Mostly in Different Languages
Discover 'Mostly' in 134 Languages: Dive into Translations, Hear Pronunciations, and Uncover Cultural Insights.
Updated on March 6, 2024
The word 'mostly' is a small but powerful term that carries a significant weight in our daily conversations and writing. It is an adverb that primarily means 'in most cases' or 'to a great degree', indicating a high level of frequency or quantity. But there's more to 'mostly' than meets the eye!
Culturally, 'mostly' has been used in various idiomatic expressions and colloquialisms, reflecting its significance in different societies. For instance, in English-speaking cultures, the phrase 'mostly dead' from the film 'The Princess Bride' has been popularized, humorously implying that something is almost, but not quite, completely dead. This demonstrates how 'mostly' can be used to convey nuanced meanings beyond its literal definition.
Given its importance and cultural significance, you might be interested in knowing how 'mostly' translates into different languages. After all, language is a window into culture, and understanding how other languages express similar concepts can enrich our global perspective.
Here are some translations of 'mostly' in various languages:
Mostly
Mostly in Sub-Saharan African Languages
| Afrikaans | meestal | ||
| "Meestal" is the Afrikaans equivalent of the German "meistens" and originally meant "almost always". | |||
| Amharic | በአብዛኛው | ||
| The word በአብዛኛው can also mean "generally" or "usually" depending on the context. | |||
| Hausa | mafi yawa | ||
| The Hausa word "mafi yawa" also has the meaning of "the most". | |||
| Igbo | ọtụtụ | ||
| Ọtụtụ (mostly) also refers to the state of numerousness or multiplicity, implying the presence of more than a few. | |||
| Malagasy | ny ankamaroany | ||
| Ny ankamaroany is made up of the words 'marony' meaning 'large' and 'ankam' which means 'half', thus 'mostly'. | |||
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | makamaka | ||
| The word 'makamaka' is derived from the verb 'kamaka', which means 'to be many' or 'to be a lot'. | |||
| Shona | kunyanya | ||
| "Kunyanya" is also used in the sense of "as a result" or "so that." | |||
| Somali | inta badan | ||
| In Somali, the term "inta badan" also means "many times" and can be used in a variety of contexts, such as "inta badan ayaan socdaa" ("I often walk"). | |||
| Sesotho | haholo | ||
| The prefix 'ha-' may also indicate a state or condition, as in 'haholo,' meaning 'in a state of being mostly.' | |||
| Swahili | zaidi | ||
| The word "zaidi" in Swahili can also mean "more than" or "in addition to". | |||
| Xhosa | ikakhulu | ||
| The word 'ikakhulu' also relates to the 'whole' or 'the entire thing'. | |||
| Yoruba | julọ | ||
| The word "julọ" comes from the Yoruba word "jù," meaning "exceed" or "greater than," and is used to indicate a higher degree or quantity. | |||
| Zulu | ikakhulukazi | ||
| The Zulu word "ikakhulukazi" can also mean "especially" or "principally". | |||
| Bambara | siyɛn caman na | ||
| Ewe | zi geɖe | ||
| Kinyarwanda | ahanini | ||
| Lingala | mbala mingi | ||
| Luganda | kisinga | ||
| Sepedi | kudukudu | ||
| Twi (Akan) | dodoɔ no ara | ||
Mostly in North African & Middle Eastern Languages
| Arabic | خاصة | ||
| The word "خاصة" in Arabic, meaning "especially" or "particularly," also carries historical meanings of "sin, vice, and evil," and is related to the root "خاص" (khas), meaning "to conceal" or "to cover up. | |||
| Hebrew | בעיקר | ||
| The word בעיקר comes from the root עקר, meaning "root" or "main thing", and is related to the word איקר, meaning "expensive" or "precious". | |||
| Pashto | زياتره | ||
| The word "زياتره" can also mean "majority" or "most of the time" in Pashto. | |||
| Arabic | خاصة | ||
| The word "خاصة" in Arabic, meaning "especially" or "particularly," also carries historical meanings of "sin, vice, and evil," and is related to the root "خاص" (khas), meaning "to conceal" or "to cover up. | |||
Mostly in Western European Languages
| Albanian | kryesisht | ||
| The word “kryesisht” comes from the Proto-Albanian verb “*ker-”, meaning to make or to do, and may also mean “especially” or “primarily”. | |||
| Basque | batez ere | ||
| The word "batez ere" literally means "more than one" but is used to mean "mostly". | |||
| Catalan | sobretot | ||
| The word 'sobretot' comes from the Latin 'super', meaning 'above' or 'beyond', and 'tot', meaning 'everything'. This reflects its meaning of 'above all other things' or 'most of all'. | |||
| Croatian | uglavnom | ||
| Uglavenom in Croatian is derived from the root 'glav(a)' meaning 'head', signifying 'mainly' or 'primarily'. | |||
| Danish | for det meste | ||
| The Danish word “for det meste” originally meant “for the greatest part”, not “most of”. | |||
| Dutch | meestal | ||
| The word "meestal" derives from the ancient Dutch word "meest" meaning "greatest" or "most", and the suffix "-al", which indicates a collection or group. | |||
| English | mostly | ||
| The word "mostly" originally meant "in the greatest part" and was first used in the late 16th century. | |||
| French | la plupart | ||
| "La plupart" comes from the Old French "la plus part" (the greater part), which is derived from the Latin "maior pars" (greater part). | |||
| Frisian | meast | ||
| The West Frisian word "meast" is cognate with the Dutch word "meest", which is derived from the Old Saxon word "mêst", meaning "greatest" or "most". | |||
| Galician | sobre todo | ||
| The term sobre todo in Galician originally referred to a long cloak, which was often used as a raincoat, but it has since acquired the meaning of mostly. | |||
| German | meist | ||
| The word 'meist' in German comes from the Old High German word 'meista', which meant 'greatest' or 'most'. Its cognate in English is 'most'. | |||
| Icelandic | aðallega | ||
| The word "aðallega" is derived from the Old Norse word "aðal," meaning "noble" or "chief," and conveys a sense of priority or significance. | |||
| Irish | den chuid is mó | ||
| "Den chuid is mó" is a phrase in Irish that literally means "of the part that is biggest," and is used to signify "mostly" or "mainly." | |||
| Italian | soprattutto | ||
| The word "soprattutto" derives from the Latin "supra" and "totum," meaning "over" and "all," respectively, and can also mean "above all" or "especially." | |||
| Luxembourgish | meeschtens | ||
| The word meeschtens comes from the Proto-Germanic word "maist," which also meant "most, mostly." | |||
| Maltese | l-aktar | ||
| "l-aktar" can also mean 'the most' or 'the majority' in Maltese, reflecting its Arabic origin where it signifies 'more' or 'most'. | |||
| Norwegian | for det meste | ||
| The Norwegian word "for det meste" literally means "for the most part". | |||
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | na maioria das vezes | ||
| In Portuguese, "na maioria das vezes" also means "very often", which is a subtle but important distinction. | |||
| Scots Gaelic | mar as trice | ||
| Mar as trice ('mostly') was first recorded in written Scottish Gaelic in 1837 | |||
| Spanish | principalmente | ||
| "Principalmente" comes from the Latin "principalis", which means "first" or "important", and originally meant "above all". Today, the term is mostly used in the sense of "mainly" or "primarily". | |||
| Swedish | till största del | ||
| The compound word "till största del" is a translation of the German "zum größten Teil" and is used in Swedish since the 19th century, primarily in the legal and economic fields. | |||
| Welsh | yn bennaf | ||
| From 'un bennaf', 'the most', which in modern Welsh is only used in the phrase 'yn bennaf', 'mostly'. | |||
Mostly in Eastern European Languages
| Belarusian | у асноўным | ||
| Bosnian | uglavnom | ||
| The word "uglavnom" is derived from the Slavic root "ugol," meaning "angle," and originally meant "corner" or "side." | |||
| Bulgarian | най-вече | ||
| The word "най-вече" is composed of "най-" (superlative prefix) and "вече" (already), so it can also mean to the highest degree, utmost, most. | |||
| Czech | většinou | ||
| The word "většinou" is formed from "většina" (majority) and the suffix "-ou" (belonging to), thus meaning "belonging to the majority". | |||
| Estonian | enamasti | ||
| The word "enamasti" is rooted in the Estonian word "enamus" (majority), and thus originally meant "in the majority of cases" or "most of the time". | |||
| Finnish | enimmäkseen | ||
| In the phrase 'enimmälti enimmän', the word 'enimmän' is a genitive form, indicating a stronger emphasis on 'mostly' | |||
| Hungarian | többnyire | ||
| The word "többnyire" also means "more often than not". | |||
| Latvian | pārsvarā | ||
| The word “pārsvarā” is derived from “pāri svars”, or “above weight” and can also mean “the upper hand or advantage” or “predominantly” or “overwhelmingly”. | |||
| Lithuanian | daugiausia | ||
| "Daugiausia" comes from the Proto-Baltic word *daugi-, meaning "much, many". | |||
| Macedonian | претежно | ||
| The word "претежно" can also mean " преимущественно" in Russian. | |||
| Polish | przeważnie | ||
| The word "przeważnie" in Polish can also mean "predominantly" or "generally". | |||
| Romanian | mai ales | ||
| Originally a shortened form of "mai ales că," which itself came from "mai ales ca" (i.e. especially since), an adverbial phrase used as a way to indicate a consequential relationship between two phrases. | |||
| Russian | по большей части | ||
| The phrase "по большей части" literally translates to "for the greater part," but is frequently used as a synonym for "mostly." | |||
| Serbian | углавном | ||
| The word “углавном” derives from "глава," meaning "head," connoting “in the first place” (“пре свега”). | |||
| Slovak | väčšinou | ||
| The word "väčšinou" can also mean "in general" or "for the most part". | |||
| Slovenian | večinoma | ||
| The word “večinoma” is a combination of “veliko” (“much”) and “nomen” (“noun”) and its literal meaning is “much name” | |||
| Ukrainian | переважно | ||
| The word "переважно" in Ukrainian can also mean "in the majority of cases" or "for the most part." | |||
Mostly in South Asian Languages
| Bengali | অধিকাংশ ক্ষেত্রে | ||
| In the context of a phrase, 'অধিকাংশ ক্ষেত্রে' can be used to mean 'generally' or 'usually'. | |||
| Gujarati | મોટે ભાગે | ||
| Hindi | अधिकतर | ||
| In Sanskrit, the term "अधिकतर" means "more or more than" and can also imply a sense of "exceeding" or "going beyond". | |||
| Kannada | ಹೆಚ್ಚಾಗಿ | ||
| The word "ಹೆಚ್ಚಾಗಿ" can also be used to mean "frequently" or "often" in Kannada | |||
| Malayalam | കൂടുതലും | ||
| കൂടുതലും is derived from കൂടുക (to gather or join) and -തലും (suffix indicating abundance or excess), meaning 'in abundance' or 'in great quantity'. | |||
| Marathi | मुख्यतः | ||
| The Sanskrit word 'mukha' means 'face' or 'front', and is the root of the Marathi word 'mukhyata:' meaning "primarily" or "principally." | |||
| Nepali | अधिकतर | ||
| The Nepali word "अधिकतर" can also be used as a noun meaning "majority" or "excess". | |||
| Punjabi | ਜਿਆਦਾਤਰ | ||
| Sinhala (Sinhalese) | බොහෝ දුරට | ||
| Tamil | பெரும்பாலும் | ||
| Telugu | ఎక్కువగా | ||
| The word "ఎక్కువగా" is derived from the Proto-Dravidian word *akku-*, meaning "more" or "much". | |||
| Urdu | زیادہ تر | ||
| The etymology of the word "زیادہ تر" ("mostly") in Urdu is uncertain, but it is thought to be derived from the Persian word "زیاد" ("more"). | |||
Mostly in East Asian Languages
| Chinese (Simplified) | 大多 | ||
| 大多 is not a pure Chinese word, but comes from the Japanese word "おおかた" (ookata), which also means "mostly." | |||
| Chinese (Traditional) | 大多 | ||
| 大多, meaning "many" or "most", is written in Simplified Chinese as "多数". | |||
| Japanese | 主に | ||
| "主に" originally meant "by and large" or "on average". | |||
| Korean | 대개 | ||
| The Korean word "대개" is derived from the Chinese characters "大致", meaning "in general" or "overall." | |||
| Mongolian | ихэвчлэн | ||
| The word "ихэвчлэн" derives from the words "их" (large) and "хэв" (habit, nature), indicating "mostly" or "generally". | |||
| Myanmar (Burmese) | အများအားဖြင့် | ||
Mostly in South East Asian Languages
| Indonesian | kebanyakan | ||
| Kebanyakan, meaning "mostly", is also a slang term for excessive or too much of something. | |||
| Javanese | biasane | ||
| Biasane is also used to describe a habit or regular occurrence. | |||
| Khmer | ភាគច្រើន | ||
| Lao | ສ່ວນໃຫຍ່ | ||
| Malay | kebanyakannya | ||
| The word "kebanyakannya" is derived from the Malay word "banyak" (meaning "many") and the suffix "-nya" (meaning "of it"), suggesting an abundance or predominance of something. | |||
| Thai | ส่วนใหญ่ | ||
| The word "ส่วนใหญ่" also means "the majority" in Thai. | |||
| Vietnamese | hầu hết | ||
| "Hầu hết" có nguồn gốc từ chữ Hán " hầu" (gần) và "hết" (tất cả) với ý nghĩa ban đầu chỉ một phần gần với tất cả. | |||
| Filipino (Tagalog) | karamihan | ||
Mostly in Central Asian Languages
| Azerbaijani | əsasən | ||
| Əsasən is derived from the Arabic word | |||
| Kazakh | негізінен | ||
| The word "негізінен" in Kazakh is derived from the word "негіз" ("basis"), and its alternate meaning is "basically". | |||
| Kyrgyz | негизинен | ||
| Tajik | асосан | ||
| The word "асосан" can also mean "especially" or "particularly". | |||
| Turkmen | esasan | ||
| Uzbek | asosan | ||
| The word "asosan" can also mean "basically" or "in general" in Uzbek. | |||
| Uyghur | كۆپىنچە | ||
Mostly in Pacific Languages
| Hawaiian | ka hapanui | ||
| The phrase "ka hapanui" is made up of the words "ka" meaning "the" and "hapanui" meaning "much" or "most". It can also be used to mean "the majority" or "the bulk of something". | |||
| Maori | te nuinga | ||
| The term "te nuinga" comes from the combination of "te," which is the definite article in Maori, and "nuinga," which means "many" or "most." | |||
| Samoan | tele lava | ||
| The word "tele lava" can also mean "the majority" or "the greater part" in Samoan. | |||
| Tagalog (Filipino) | karamihan | ||
| The word "karamihan" comes from the root word "rami," which means "many" or "most." | |||
Mostly in American Indigenous Languages
| Aymara | wakiskiri | ||
| Guarani | ñepyrũrãitevoi | ||
Mostly in International Languages
| Esperanto | plejparte | ||
| "Plejparte" is borrowed from the German "meistparte" and means "the main part" or "nearly all". Thus, "plejparte" means "mostly". | |||
| Latin | maxime | ||
| The Latin word "maxime" literally means "the most" and is cognate with the English word "maximum". | |||
Mostly in Others Languages
| Greek | ως επί το πλείστον | ||
| The phrase ως επί το πλείστον (mostly) literally means 'as to the greater part' | |||
| Hmong | feem ntau | ||
| The first syllable feem means 'too'. | |||
| Kurdish | bi piranî | ||
| In Kurdish, 'bi piranî' is also an idiom meaning 'in the end' or 'finally'. | |||
| Turkish | çoğunlukla | ||
| "Çoğunlukla" kelimesi Arapça "çoğunluk" kelimesinden türemiştir ve Türkçe'de "genellikle" anlamında da kullanılır. | |||
| Xhosa | ikakhulu | ||
| The word 'ikakhulu' also relates to the 'whole' or 'the entire thing'. | |||
| Yiddish | מערסטנס | ||
| "מערסטנס" has also been used to mean "for the most part" and "above all". | |||
| Zulu | ikakhulukazi | ||
| The Zulu word "ikakhulukazi" can also mean "especially" or "principally". | |||
| Assamese | অধিকাংশভাৱে | ||
| Aymara | wakiskiri | ||
| Bhojpuri | ज्यादातर | ||
| Dhivehi | ގިނަފަހަރު | ||
| Dogri | ज्यादातर | ||
| Filipino (Tagalog) | karamihan | ||
| Guarani | ñepyrũrãitevoi | ||
| Ilocano | kaadduan | ||
| Krio | bɔku | ||
| Kurdish (Sorani) | زۆرینە | ||
| Maithili | ज्यादा तर | ||
| Meiteilon (Manipuri) | ꯑꯌꯥꯝꯕꯅ | ||
| Mizo | deuh ber | ||
| Oromo | irra-guddinaan | ||
| Odia (Oriya) | ପ୍ରାୟତ। | | ||
| Quechua | qapaqmanta | ||
| Sanskrit | अधिकतया | ||
| Tatar | күбесенчә | ||
| Tigrinya | መብዛሕትኡ ግዜ | ||
| Tsonga | swo tala | ||