Ocean in Different Languages
Discover 'Ocean' in 134 Languages: Dive into Translations, Hear Pronunciations, and Uncover Cultural Insights.
Ocean
Afrikaans oseaan | ||
Albanian oqean | ||
Amharic ውቅያኖስ | ||
Arabic محيط | ||
Armenian օվկիանոս | ||
Assamese মহাসাগৰ | ||
Aymara lamar quta | ||
Azerbaijani okean | ||
Bambara kɔgɔjiba | ||
Basque ozeanoa | ||
Belarusian акіян | ||
Bengali সমুদ্র | ||
Bhojpuri सागर | ||
Bosnian okean | ||
Bulgarian океан | ||
Catalan oceà | ||
Cebuano kadagatan | ||
Chinese (Simplified) 海洋 | ||
Chinese (Traditional) 海洋 | ||
Corsican oceanu | ||
Croatian ocean | ||
Czech oceán | ||
Danish ocean | ||
Dhivehi ކަނޑު | ||
Dogri समुंदर | ||
Dutch oceaan | ||
English ocean | ||
Esperanto oceano | ||
Estonian ookean | ||
Ewe atsiaƒu | ||
Filipino (Tagalog) karagatan | ||
Finnish valtameri | ||
French océan | ||
Frisian oseaan | ||
Galician océano | ||
Georgian ოკეანის | ||
German ozean | ||
Greek ωκεανός | ||
Guarani paraguasu | ||
Gujarati સમુદ્ર | ||
Haitian Creole lanmè | ||
Hausa teku | ||
Hawaiian moana, kai | ||
Hebrew אוקיינוס | ||
Hindi सागर | ||
Hmong dej hiav txwv | ||
Hungarian óceán | ||
Icelandic haf | ||
Igbo oké osimiri | ||
Ilocano taaw | ||
Indonesian lautan | ||
Irish aigéan | ||
Italian oceano | ||
Japanese 海洋 | ||
Javanese samodra | ||
Kannada ಸಾಗರ | ||
Kazakh мұхит | ||
Khmer មហាសមុទ្រ | ||
Kinyarwanda inyanja | ||
Konkani म्हासागर | ||
Korean 대양 | ||
Krio si | ||
Kurdish derya | ||
Kurdish (Sorani) ئۆقیانووس | ||
Kyrgyz океан | ||
Lao ມະຫາສະ ໝຸດ | ||
Latin oceanum | ||
Latvian okeāns | ||
Lingala mbu | ||
Lithuanian vandenynas | ||
Luganda amazzi | ||
Luxembourgish ozean | ||
Macedonian океан | ||
Maithili समुन्दर | ||
Malagasy ranomasimbe | ||
Malay laut | ||
Malayalam സമുദ്രം | ||
Maltese oċean | ||
Maori moana | ||
Marathi समुद्र | ||
Meiteilon (Manipuri) ꯑꯄꯥꯛꯄ ꯁꯃꯨꯗ꯭ꯔ | ||
Mizo tuipui | ||
Mongolian далай | ||
Myanmar (Burmese) သမုဒ္ဒရာ | ||
Nepali सागर | ||
Norwegian hav | ||
Nyanja (Chichewa) nyanja | ||
Odia (Oriya) ସମୁଦ୍ର | ||
Oromo garba | ||
Pashto بحر | ||
Persian اقیانوس | ||
Polish ocean | ||
Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) oceano | ||
Punjabi ਸਮੁੰਦਰ | ||
Quechua mama qucha | ||
Romanian ocean | ||
Russian океан | ||
Samoan sami | ||
Sanskrit समुद्रं | ||
Scots Gaelic cuan | ||
Sepedi lewatle | ||
Serbian океан | ||
Sesotho leoatle | ||
Shona gungwa | ||
Sindhi سمنڊ | ||
Sinhala (Sinhalese) සාගරය | ||
Slovak oceán | ||
Slovenian ocean | ||
Somali badweynta | ||
Spanish oceano | ||
Sundanese sagara | ||
Swahili bahari | ||
Swedish hav | ||
Tagalog (Filipino) karagatan | ||
Tajik уқёнус | ||
Tamil கடல் | ||
Tatar океан | ||
Telugu సముద్ర | ||
Thai มหาสมุทร | ||
Tigrinya ባሕሪ | ||
Tsonga lwandle | ||
Turkish okyanus | ||
Turkmen umman | ||
Twi (Akan) pobunu | ||
Ukrainian океану | ||
Urdu سمندر | ||
Uyghur ئوكيان | ||
Uzbek okean | ||
Vietnamese đại dương | ||
Welsh cefnfor | ||
Xhosa ulwandle | ||
Yiddish אָקעאַן | ||
Yoruba okun | ||
Zulu ulwandle |
Etymology & Notes
| Language | Etymology / Notes |
|---|---|
| Afrikaans | Oseaan comes from the Greek word "Ōkeanos", which referred to the world-encircling river or "ocean" in ancient mythology. |
| Albanian | The Albanian word "oqean" is a cognate of the Latin word "oceanus", which in turn comes from the Greek word "ὠκεανός" (Okeanos), the personification of the ocean in Greek mythology. |
| Amharic | ውቅያኖስ was first used by ancient Greeks for rivers encircling the Earth and in modern Ge'ez it refers to both seas and oceans. |
| Arabic | "محيط" (muhīt) is derived from the root "حيط" (h-y-ṭ), meaning to surround, encompass, or enclose. It can also refer to an area or space that surrounds or encompasses something else." |
| Armenian | The Armenian word “օվկիանոս” (“ocean”) is derived from the Greek word “ὠκεανός” (“Okeanos”), which in Greek mythology was the personification of the great river encircling the world. |
| Azerbaijani | "Okean" is derived from the Greek word "okeanos" meaning "great river" and originally referred to the mythical river circling the flat Earth. |
| Basque | The word 'ozeanoa' has its origin in Ancient Greek ('Ωκεανός') and is related to other words like 'Oceans', 'Oceania' and 'oceanography'. |
| Belarusian | The word "акіян" derives from the Greek word "ὠκεανός" (Okeanos), the personification of the circumfluent river surrounding the world. |
| Bengali | Derived from Sanskrit, 'samundra' means 'coming together of waters'. |
| Bosnian | Bosnian "okean" originated from Greek "Okeanos", a mythological figure personifying the ocean. |
| Bulgarian | The word "океан" in Bulgarian can also refer to a large body of water, such as a sea or lake. |
| Catalan | Although the word "oceà" in Catalan has its origin in the Greek word "ὠκεανός", it also shares a common root with the Latin word "aquosus" (aquatic), which highlights its connection to water. |
| Chinese (Simplified) | 海洋 also means “sea” and its etymology (海) refers to the large body of salt water that covers most of the earth's surface. |
| Chinese (Traditional) | 海洋 literally means "great sea" and refers to both oceans and other large bodies of water. |
| Corsican | Corsican "oceanu" derives from Greek "ὠκεανός" ("ōkeanós") referring to the primordial river surrounding the Earth. |
| Croatian | The word 'ocean' in Croatian is derived from the Greek word 'ōkeanos', meaning 'world ocean' or 'great stream surrounding the Earth'. |
| Czech | The word "oceán" in Czech can also mean "Atlantic Ocean" or "sea", depending on the context. |
| Danish | The Danish word 'ocean' can also refer to a large lake, such as the Aral Sea or the Caspian Sea. |
| Dutch | In Dutch, "oceaan" can refer to either the ocean as a whole or a specific ocean, such as the Atlantic or Pacific. |
| Esperanto | The Esperanto word "oceano" is derived from the Latin word "oceanus", which in turn comes from the Greek word "ὠκεανός" (ōkeanós), meaning "great river surrounding the world". |
| Estonian | The word "ookean" is of Greek origin and shares the same root as the English word "ocean". |
| Finnish | "Valtameri" is a compound of "valta" (power) and "meri" (sea), hence "mighty sea". |
| French | The word "océan" in French derives from ancient Greek "ōkeanos," a mythical river encircling the world. |
| Frisian | The Frisian word "oseaan" is derived from the Old Frisian word "ôse", meaning "water" or "sea". |
| Galician | The Galician word "océano" comes from the Latin "oceanus" which in turn comes from the Greek "ὠκεανός" meaning "vast body of water surrounding the land" |
| Georgian | The Georgian word |
| German | The word "Ozean" is derived from the Greek word "oceanus", which means "the great river surrounding the world". |
| Greek | The word may originally have meant a |
| Gujarati | The word "samudra" is derived from the Sanskrit word "samudra", which means "a gathering of waters". |
| Haitian Creole | Haitian Creole "lanmè', from French "la mer", itself from Vulgar Latin "la mare" ('sea'). The form "lan" in Old French was influenced by Norman and Picard French. Variant forms: lamè, lanmé, lamè a |
| Hausa | The word "teku" in Hausa has cognates in other Chadic languages such as the Kanuri words "teko" and "teku" meaning "river" or "creek". |
| Hawaiian | Moana can also refer to the realm of the ocean and gods within Polynesian mythology. |
| Hebrew | The Greek word “Okeanos”, from which “אוקיינוס” (“ocean”) is derived, originally referred to the vast river that was thought to encircle the world. |
| Hindi | The word 'सागर' (sāgar) derives from the Sanskrit root 'sāg', meaning 'to move' or 'to stream'. |
| Hmong | Dej hiav txwv literally translates to "water that can never be filled," indicating the ocean's vastness and depth. |
| Hungarian | The word "óceán" in Hungarian shares its etymology with the Greek word "Ωκεανός" (Okeanos), which was the name of a primordial sea deity in Greek mythology. |
| Icelandic | The word "haf" in Icelandic is derived from the Old Norse word "haf" meaning "sea" or "ocean," and is also related to the Germanic word "habe" meaning "to have" or "to hold." |
| Igbo | The Igbo word "oké osimiri" can also mean a large body of water, such as a lake or a river. |
| Indonesian | The word "lautan" is also used in Malay and Javanese, where its original meaning is "extensive area of water", which can refer to the ocean, a sea, or even a large lake. |
| Irish | The word "aigéan" in Irish comes from the Ancient Greek "ōkeanos," meaning "vast, all-encompassing body of water." |
| Italian | The Italian word "oceano" originates from the Greek word "okeanos," meaning "great river that encircles the Earth." |
| Japanese | The word "海洋" is derived from the Chinese word "海", meaning "sea", and "洋", meaning "vast". It can also refer to the sea or the ocean in general. |
| Javanese | In Javanese, "samodra" also denotes a "wide river," or sometimes "lake" depending on context |
| Kannada | In Kannada, "ಸಾಗರ" (sagara) also refers to a lake or a large body of water. |
| Kazakh | The Kazakh word "мұхит" (ocean) also means "sea" |
| Khmer | "មហាសមុទ្រ" is derived from Sanskrit meaning "great gathering of water": "maha: "large/great" and "samudra": "gathering of water". |
| Korean | While the word '대양' has historically meant 'great river', some linguists theorize it may also derive from an Altaic language root meaning 'water'. |
| Kurdish | The word "derya" in Kurdish, originally meaning "vast lake" or "wide river", was influenced by Arabic and Persian and gained the wider meaning of "ocean". |
| Kyrgyz | The word "океан" has Persian origin and is associated with a wide water space. |
| Lao | In Thai, the equivalent is มหาสมุทร ( |
| Latin | Oceanum, from Greek Okeanos, was also the personification of the great, encircling river at the end of the known world. |
| Latvian | In ancient Greek mythology, Ὠκεανός (Ōkeanós) is the primordial deity of the world-encircling river Oceanus, and by extension, the sea. |
| Lithuanian | The word "vandenynas" is derived from the Proto-Baltic word *wanduo, meaning "water". |
| Luxembourgish | In Luxembourgish, "Ozean" can refer to either the ocean or a vast expanse of land, suggesting its dual etymology from both Latin and German. |
| Macedonian | The word "океан" comes from the Greek word "ὠκεανός", which originally referred to the Earth-encircling river of the underworld. |
| Malagasy | The word "ranomasimbe" in Malagasy has an alternate meaning of "water of life". |
| Malay | The term is also applied to bodies of water smaller than oceans or seas, such as lakes and bays. |
| Malayalam | The word 'സമുദ്രം' ('samudram') in Malayalam is derived from the Sanskrit word 'samudra', meaning 'gathering of water'. |
| Maltese | The Maltese word "oċean" is thought to be derived from the Greek "ōkeanós," which also refers to the personification of the primordial ocean. |
| Maori | The Maori word "moana" also means "great expanse" or "vastness". |
| Marathi | समुद्र (samudra) may also refer to the convergence of rivers or the place where rivers meet the ocean. |
| Mongolian | The Mongolian word "далай" has been found in the 1225 Mongolian-Persian dictionary as "Dalai", meaning "sea". |
| Nepali | The word 'सागर' originated from the ancient Indo-Aryan root 'sagh' which denotes 'to be spacious. |
| Norwegian | The word "hav" can also refer to a body of water that is smaller than an ocean, such as a sea or a lake. |
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | The Nyanja word "nyanja" is thought to have a root in a Proto-Bantu word that also means "lake" and has cognates in several Bantu languages. |
| Pashto | In Pashto, "بحر" can also refer to a large river, lake, or sea. |
| Persian | The word "اقیانوس" ("ocean") in Persian is ultimately derived from Old Persian "ahyanuš," which may have originally meant "encircling" or perhaps "great water." |
| Polish | The word "ocean" derives from the Greek "okeanos", which originally referred to the vast river encircling the world. |
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | "Oceano" is thought to derive from ancient Greek "Okeanos", meaning "vast sea", or from "Okeanos", god of the river that was supposed to encircle the flat earth. |
| Punjabi | "ਸਮੁੰਦਰ" (samundar) is derived from the Sanskrit word "samudra", which originally referred to the "confluence of rivers" or a "large lake". |
| Romanian | The Romanian word "ocean" can also mean "sea" or "lake" depending on the context. |
| Russian | "Океан" происходит от греческого слова "ōkeanos", которое означает "безграничный поток". |
| Samoan | The word 'sami' may have origins in the Proto-Samoic language or may have borrowed from Tongan or another Polynesian language. |
| Scots Gaelic | The Scots Gaelic term 'cuan', meaning 'ocean', also refers to a specific ocean body or a wide, tidal body of water. |
| Serbian | The word "океан" derives from the Ancient Greek word "ὠκεανός" (Ōkeanós), referring to the primordial river encircling the world. |
| Sesotho | The word "leoatle" is related to the word "leboa", meaning "to swim". |
| Shona | The word "gungwa" can also refer to the "deep end" of a body of water. |
| Sindhi | "سمنڊ" is a word that also means "sea" in Sindhi. |
| Sinhala (Sinhalese) | "සාගරය" is derived from the Sanskrit word "सागर" (sāgara), which means "ocean" or "sea". |
| Slovak | The word "oceán" is not used in Slovak, the correct word for "ocean" is "oceán (m)" (pronounced oh-TSAY-ahn), derived from the Greek "okeanos", meaning "the great stream that encircles the earth". |
| Slovenian | The Slovenian word "ocean" comes from the Greek word "okeanos," which means the "great river that encircles the world." |
| Somali | The word 'badweynta' is a plural form, with the singular being 'bad' or 'badweyn'. |
| Spanish | The word "Oceano" derives from the Greek "Okeanos", the personification of the great river encircling the world, or the stream from which all rivers originate. |
| Sundanese | Sagara has the alternate meaning of a |
| Swahili | The word "Bahari" is derived from the Arabic word "bahr", also meaning "ocean". |
| Swedish | "Hav" is a Germanic word also found in English as "have" and in German as "heben" (to lift). |
| Tagalog (Filipino) | The root word "dagat" in "karagatan" may refer specifically to the sea or ocean but can also refer to other large bodies of water like lakes. |
| Tajik | The Tajik word "уқёнус" (ocean) is derived from the Greek word "ὠκεανός" (Okeanos), which refers to the primordial river encircling the Earth. |
| Tamil | The word 'கடல்' in Tamil can also mean 'forest', 'multitude', and 'darkness'. |
| Telugu | The word 'సముద్ర' can also refer to a 'large assembly' or 'gathering' in Telugu. |
| Thai | The word มหาสมุทร (mahāsamut) comes from the Sanskrit word महासागर (mahāsāgara), which means 'great gathering of water'. |
| Turkish | In Turkish, "okyanus" is also used to refer to a large body of water in general, regardless of whether it is an ocean or not. |
| Ukrainian | The Ukrainian word "океану" is related to the Greek "ὠκεανός" (Ōkeanós), the personification of the primordial river encircling the world. |
| Urdu | The word “سمندر“ also means “crocodile” and is derived from Sanskrit “samudra.” |
| Uzbek | The word `okean` in Uzbek ultimately derives from the Greek word `okeanos` meaning `a great river encircling the earth`. |
| Vietnamese | The word "đại dương" is derived from two Sino-Vietnamese morphemes: "đại" meaning "big" or "great," and "dương" meaning "water" or "ocean." |
| Welsh | "Cefnfor" is related to the Proto-Celtic "ceano" meaning "a gap" or "hollow". |
| Xhosa | The word 'ulwandle' in Xhosa is also synonymous with 'sea' or any large body of water. |
| Yiddish | The Yiddish word "אָקעאַן" (okean) ultimately derives from the Greek "ὠκεανός" (okeanos), meaning "great river that encircles the world". |
| Yoruba | The word "okun" in Yoruba can also refer to the deity of the ocean, or to a lagoon, or to the sea. |
| Zulu | The word 'ulwandle' is a composite of 'ulu' (great) and 'wandle' (water), hence 'great water'. |
| English | Ocean comes from the Greek Okeanos, the personification of the great global river encircling the Earth. |