Money in Different Languages
Discover 'Money' in 134 Languages: Dive into Translations, Hear Pronunciations, and Uncover Cultural Insights.
Money
Afrikaans geld | ||
Albanian para | ||
Amharic ገንዘብ | ||
Arabic مال | ||
Armenian փող | ||
Assamese ধন | ||
Aymara qulli | ||
Azerbaijani pul | ||
Bambara wari | ||
Basque dirua | ||
Belarusian грошы | ||
Bengali টাকা | ||
Bhojpuri रुपिया | ||
Bosnian novac | ||
Bulgarian пари | ||
Catalan diners | ||
Cebuano salapi | ||
Chinese (Simplified) 钱 | ||
Chinese (Traditional) 錢 | ||
Corsican soldi | ||
Croatian novac | ||
Czech peníze | ||
Danish penge | ||
Dhivehi ފައިސާ | ||
Dogri पैहा | ||
Dutch geld | ||
English money | ||
Esperanto mono | ||
Estonian raha | ||
Ewe ga | ||
Filipino (Tagalog) pera | ||
Finnish raha | ||
French argent | ||
Frisian jild | ||
Galician cartos | ||
Georgian ფული | ||
German geld | ||
Greek χρήματα | ||
Guarani viru | ||
Gujarati પૈસા | ||
Haitian Creole lajan | ||
Hausa kudi | ||
Hawaiian kālā | ||
Hebrew כֶּסֶף | ||
Hindi पैसे | ||
Hmong nyiaj | ||
Hungarian pénz | ||
Icelandic peninga | ||
Igbo ego | ||
Ilocano kuarta | ||
Indonesian uang | ||
Irish airgead | ||
Italian i soldi | ||
Japanese お金 | ||
Javanese dhuwit | ||
Kannada ಹಣ | ||
Kazakh ақша | ||
Khmer លុយ | ||
Kinyarwanda amafaranga | ||
Konkani पयशे | ||
Korean 돈 | ||
Krio mɔni | ||
Kurdish dirav | ||
Kurdish (Sorani) پارە | ||
Kyrgyz акча | ||
Lao ເງິນ | ||
Latin pecunia | ||
Latvian naudu | ||
Lingala mbongo | ||
Lithuanian pinigų | ||
Luganda ensimbi | ||
Luxembourgish suen | ||
Macedonian пари | ||
Maithili रुपैया | ||
Malagasy money | ||
Malay wang | ||
Malayalam പണം | ||
Maltese flus | ||
Maori moni | ||
Marathi पैसे | ||
Meiteilon (Manipuri) ꯁꯦꯜ | ||
Mizo sum | ||
Mongolian мөнгө | ||
Myanmar (Burmese) ပိုက်ဆံ | ||
Nepali पैसा | ||
Norwegian penger | ||
Nyanja (Chichewa) ndalama | ||
Odia (Oriya) ଟଙ୍କା | ||
Oromo maallaqa | ||
Pashto پیسې | ||
Persian پول | ||
Polish pieniądze | ||
Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) dinheiro | ||
Punjabi ਪੈਸਾ | ||
Quechua qullqi | ||
Romanian bani | ||
Russian деньги | ||
Samoan tupe | ||
Sanskrit मुद्रा | ||
Scots Gaelic airgead | ||
Sepedi tšhelete | ||
Serbian новац | ||
Sesotho chelete | ||
Shona mari | ||
Sindhi پئسو | ||
Sinhala (Sinhalese) මුදල | ||
Slovak peniaze | ||
Slovenian denarja | ||
Somali lacag | ||
Spanish dinero | ||
Sundanese artos | ||
Swahili pesa | ||
Swedish pengar | ||
Tagalog (Filipino) pera | ||
Tajik пул | ||
Tamil பணம் | ||
Tatar акча | ||
Telugu డబ్బు | ||
Thai เงิน | ||
Tigrinya ገንዘብ | ||
Tsonga mali | ||
Turkish para | ||
Turkmen pul | ||
Twi (Akan) sika | ||
Ukrainian гроші | ||
Urdu پیسہ | ||
Uyghur پۇل | ||
Uzbek pul | ||
Vietnamese tiền bạc | ||
Welsh arian | ||
Xhosa imali | ||
Yiddish געלט | ||
Yoruba owo | ||
Zulu imali |
Etymology & Notes
| Language | Etymology / Notes |
|---|---|
| Afrikaans | In Afrikaans, "geld" ultimately derives from the Germanic word for "gold" and also has the alternate meaning of "castration". |
| Albanian | In Albanian, "para" derives from the Latin "pecunia" (money), and also refers to "change" (small coins). |
| Amharic | The Amharic word "ገንዘብ" derives from the Ge'ez word "ግንዛብ", meaning "treasure" or "wealth". |
| Arabic | In addition to "money," "مال" (māl) can mean "property" or "wealth" in Arabic. |
| Armenian | "Փող" can refer to a pipe or a tube in Armenian, as well as the metal used to make it. |
| Azerbaijani | "Pul" also means "steel" and "bridge" in Azerbaijani. |
| Basque | The word "dirua" derives from the Basque word "diru," which means "worth" or "value," and the suffix "-a," which denotes a concrete noun or thing. |
| Belarusian | "Грошы" is derived from the Lithuanian "grašis", which in turn stems from the German "Groschen", referring to a silver coin introduced in the Middle Ages. |
| Bengali | The word "টাকা" (taka) is derived from the Sanskrit word "タンカ" (tanka), which means "seal". This is because in ancient times, coins were often stamped with a seal to indicate their value. |
| Bosnian | The word "novac" comes from the Proto-Slavic "novьць", meaning "new" - as new coins were often minted to replace older, worn coins. |
| Bulgarian | In Bulgarian, пари (pari) originally meant "cattle" and is related to the word "pair." |
| Catalan | The word "diners" in Catalan can also refer to a type of small restaurant. |
| Cebuano | In Cebuano, 'salapi' can be traced to the Malay word 'salap', which means 'to get something in exchange' |
| Chinese (Simplified) | The word '钱' in Chinese can also refer to a type of ancient Chinese coin. |
| Chinese (Traditional) | The Chinese character 錢 (money) originated as a cowrie shell, which was used as currency in ancient China. |
| Corsican | The Corsican word "soldi" is thought to derive from the Latin "solidus," a unit of currency used in the Roman Empire. |
| Croatian | Possibly derived from Proto-Slavic *navьka, meaning "habit" or "custom." |
| Czech | The word "peníze" originates from the Latin term "pecunia", meaning "property, wealth". |
| Danish | The word "penge" is derived from the Old Norse word "peningr", which also meant "money". |
| Dutch | The word "geld" has been used in Dutch since at least the 15th century, and is derived from the Old Saxon word "gield", meaning "payment" or "tribute". |
| Esperanto | In Esperanto, "mono" is derived from Greek "monas" (unit) and is also used as an abbreviation for "monero" (international currency unit). |
| Estonian | Estonian word "raha" likely originates from Old Norse "rað" meaning "arrangement, order" or "worth, value." |
| Finnish | Its etymology may be from Old Norse 'reyðr' ('red, reddish-brown, copper-colored'), denoting the color of the early coins or copper itself, from Proto-Germanic *rauthaz, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *rewdʰ- ('red'). |
| French | In French, the word "argent" is derived from the Latin word "argentum," which means "silver". Over time, it came to be used figuratively to refer to money in general. |
| Frisian | The word "jild" is also used colloquially to refer to a person's wealth or financial resources. |
| Galician | In Galician, 'cartos' not only means 'money' but also refers to 'letters' or 'documents'. |
| Georgian | The Georgian word for money, "ფული", is speculated to be borrowed from the Turkish term "ful" meaning "copper". In Georgian it can also refer to wealth or fortune |
| German | The word Geld also signifies a castrated animal due to its former use as a medium of exchange for buying neutered livestock to use as labor. |
| Greek | The word "χρήματα" in Greek originally meant "things, possessions" and is derived from the verb "χράομαι" (to use). |
| Gujarati | From Proto-Indo-Iranian, a compound word *pati-aesa- (“lord, master of cattle”) |
| Haitian Creole | Haitian Creole "lajan" originates from the French "argent" (silver) and also means "assets". |
| Hausa | Hausa word "kudi" can also mean "wealth", "property", or "treasure". |
| Hawaiian | The word 'kālā' comes from the Polynesian root word for 'exchange', indicating the valuable role it plays in societal interactions. |
| Hebrew | "כֶּסֶף" can also mean "silver" or "hope" in Hebrew. |
| Hindi | Hindi "पैसे" ultimately derives from Sanskrit "पण्य" (paṇya) meaning "goods, wares, commodities". |
| Hmong | The word 'nyiaj' can also refer to 'silver' or 'currency' in Hmong. |
| Hungarian | Pénz is derived from the Latin word "pecunia," meaning "money," "property," or "wealth." |
| Icelandic | Icelandic word "peninga" was also a term meaning "coins or small change." Originally, the meaning of it meant "small silver coins." |
| Igbo | In the Igbo language, "ego" also refers to wealth, prosperity, or abundance. |
| Indonesian | The word "uang" in Indonesian is derived from the Sanskrit word "upa" meaning "payment" or "wages". |
| Irish | The word 'airgead' ultimately derives from the Proto-Indo-European root *h₂erǵ- ('silver'), cognate with Latin 'argentum' and English 'argent'. |
| Italian | The Italian word 'i soldi' (money) can also be used figuratively, meaning 'the military' or 'a group of people with a specific role' |
| Japanese | The word "お金" (okane) is thought to have originated from the Late Middle Ages word "おかね" (okane), which referred to a gold-plated silver coin. |
| Javanese | The word |
| Kannada | "ಹಣ" means 'price' in Kannada and can also refer to 'coins,' 'cash,' or 'wealth'" |
| Kazakh | The word "ақша" also means "white" and is related to the concept of purity and value in Kazakh culture. |
| Khmer | The word លុយ can also refer to a unit of measurement for silver in ancient Cambodia. |
| Korean | The word "돈" (money) in Korean may have originated from the Japanese word "돈" (coin), which in turn is thought to derive from the Chinese word "錢" (copper coin). |
| Kurdish | The word "dirav" is derived from the Persian word "dirham", which means "coin" or "money". |
| Kyrgyz | The word "акча" ("money") in Kyrgyz is derived from the Persian word "askh" ("cash"). |
| Lao | The Lao word ເງິນ, meaning "money," is derived from the Sanskrit word "hiranya," signifying "gold" or "treasure." |
| Latin | "Pecunia" originates from "pecus," meaning "cattle," as cattle was once used as currency in ancient Rome. |
| Latvian | Latvian word "naudu" originated from "nauja", meaning "cattle" and refers to the old tradition of using cattle as means of payment. |
| Lithuanian | The word "pinigų" is likely derived from the Slavic word "peniazh", meaning "money" or "coin". |
| Luxembourgish | Suen is derived from the Latin word "solidus" meaning a gold coin. |
| Macedonian | In Macedonian slang, ''пари'' is occasionally used to mean ''cigarette'' |
| Malagasy | In Malagasy, the word "vola" can also refer to coins, currency, or wealth. |
| Malay | In archaic Malay, 'wang' also referred to a type of gong or bell. |
| Malayalam | The Malayalam word "പണം" (money) is derived from the Sanskrit word "पण" (pana), meaning "fine" or "good". |
| Maltese | The word "flus" is ultimately derived from Latin "fluxus", meaning "to flow", as it originally referred to running water or streams. |
| Maori | In Maori, 'moni' was originally a term for a necklace or other valuable possession before evolving to mean currency. |
| Marathi | 'पैसे' originates from the Sanskrit verb 'पेशूः' (peshuh), meaning to sprinkle, and initially referred to the sprinkling of gold dust for religious purposes. |
| Mongolian | "Мөнгө" comes from the Chinese "silver", and can also refer to "wealth" or "abundance" in Mongolian. |
| Nepali | The word "पैसा" is derived from the word "पद" (foot), indicating its use as a unit of measurement for the width of a cowrie shell, which was used as currency in ancient India. |
| Norwegian | "Penger" is derived from the Old Norse word "peningr," which meant "coin" and was also used to refer to silver or other precious metals. |
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | The word 'ndalama' is cognate with 'Ndalama', the goddess of wealth in Yao religion. |
| Pashto | The word "پیسې" in Pashto may derive from the Sanskrit word "piśāca," meaning "demon" or "evil spirit," suggesting its association with the concept of exchange and the potential for wealth to be used for both good and evil purposes. |
| Persian | The word "پول" in Persian is derived from the Greek word "πόλις" (polis), meaning "city", and originally referred to coins minted in ancient Greek city-states. |
| Polish | The word "pieniądze" is derived from the Proto-Slavic word "*pěnęzь", which comes from the Germanic word "pfennig" (penny). |
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | The word "dinheiro" derives from the Latin word "denarius", which referred to a Roman coin. |
| Punjabi | The Punjabi word 'paisa' derives from the Sanskrit word 'paisa' meaning 'cowry shell', which was historically a form of currency in India. |
| Romanian | The Romanian word "bani" has Slavic roots and may be related to the Proto-Slavic word "bolny" meaning "wealth" or "property". |
| Russian | Derived from the Turkic word "tenge" meaning "coin" or "stamped metal," the Russian word "Деньги" initially referred to silver coins. |
| Samoan | Tupe can also mean 'to pay', 'to be paid', or 'wages'. |
| Scots Gaelic | "Airgead" also means "silver" in Scots Gaelic, coming from the Old Irish word "airget". |
| Serbian | The etymology of "новац" may come from Latin "nummus", but is more likely from Proto-Slavic "novъ" (new). |
| Sesotho | The word 'chelete' can also refer to livestock in Sesotho, as in the traditional practice of 'lobola' where cattle are used as a form of bride wealth. |
| Shona | The word "mari" also refers to the black market in Shona. |
| Sindhi | The word 'پئسو' is derived from the Spanish word 'peso', meaning 'weight' or 'coin'. |
| Sinhala (Sinhalese) | The Sinhala word "මුදල" originates from the Pali word "mudda" which can also mean "seal" or "stamp." |
| Slovak | In Slovak, the word "peniaze" shares a common etymology with the Polish word "pieniądz" and the Czech word "peníze", all of which originated from the Old High German word "pfennig". |
| Slovenian | Denar is the Slovene word for money, derived from the Latin word denarius, which originally referred to a Roman silver coin. |
| Somali | The Somali term "lacag" was originally derived from the Arabic "laqaqa," meaning "to clap," as cowrie shells, an early form of currency in the region, were often clapped together to count them. |
| Spanish | In Spanish, 'dinero' derives from the Latin 'denarius,' which originally referred to a Roman silver coin. |
| Sundanese | The word "artos" can also mean "wealth" or "property" in Sundanese. |
| Swahili | Pesa also means "measure" due to the use of beans as a unit of currency in the past. |
| Swedish | Pengar is a derivative of the Old Norse word 'penningr', which means 'coin'. |
| Tagalog (Filipino) | "Pera" may also refer to an orchard or a small farm |
| Tajik | The word "пул" is derived from the Persian word "پول" (pool), with the same meaning. |
| Tamil | The Tamil word "பணம்" originally referred to a coin minted during the Vijayanagara Empire, but has since come to mean "money" in general. |
| Telugu | The word "డబ్బు" is derived from the Sanskrit word "dam" meaning "cowrie shell", which was used as currency in ancient India. |
| Thai | The word "เงิน" also means "silver" in Thai, reflecting its historical use as a medium of exchange. |
| Turkish | In Turkish, “para” originally referred to coins and was derived from the Persian word "pāre”, meaning "piece". |
| Ukrainian | "Гроші" is thought to derive from the Polish word "grosz," which in turn comes from the Latin word "grossus," meaning "large, heavy coin". |
| Urdu | The Urdu word "پیسہ" originally meant "ground rice," and was used as a form of currency in medieval India. |
| Uzbek | The Uzbek word "pul" may derive from the Persian "pul" or the Chinese "puli". |
| Vietnamese | "Tiền" is an archaic word for iron and was used as a name for coins made of iron or iron alloys. |
| Welsh | The word "arian" can also refer to a silver coin or a unit of currency. |
| Xhosa | In Xhosa, "imali" literally means "the thing that makes the world go round." |
| Yiddish | The Yiddish word 'gelt' is not etymologically related to the German word 'Geld', but may be related to the Middle High German word 'gelt' or 'gulte', meaning payment, debt, or income. |
| Yoruba | In Yoruba, the word 'owo' not only means 'money' but also 'wealth' and 'property'. |
| Zulu | The Zulu word 'imali' is derived from the Nguni word 'mali', which referred to cattle ownership as a measure of wealth. |
| English | The word 'money' derives from the Latin word 'moneta' meaning 'temple of Juno,' where coins were minted in ancient Rome. |