| Cebuano | The Cebuano word "yano ra" can also mean "already" or "only". |
| Chinese (Simplified) | The word "仅仅" can also mean "only" or "just". |
| Chinese (Traditional) | 僅僅本義為「只有」，引申為「不過」等，由「單衣」中的「單」字演變而來，單衣指只有一層的衣服。 |
| Corsican | The Corsican word "solu" comes from the Latin "solus", meaning "alone" or "solitary." |
| Croatian | "Samo" means "merely," and the cognate "sam" found in other Slavic languages has additional meanings like "one," "alone," and "same." |
| Czech | The word "pouze" is an adverb that shares a root with the adjective "pouhý" (mere). |
| Danish | The word "blot" in Danish can also mean "barely" or "just". |
| Dutch | The word 'slechts' originally meant 'smooth' or 'even', and still has that meaning in some contexts. |
| Esperanto | The Esperanto word "simpla" has a secondary meaning of "elementary" related to its origin in mathematics as a name for "simple" equations |
| Estonian | The word "lihtsalt" can also mean "only" or "just" in Estonian. |
| Finnish | The word “vainaa” has many meanings, from “merely” to “sheath” to “womb”. |
| French | The word "seulement" can also mean "only" or "just" in French. |
| Frisian | The word "gewoan" in Frisian not only means "merely", but also "usual" or "customary". |
| Galician | La palabra "simplemente" en gallego también puede significar "solamente" o "únicamente." |
| German | "Nur" is cognate with English "now," "near," and "northern" and originally implied proximity in space or time. |
| Greek | In ancient Greek, "απλώς" could also mean "simply", "unfold", or "open out". |
| Gujarati | The word “માત્ર” can also mean “the soul”, “God”, or “truth” in Gujarati. |
| Haitian Creole | In Haitian Creole, it also can mean "ordinary" or "basic." |
| Hausa | Although usually translated as "merely," the Hausa word "kawai" also means "not yet" and can be used in negative responses to questions like "Have you eaten?" |
| Hawaiian | The Hawaiian word "wale" also means "to stretch" or "to spread out". |
| Hebrew | The Hebrew word "רק" can derive from the Akkadian "riqu" (emptiness) or the Ugaritic "rq" (to be distant). |
| Hindi | केवल also means 'alone' or 'exclusive' in Hindi, and is often used in legal and financial contexts to indicate singularity or exclusivity. |
| Hmong | Luag is used as a noun for "reason" and yauv is used as an adverb for "only". |
| Hungarian | In Old Hungarian, *čupán* meant 'all, complete', from Proto-Uralic *čumpi- 'to gather, bring together'. |
| Icelandic | The word "bara" in Icelandic can also mean "only" or "just". |
| Igbo | "Nanị" is short for "n'ani," from "n'ani ọhịa" meaning "animal of the bush," or "wild animal." |
| Indonesian | "Hanya" is originally from Sanskrit 'hena' that means 'small' and in Old Javanese is 'hanya' that still means 'small'. |
| Irish | Ach also means "but" or "however" and can be used to introduce a contradictory or contrasting statement. |
| Italian | The Italian word "semplicemente" derives from the Latin word "simplex", meaning "single, simple". |
| Japanese | This word's literal meaning is 'one' and 'matter' |
| Javanese | The Javanese word "namung" (merely) also means "but". |
| Kannada | The word "ಕೇವಲ" comes from the Sanskrit root "kevala", meaning "alone, separate, pure, or entire." |
| Kazakh | The Kazakh word "тек" also has the meaning of "even" or "indeed". |
| Korean | The Korean word 단지 (danji) is also used to refer to a "residential complex" or "housing estate." |
| Kurdish | The word "tenê" in Kurdish also means "only" or "just". |
| Kyrgyz | The Kyrgyz word "жөн гана" can have several meanings, including "merely", "only", "just", "no more than", or "as much as". |
| Latin | The Latin word "modo" can also mean "just now" or "recently." |
| Latvian | It is of unclear etymology, possibly cognate to Russian "только" (tol'ko, "only"). |
| Lithuanian | "Tik" can also mean "only" or, with the particle "ne," "not even." |
| Luxembourgish | In Luxembourgish, the word "just" can also mean "exactly" or "precisely". |
| Macedonian | The Macedonian word "само" can be traced back to the Old Slavic "самь" meaning "self, alone," with the same root found in other Slavic languages. |
| Malagasy | The word "fotsiny" in Malagasy is derived from the root word "tsiny", meaning "fault" or "sin", and carries the connotation of "only" or "barely". |
| Malay | Derived from the Sanskrit term 'semā-tā', 'semata-mata' can also mean 'distinction' or 'mark'. |
| Malayalam | The term "കേവലം" originates from the Sanskrit word "Kevala," which means "pure" or "absolute." It can also indicate totality or entirety in certain contexts. |
| Maltese | The word "sempliċement" in Maltese comes from the Latin word "simpliciter", which means "without addition" or "without condition". |
| Maori | The word "noa" in Maori also connotes normalcy, emptiness, or lack of supernatural tapu (restrictions) |
| Marathi | The word "फक्त" in Marathi could come from the Sanskrit word "पक्षत" meaning "certainly" or "only". |
| Mongolian | "Зүгээр л" is also used to say "only" or "just". |
| Nepali | The word केवल (keval) in Nepali originates from the Sanskrit word केवल (kevala), meaning "alone, single, or unique." |
| Norwegian | In Norwegian, "bar" can also mean a child, while its related adjective "bar" means both "bare" and "naked". |
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | The Nyanja term 'chabe' also refers to 'just', 'only' and 'solely' in English. |
| Pashto | The word "یوازې" in Pashto can also mean "lonely" or "alone". |
| Persian | In Arabic, the word صرفا means "only" or "merely," while in Persian, it has a more limited meaning, referring to the idea of doing something exclusively or solely. |
| Polish | "Jedynie" is also used as a verb in Polish, meaning "to be the only one" or "to be the only thing that exists". |
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | "Apenas" (Portuguese for "only") is derived from the Vulgar Latin word *ad penam* meaning "to the punishment". |
| Punjabi | The word "ਸਿਰਫ" (sirph) in Punjabi originates from the Persian word "सिर्फ" (sirph), meaning "only, merely, just". |
| Romanian | "Doar" is likely a shortening of the obsolete conjunction "doară" (now only found as a phrase), which is derived from Latin *dum ora*, "while an hour", i.e. "while there is still time", "yet". |
| Russian | The Russian word "просто" (merely) also has the meanings of "only" and "simply". |
| Samoan | The word "naʻo" can also mean "nothing" or "none" in Samoan. |
| Scots Gaelic | The word "dìreach" can also mean "truly" or "exactly" in Scots Gaelic. |
| Serbian | The word "само" can also mean "only" or "just". |
| Sesotho | "Feela" comes from the verb "feela", which means "to feel" or "to touch", and can also be used as an expression of emphasis. |
| Shona | In Shona, "chete" can also refer to "only" or "simply". |
| Sindhi | In Sindhi, "فقط" (fuqat) can also mean "only" or "alone". |
| Slovak | The word "iba" in Slovak comes from the Old Church Slavonic word "ibaco", which means "only" or "but". |
| Slovenian | Possibly derived from the Middle High German word "zol", meaning "feeble" or "weak"} |
| Somali | In Somali, "kaliya" also means "very" or "a lot." |
| Spanish | The word "simplemente" in Spanish shares its etymology with the English word "simple" and also has the meaning of "simply". |
| Sundanese | In Indonesian, "ngan ukur" can also mean "to measure or estimate something". |
| Swahili | "Tu" can also mean "only" or "just". |
| Swedish | The word "endast" ultimately derives from the Old Swedish word "ændast" meaning "in one way only". |
| Tagalog (Filipino) | "Lamang" can also mean "advantage" or "exceed" in Tagalog. |
| Tajik | The word "танҳо" in Tajik can also mean "alone" or "only". |
| Telugu | The word "కేవలం" can also mean "solitude" or "isolation" in Telugu. |
| Thai | The Thai word "เพียง" is also used as an adjective meaning "enough", and a noun meaning "adequacy". |
| Turkish | The word "sadece" is derived from the Persian word "sadeh", meaning "pure"} |
| Ukrainian | The word “просто” originally meant “free,” as in “free from all obligations,” and is related to the word “простить” (“forgive”). |
| Urdu | The word "محض" ("merely") in Urdu shares the same root with "محض" ("pure") in Arabic, suggesting a connection between purity and simplicity. |
| Uzbek | Shunchaki is also used as an intensifier of negation, meaning "absolutely not" or "by no means." |
| Vietnamese | "Đơn thuần" derives from Chinese characters meaning "simplicity, honesty" and is also a Buddhist term meaning "to have an uncluttered mind". |
| Welsh | The Welsh word "yn unig" can also mean "alone" or "only". |
| Xhosa | The word "nje" can also mean "only" or "just", emphasizing exclusivity or limitation. |
| Yiddish | In Yiddish, "merely" can also mean "but" or "rather". |
| Yoruba | "Lásán" also means 'only' or 'just' in Yoruba. |
| Zulu | The word "nje" in Zulu, besides meaning "merely," is etymologically related to the prefix "in-" in other Bantu languages, indicating "in" or "into." |
| English | "Merely" derives from the Middle English word "merli," and originally meant "lightly", or "incompletely." |