Updated on March 6, 2024
The word 'pile' holds a significant place in our vocabulary, referring to a variety of concepts ranging from a collection of items to a structural support. Its cultural importance is evident in its use in proverbs and idioms, such as 'pile up' which means to accumulate or gather something over time. Understanding the translation of 'pile' in different languages can provide valuable insights into how different cultures perceive and utilize this common term.
For instance, in Spanish, 'pile' translates to 'pila', which also means 'battery'. In German, 'pile' becomes 'Haufen', which is also the word for 'heap'. In French, 'pile' is translated to 'tas', which can also mean 'bunch'. These translations not only offer a glimpse into the linguistic nuances of different languages but also highlight the versatility of the word 'pile'.
So, whether you're a language enthusiast, a cultural researcher, or simply curious, exploring the translations of 'pile' in different languages can be a fun and enlightening journey. Here are some translations to get you started:
Afrikaans | stapel | ||
The Afrikaans word "stapel" is also used in Dutch and Low German, meaning "trading place". | |||
Amharic | ክምር | ||
The word "ክምር" can also refer to a 'pile of stones', or a 'cairn' | |||
Hausa | tari | ||
The word 'tari' can also refer to a small mound of earth. | |||
Igbo | ikpo | ||
The Igbo word "ikpo" can also refer to a type of traditional Igbo masquerade or a group of masqueraders. | |||
Malagasy | antontany | ||
The word "antontany" also means "heap" or "mound" in Malagasy. | |||
Nyanja (Chichewa) | mulu | ||
"Mulu" in Nyanja can also refer to a crowd or gathering of people. | |||
Shona | murwi | ||
In 1914, the spelling was recorded as `murwi', a form which survived in many dialects, but the majority adopted `muri' which is now the standard form | |||
Somali | raso | ||
"Raso" also means "a flat surface" or "a plain". | |||
Sesotho | qubu | ||
The word "qubu" can also refer to a heap of stones or a pile of rubbish in Sesotho. | |||
Swahili | rundo | ||
The Swahili word "rundo" is derived from the Proto-Bantu word "*lunda", which means "heap". | |||
Xhosa | imfumba | ||
The word 'imfumba' can also refer to a gathering or assembly of people or animals. | |||
Yoruba | opoplopo | ||
Opoplopo, meaning 'pile', is also used more broadly to refer to a large quantity or number of something. | |||
Zulu | inqwaba | ||
The word "inqwaba" is also used to refer to a heap or mound of something, like a pile of rocks or a pile of firewood. | |||
Bambara | sara | ||
Ewe | ƒo kɔ | ||
Kinyarwanda | ikirundo | ||
Lingala | liboke | ||
Luganda | okubunga | ||
Sepedi | mokgobo | ||
Twi (Akan) | boa ano | ||
Arabic | كومة | ||
The Arabic word 'كومة' (pile) is derived from the verb 'كَامَ' (to pile up) and is related to the Hebrew word 'גומה' (well), suggesting a connection between piling and storage. | |||
Hebrew | עֲרֵמָה | ||
עֲרֵמָה can also mean "cunning","guile", or "trickery". | |||
Pashto | انبار | ||
In Pashto, "انبار" can also refer to a granary or a warehouse, suggesting its historical significance as a repository for essential resources. | |||
Arabic | كومة | ||
The Arabic word 'كومة' (pile) is derived from the verb 'كَامَ' (to pile up) and is related to the Hebrew word 'גומה' (well), suggesting a connection between piling and storage. |
Albanian | grumbull | ||
Derived from Ottoman Turkish "gürbüz" meaning "stout, robust, strong" | |||
Basque | pila | ||
In Basque, "pila" can also refer to a ball or a small boat. | |||
Catalan | pila | ||
The Catalan word 'pila' derives from the Latin 'pila', meaning 'basin' or 'vessel', and can refer to a baptismal font, a holy water basin, or a basin for washing hands. | |||
Croatian | hrpa | ||
The word "hrpa" is derived from the Proto-Slavic word *grъbъ, meaning "heap", and is cognate with the Russian word груда (gruda). | |||
Danish | bunke | ||
Bunke' in Danish also refers to a bedframe. | |||
Dutch | stapel | ||
In Middle Dutch, "stapel" also designated a heap of merchandise or a place of commercial exchange. | |||
English | pile | ||
The word "pile" can also refer to electrical batteries, or to the nap of fabric, e.g. velvet. | |||
French | pile | ||
The French word ''pile'' can also mean “head”, as in a pile of coins or wood, or even a pile of hair. | |||
Frisian | peal | ||
The Frisian word "peal" can also refer to a type of women's clothing worn in the past. | |||
Galician | morea | ||
In some areas of Galicia, it's also used as a unit of measurement (1000 units of any kind). | |||
German | stapel | ||
Depending on the context, 'Stapel' can also refer to a 'staple', 'stack', 'lot' or 'cargo'. | |||
Icelandic | hrúga | ||
Hrúga, in Icelandic, can refer not only to a collection heaped up as a pile, but also to the heap of rocks marking a grave, an animal's lair, or even a heap of snow. | |||
Irish | carn | ||
The name 'Carn' can also refer to a hill or rocky outcrop in Irish. | |||
Italian | mucchio | ||
The word "mucchio" derives from the Latin "muculus", meaning "little heap" or "small pile". | |||
Luxembourgish | koup | ||
Koup's etymology relates to the French word "coup" meaning blow or hit. | |||
Maltese | munzell | ||
The word "munzell" also means "heap" or "mound" in Maltese. | |||
Norwegian | bunke | ||
The Norwegian word "bunke" is thought to originate from the Proto-Germanic word "bungo", meaning a heap or pile. | |||
Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | pilha | ||
The Portuguese word "pilha" derives from the Latin "pila" and can mean both "pile" and "battery". | |||
Scots Gaelic | pile | ||
The term 'pile' in Scots Gaelic may refer to a small castle or fortified house. | |||
Spanish | pila | ||
In Spanish, "pila" can also refer to a baptismal font, a sink, or a stack of paper. | |||
Swedish | lugg | ||
Lug(g), in Swedish, as well as the Old Norse word logg, means 'pile' and is related to the English word 'log' | |||
Welsh | pentwr | ||
The word "pentwr" has an alternative meaning of "heap" or "hoard" in Welsh literature. |
Belarusian | ворс | ||
In Belarusian, the word "ворс" can also refer to the hair on an animal's body or the bristles of a brush. | |||
Bosnian | gomila | ||
The word "gomila" can also mean "heap", "mound", or "hill" in Bosnian. | |||
Bulgarian | купчина | ||
The word "купчина" can also mean "heap" or "mound". | |||
Czech | hromada | ||
The word hromada can also mean "a crowd" in Czech. | |||
Estonian | kuhjaga | ||
The word "kuhjaga" in Estonian originated from a noun meaning "bunch" or "heap" and also has a secondary meaning of "in abundance". | |||
Finnish | pino | ||
The word "pino" is a loanword from French "peigne" and means "comb" in Italian and "pig" in Hungarian. | |||
Hungarian | halom | ||
The word "halom" also means "accumulation" or "mound" and is related to the verbs "halmoz" and "halmu" (both meaning "to pile up"). | |||
Latvian | kaudze | ||
The Latvian word "kaudze" derives from the Proto-Indo-European root "*koud-", meaning "to heap up", and is cognate with the English word "crowd". | |||
Lithuanian | krūva | ||
Lithuanian "krūva" comes from the Proto-Indo-European root *kreu- "to accumulate, grow" and is related to the English word "crowd" and the German word "Haufen" (heap). | |||
Macedonian | куп | ||
The word "куп" also means "heap" in Macedonian. | |||
Polish | stos | ||
The Polish word "stos" can also refer to a collection of objects or documents that are stacked together. | |||
Romanian | morman | ||
"Morman" is a Romanian toponym derived from the archaic Hungarian word "murom" meaning "swampy forest" or "bog". | |||
Russian | куча | ||
The word "куча" can also refer to a group of people, especially a large, unruly group. | |||
Serbian | гомила | ||
"Гомила" (pile) likely originates from the Proto-Slavic word "*gomъ", meaning "knoll" or "heap". | |||
Slovak | hromada | ||
The word "hromada" also means "community" in Slovak. | |||
Slovenian | kup | ||
"Kup" also means "heap", "pile" and "mound". | |||
Ukrainian | купу | ||
The word "купу" can also refer to a haystack or a heap of something. |
Bengali | গাদা | ||
In ancient times, the word "গাদা" ("gada") was also utilized as a term designating an entire village | |||
Gujarati | ખૂંટો | ||
The word "khunto" is most likely derived from the Gujarati word "khut", meaning "pole" or "stake". | |||
Hindi | ढेर | ||
The word "ढेर" can also be used to mean "a lot" or "a great quantity" of something. | |||
Kannada | ರಾಶಿಯನ್ನು | ||
The word "ರಾಶಿಯನ್ನು" in Kannada can also refer to a large amount or quantity of something. | |||
Malayalam | മരത്തൂണ് | ||
The word "മരത്തൂണ്" (marathūn) in Malayalam can also refer to a "pillar" or a "post". | |||
Marathi | ब्लॉकला | ||
In Marathi, the word "ब्लॉकला" can also mean "to block", "to prevent", or "to obstruct". | |||
Nepali | थुप्रो | ||
The Nepali word "थुप्रो" is also used to describe an abundance or excess of something, similar to the English "heap" or "abundance". | |||
Punjabi | ileੇਰ | ||
The word "pile" in Punjabi has alternate meanings such as "a heap" and "a stack". | |||
Sinhala (Sinhalese) | ගොඩවල් | ||
The term 'ගොඩවල්' also denotes the stacks of hay and straw that are used for feeding domestic animals. | |||
Tamil | குவியல் | ||
The word "குவியல்" can also refer to "crowd" or "heap" in Tamil, and is related to the word "கூவு" meaning "to shout" or "make noise". | |||
Telugu | పైల్ | ||
In English, 'pile' can also refer to a large amount of something accumulated or heaped together, such as a pile of laundry or a pile of snow. | |||
Urdu | ڈھیر | ||
In Punjabi, 'ਢੇਰ' ('dher') also means 'many' or 'a lot'. |
Chinese (Simplified) | 桩 | ||
桩 (zhuang) is also a unit of measurement for land area, specifically for paddy fields | |||
Chinese (Traditional) | 樁 | ||
樁, meaning pile, is also a homophone for "樁" meaning to hit or pound. | |||
Japanese | パイル | ||
パイル is also used to refer to the soft, thick fabric used in clothing or bedding. | |||
Korean | 말뚝 | ||
"말뚝" originally meant a stake fastened into the ground to tie animals to it, or a large nail for fixing wood to walls. | |||
Mongolian | овоо | ||
In Mongolian, the word "ovo" (Mongolian: овоо) has many meanings, including "cairn" or a heap of stones that mark sacred sites or mountain passes. | |||
Myanmar (Burmese) | ပုံ | ||
The word ပုံ in Burmese can also refer to a heap, mound, or aggregate. |
Indonesian | tumpukan | ||
"Tumpukan" (literally "stack") can also be used figuratively as a "collection", "mass", or "heap" in Indonesian. | |||
Javanese | tumpukan | ||
The word "tumpukan" derives from the Proto-Austronesian word *tumpaq, meaning "stack" or "pile". | |||
Khmer | គំនរ | ||
The word 'គំនរ' (pile) derives from the Sanskrit word 'kumbha', which originally meant 'pot'. In addition to 'pile', 'គំនរ' can also refer to a group of people or animals. | |||
Lao | ວາງ | ||
The Lao word ວາງ, usually translated as pile, can also refer to a group of people or objects, similar to the English word heap. | |||
Malay | cerucuk | ||
The word “cerucuk” has an alternate meaning in the Javanese dictionary, it can also mean: to fall in a heap of clothes. | |||
Thai | กอง | ||
The Thai word "กอง" (pile) can also be split to form "กอก" (bunch, cluster) and "นอง" (abundant). | |||
Vietnamese | đóng cọc | ||
The word "Đóng cọc" can also refer to the act of establishing a permanent residence in a location. | |||
Filipino (Tagalog) | bunton | ||
Azerbaijani | xov | ||
The word "xov" in Azerbaijani also refers to a gathering of people for a specific purpose. | |||
Kazakh | үйінді | ||
"Үйінді" is also used to mean "a heap of something" or "a collection of something" in Kazakh. | |||
Kyrgyz | үймө | ||
The word "үймө" can also refer to a "stack" or a "heap" in Kyrgyz. | |||
Tajik | нурӣ | ||
The word "нурӣ" in Tajik can also refer to a type of fabric or a small carpet. | |||
Turkmen | üýşmek | ||
Uzbek | qoziq | ||
The Uzbek word "qoziq" also refers to a traditional stack of firewood or straw used for heating in rural areas. | |||
Uyghur | دۆۋە | ||
Hawaiian | puʻu | ||
"Puʻu" can also refer to a gathering or a crowd in Hawaiian. | |||
Maori | puranga | ||
Puranga derives from the Proto-Polynesian word "*punaŋa", also meaning "foundation, base" or "nest, heap". | |||
Samoan | faaputuga | ||
Faaputuga shares the Proto-Oceanic ancestor, *pati 'stone, flat stone, or pile.' | |||
Tagalog (Filipino) | tambak | ||
"Tambak" can also mean "fence" or "partition", derived from the root word "tambal" meaning "to patch" or "to fill in gaps." |
Aymara | phina | ||
Guarani | tendyme'ẽha | ||
Esperanto | amaso | ||
The word "amaso" also has the meaning of "crowd" in Esperanto. | |||
Latin | molem construunt | ||
In addition to its literal meaning as "pile," "molem" can also refer to a large number or a great amount of something. |
Greek | σωρός | ||
The word "σωρός" can also refer to a stack of hay or straw. | |||
Hmong | pawg | ||
In Hmong, "pawg" also refers to a heap or collection, especially of something valued or important. | |||
Kurdish | serhevdayî | ||
The Kurdish word "serhevdayî" can also refer to a border area or a frontier. | |||
Turkish | istif | ||
"İstif" kelimesi Arapça "saf" anlamına gelen "ṣaff" kelimesinden türemiştir. | |||
Xhosa | imfumba | ||
The word 'imfumba' can also refer to a gathering or assembly of people or animals. | |||
Yiddish | הויפן | ||
The word "הויפן" also refers to a type of prayer used in Jewish mourning rituals. | |||
Zulu | inqwaba | ||
The word "inqwaba" is also used to refer to a heap or mound of something, like a pile of rocks or a pile of firewood. | |||
Assamese | স্তূপ | ||
Aymara | phina | ||
Bhojpuri | ढेर | ||
Dhivehi | ފުނި | ||
Dogri | ठाला | ||
Filipino (Tagalog) | bunton | ||
Guarani | tendyme'ẽha | ||
Ilocano | ummongen | ||
Krio | bɔku | ||
Kurdish (Sorani) | کەڵەکە | ||
Maithili | ढेर | ||
Meiteilon (Manipuri) | ꯃꯄꯩ | ||
Mizo | intiangkhawm | ||
Oromo | tuullaa | ||
Odia (Oriya) | ଗଦା | ||
Quechua | qutu | ||
Sanskrit | सम्चि | ||
Tatar | өем | ||
Tigrinya | ኩምራ | ||
Tsonga | nhulu | ||