Never in Different Languages
Discover 'Never' in 134 Languages: Dive into Translations, Hear Pronunciations, and Uncover Cultural Insights.
Never
Afrikaans nooit nie | ||
Albanian asnjëherë | ||
Amharic በጭራሽ | ||
Arabic أبدا | ||
Armenian երբեք | ||
Assamese কেতিয়াও নহয় | ||
Aymara janiwa | ||
Azerbaijani heç vaxt | ||
Bambara abada | ||
Basque inoiz ez | ||
Belarusian ніколі | ||
Bengali কখনই না | ||
Bhojpuri कब्बो ना | ||
Bosnian nikad | ||
Bulgarian никога | ||
Catalan mai | ||
Cebuano dili gyud | ||
Chinese (Simplified) 决不 | ||
Chinese (Traditional) 決不 | ||
Corsican mai | ||
Croatian nikada | ||
Czech nikdy | ||
Danish aldrig | ||
Dhivehi ދުވަހަކުވެސް | ||
Dogri कदें नेईं | ||
Dutch nooit | ||
English never | ||
Esperanto neniam | ||
Estonian mitte kunagi | ||
Ewe gbɛɖɛ | ||
Filipino (Tagalog) hindi kailanman | ||
Finnish ei koskaan | ||
French jamais | ||
Frisian nea | ||
Galician nunca | ||
Georgian არასოდეს | ||
German noch nie | ||
Greek ποτέ | ||
Guarani araka'eve | ||
Gujarati ક્યારેય | ||
Haitian Creole pa janm | ||
Hausa ba | ||
Hawaiian ʻaʻole loa | ||
Hebrew לעולם לא | ||
Hindi कभी नहीँ | ||
Hmong yeej tsis | ||
Hungarian soha | ||
Icelandic aldrei | ||
Igbo mgbe | ||
Ilocano saan uray inton kaano | ||
Indonesian tidak pernah | ||
Irish riamh | ||
Italian mai | ||
Japanese 決して | ||
Javanese ora nate | ||
Kannada ಎಂದಿಗೂ | ||
Kazakh ешқашан | ||
Khmer មិនដែល | ||
Kinyarwanda nta na rimwe | ||
Konkani केन्नाच ना | ||
Korean 못 | ||
Krio nɔ ɛva | ||
Kurdish qet | ||
Kurdish (Sorani) هەرگیز | ||
Kyrgyz эч качан | ||
Lao ບໍ່ເຄີຍ | ||
Latin numquam | ||
Latvian nekad | ||
Lingala ata moke te | ||
Lithuanian niekada | ||
Luganda obutasoboka | ||
Luxembourgish ni | ||
Macedonian никогаш | ||
Maithili कखनो नहि | ||
Malagasy tsy | ||
Malay tidak pernah | ||
Malayalam ഒരിക്കലും | ||
Maltese qatt | ||
Maori kaua rawa | ||
Marathi कधीही नाही | ||
Meiteilon (Manipuri) ꯑꯣꯏꯊꯣꯛꯂꯔꯣꯏꯗꯕ | ||
Mizo ngai lo | ||
Mongolian хэзээ ч | ||
Myanmar (Burmese) ဘယ်တော့မှမ | ||
Nepali कहिले पनि हैन | ||
Norwegian aldri | ||
Nyanja (Chichewa) ayi | ||
Odia (Oriya) କେବେ ନୁହେଁ | ||
Oromo gonkumaa | ||
Pashto هیڅکله | ||
Persian هرگز | ||
Polish nigdy | ||
Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) nunca | ||
Punjabi ਕਦੇ ਨਹੀਂ | ||
Quechua mana haykaqpas | ||
Romanian nu | ||
Russian никогда | ||
Samoan leai lava | ||
Sanskrit कदापि न | ||
Scots Gaelic riamh | ||
Sepedi le gatee | ||
Serbian никад | ||
Sesotho le ka mohla | ||
Shona kwete | ||
Sindhi ڪڏهن به نه | ||
Sinhala (Sinhalese) කවදාවත් | ||
Slovak nikdy | ||
Slovenian nikoli | ||
Somali marna | ||
Spanish nunca | ||
Sundanese henteu pernah | ||
Swahili kamwe | ||
Swedish aldrig | ||
Tagalog (Filipino) hindi kailanman | ||
Tajik ҳеҷ гоҳ | ||
Tamil ஒருபோதும் | ||
Tatar беркайчан да | ||
Telugu ఎప్పుడూ | ||
Thai ไม่เคย | ||
Tigrinya ፍፁም | ||
Tsonga endleki | ||
Turkish asla | ||
Turkmen hiç haçan | ||
Twi (Akan) da | ||
Ukrainian ніколи | ||
Urdu کبھی نہیں | ||
Uyghur ھەرگىز بولمايدۇ | ||
Uzbek hech qachon | ||
Vietnamese không bao giờ | ||
Welsh byth | ||
Xhosa soze | ||
Yiddish קיינמאָל | ||
Yoruba rara | ||
Zulu angikaze |
Etymology & Notes
| Language | Etymology / Notes |
|---|---|
| Afrikaans | The Afrikaans word "nooit nie" is a calque from Dutch "nooit niet" which also means "never". |
| Albanian | "Asnjanëherë" derives from the Proto-Indo-European word *h₁neǵwʰeros, meaning "no one at all," similar to the English "nowhere" and "nevermore." |
| Amharic | "በጭራሽ" means "never" and is also the name of a type of tree that grows in Ethiopia. |
| Arabic | The Arabic word "أبدا" (abada) comes from the root word "بَدَوَ" (bada'a), meaning "to perish" or "to cease to exist." |
| Azerbaijani | The word |
| Basque | The Basque word "inoiz ez" derives from "inoiz" (ever) and "ez" (not), and can also mean "at no time" or "never before". |
| Belarusian | The word "ніколі" in Belarusian also means "no time"} |
| Bengali | Bengali "কখনই না" also means "not only". This is similar to the English "never" meaning "not at all" and "not ever". |
| Bosnian | The word "nikad" in Bosnian can also mean "nevermore" or "by no means." |
| Bulgarian | The Bulgarian word "никога" is derived from the Proto-Slavic word "nikъгда", which originally meant "at no time" or "not once". |
| Catalan | The Catalan word "mai" derives from the Latin "numquam" meaning "not ever," and is found in other Romance languages like French and Italian. |
| Cebuano | The phrase "dili gyud" is also used to emphasize the intensity of a feeling or emotion, particularly in expressing negative sentiments. |
| Chinese (Simplified) | "决不" also means "firmly" and "resolutely". |
| Chinese (Traditional) | The word "決不" can also mean "to make a firm decision" or "to be determined to do something". |
| Corsican | The word "mai" in Corsican is also used to mean "not" and "no more". |
| Croatian | The word "nikada" is a negative adverb with possible origins stemming from proto-Slavic roots *ni and *kad meaning "not ever". |
| Czech | The word "nikdy" derives from the Proto-Slavic "ne kedy" meaning "at no time," and is related to words meaning "no" and "time" in other Slavic languages. |
| Danish | The word "aldrig" derives from Old Norse "ǫldregi" and is composed of "ǫld" (age) and "regi" (course, track), hence "across ages". |
| Dutch | The Dutch word "nooit" is thought to derive from "ni ooit" meaning "not even" or "not ever". |
| Esperanto | The word "neniam" can be traced back to the Latin "numquam" (never), from which it has a direct derivation |
| Estonian | In Võro, a related dialect of Estonian, "mitte kunagi" means "not yet" instead of "never." |
| Finnish | The Finnish word "ei koskaan" literally means "not ever" and is composed of "ei" (not) and "koskaan" (ever). |
| French | The word "jamais" derives from the Latin "iam magis", meaning "now more", signifying a future event that will never happen, hence "never". |
| Frisian | The Frisian word "nea" is cognate with the English word "nigh," and its original meaning was "close in time," but over time its meaning shifted to "not happening in any future time." |
| Galician | The word "nunca" also means "not once" in Galician. |
| German | Noch nie can also mean "not yet" or "anymore", especially in southern German dialects. |
| Greek | “Ποτέ” (“never”) derives from the ancient Greek negation particle “οὐ” (“not”) and the interrogative particle “τι” (“what”). |
| Gujarati | The Gujarati word "ક્યારેય" ("never") can also be used to mean "once" in negative sentences. |
| Haitian Creole | The word "pa janm" in Haitian Creole comes from the French phrase "pas jamais," meaning "not ever." |
| Hausa | Ba, derived from the Proto-Chadic verb *bā ('to prevent'), means 'never', 'impossible' or 'won't'. |
| Hawaiian | ʻAʻole is a negative particle, while loa means 'long' or 'far', thus ʻaʻole loa emphasizes the idea of remoteness in time |
| Hebrew | The Hebrew word "לעולם לא" ("never") literally means "not for the world". |
| Hindi | The word "कभी नहीँ" (kabhi nahin) is derived from the Sanskrit word "नैव" (naiva), which means "not even" or "in no way". |
| Hmong | "Yeej tsis" (lit. "not now") is a versatile Hmong term often used colloquially to mean "never" or "not happening." |
| Hungarian | In Old Hungarian the word "soha" meant "always" while it's opposite "mindig" meant "rarely" or "never". |
| Icelandic | In Old Norse, the term aldrei referred to an "age" of existence and could also signify a period of time between two events. |
| Igbo | Igbo word "mgbe" originates from the phrase "m ga ebe," meaning "will not be there". |
| Indonesian | The Indonesian phrase 'tidak pernah' is derived from the words 'tidak' meaning 'no' and 'pernah' meaning 'ever'. |
| Irish | The Irish word "riamh" not only means "never" but also "always" in certain contexts, a phenomenon known as antanaclasis. |
| Italian | "Mai" in Italian can also mean "always" when used in a negative sense, as in "non lo farò mai" (I will never do it). |
| Japanese | It is a negative conjugation of the verb "きる" (to cut), meaning "(a situation) will not be cut off." |
| Javanese | The Javanese word "ora nate" not only means "never," but also refers to past events that will not recur. |
| Kannada | The word "ಎಂದಿಗೂ" can also mean "always" in certain contexts, particularly in poetry or literature. |
| Kazakh | "Ешқашан" is derived from the Persian "eich ka-chān" meaning "not even when" |
| Khmer | The Khmer word "មិនដែល" can also mean "not yet" or "never will" depending on the context. |
| Korean | 못 can also mean 'lack' or 'cannot' and is often paired with verbs to express the speaker's inability to do something. |
| Kurdish | The word "qet" in Kurdish, meaning "never," is derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *kʷet- "to be silent," suggesting a connection between the concept of silence and the idea of eternity or a state of non-existence. |
| Kyrgyz | The Kyrgyz word "эч качан" is composed of the words "эч" ("no") and "качан" ("when"), thus emphasizing the absolute absence of a possibility. |
| Lao | ບໍ່ເຄີຍ is also a verb meaning “to have no occasion” or “to not have the chance to”. |
| Latin | Numquam can also mean 'in no way,' or 'by no means' in Latin. |
| Latvian | The word "nekad" in Latvian comes from the Proto-Indo-European root "nek-," meaning "not" or "without." |
| Lithuanian | The word "niekada" in Lithuanian may also be used to express a strong negation or refusal |
| Luxembourgish | The word "ni" in Luxembourgish can also mean "not" or "no". |
| Macedonian | The Macedonian word "никогаш" is derived from the Proto-Slavic word *nikъdy, which also means "never" in most other Slavic languages. |
| Malagasy | The Malagasy word "tsy" also means "not" or "without" |
| Malay | The word 'tidak pernah' consists of the prefix 'ti-' (marking negation) and the reduplicated verb 'ada' (exist). Literally, it means 'not exist' or 'never exist'. |
| Malayalam | The word "ഒരിക്കലും" can mean "never" or "ever" depending on the context. |
| Maltese | The word "qatt" can also mean "at all" or "ever" in Maltese. |
| Maori | The Maori word 'kaua rawa' is composed of the prohibitive particle 'kaua' and 'rawa', which can also mean 'completely' or 'very'. |
| Marathi | In Marathi, the word "कधीही नाही" can also mean "at no time" or "not ever". |
| Mongolian | Хэзээ ч is also used to mean "not yet" or "never mind". |
| Norwegian | The word "aldri" in Norwegian can also mean "not any longer" or "not at all". |
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | The word "ayi" in Nyanja is derived from the Proto-Bantu root "*-yik-, -tik-", which means "to finish" or "to come to an end". The word "ayi" is also used in some contexts to mean "already" or "formerly". Additionally, in some regions of Malawi, the word "ayi" is used to refer to an older sister or female cousin, as a term of respect. |
| Pashto | The word "هیڅکله" in Pashto is derived from the Persian word "هیچ گاه" and is often used to express "never" or "at no time". |
| Persian | The Persian word "هرگز" originally meant "at no time", but its meaning has evolved over time to mean "never". |
| Polish | The word "nigdy" is derived from the Proto-Slavic word *nikъdy, which also means "not at all" or "in no way". |
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | In Portuguese, "nunca" also means "at no time" or "not even once". |
| Romanian | The Romanian word "nu" derives from the Latin "nunc", meaning "now" or "at present". |
| Russian | The Russian word «никогда» originally meant «not at anytime», but acquired the meaning «never» in the 17th century. |
| Samoan | "Leai lava" is composed of the negative particle "leai" and the modal particle "lava", meaning it expresses both negation and emphasis. |
| Scots Gaelic | The Old Irish word "riam" meant "ever". |
| Serbian | The Serbian word "никад" can also mean "nowhere" or "at no time". |
| Sesotho | "Le ka mohla" can also mean "no longer". |
| Shona | 'Kwete' (never) is sometimes interpreted by speakers as 'there is not' (kuve nete), from the root -te (which also occurs in the word 'nete' (net). |
| Sindhi | The word 'ڪڏهن به نه' is also used as a strong denial, meaning 'absolutely not' or 'under no circumstances'. |
| Sinhala (Sinhalese) | The word "කවදාවත්" is a combination of the words "කවද" (time) and "වත්" (even), which literally means "at any time". However, it has come to mean "never" over time. |
| Slovak | "Nikdy" comes from Proto-Slavic *nikъdy, meaning "at no time". It also means "not ever" and "in no case". |
| Slovenian | A word that, despite its appearance, has no relation to the Russian word “никогда” with the same meaning. |
| Somali | "marna" originates from the same root as "dhamaan" (all), suggesting a notion of "all-encompassing" or "completely done." |
| Spanish | "Nun" - from Old English, meaning "now" or "at this moment" |
| Sundanese | The word "henteu pernah" in Sundanese can also mean "impossible" or "will never happen". |
| Swahili | The Swahili word "kamwe" has alternate meanings of "absolutely not" or "by no means." |
| Swedish | The Swedish word "aldrig" is etymologically related to "alltid" and "alder", and it can be broken down as "all tid", or "all time". |
| Tagalog (Filipino) | The phrase 'hindi kailanman' can also be used to express a sense of impossibility or disbelief, similar to the English phrase 'not even once'. |
| Tajik | ҳеҷ гоҳ is often translated as one word: "never," but is more literally "not" and "time." |
| Tamil | "ஒருபோதும்" also has alternate meanings as "without", "devoid", and "lack". |
| Thai | In Thai, 'ไม่เคย' does not only mean 'never', but can also refer to 'not having yet experienced something'. |
| Turkish | The word 'asla' might be derived from the Arabic word 'asal', meaning 'origin' or 'root'. |
| Ukrainian | The word "ніколи" is derived from the Proto-Slavic word *nikoly, a compound of *ni + *koly, meaning "not" + "time". |
| Uzbek | The word "hech qachon" is a combination of the words "hech" (no) and "qachon" (time), literally meaning "no time". |
| Vietnamese | The word "không bao giờ" literally means "not eternally". |
| Welsh | The Welsh word "byth" can also mean "eternity, forever," deriving from the Proto-Celtic word "bitiyo-," meaning "age, lifetime." |
| Xhosa | The word "soze" also means "to be finished" or "to be completed" in Xhosa. |
| Yiddish | Yiddish קיינמאָל derives from the combination of קיין (“no”) + מאָל (“time”) suggesting the meaning of "not any time" |
| Yoruba | The Yoruba word 'rara' can also mean 'constantly' or 'incessantly'. |
| Zulu | The word "angikaze" can also mean "nevertheless" or "although" in Zulu. |
| English | The word 'never' originally meant 'not even once' from the Old English words 'næfre'. |