Prison in Different Languages
Discover 'Prison' in 134 Languages: Dive into Translations, Hear Pronunciations, and Uncover Cultural Insights.
Prison
Afrikaans gevangenis | ||
Albanian burgu | ||
Amharic እስር ቤት | ||
Arabic السجن | ||
Armenian բանտ | ||
Assamese কাৰাগাৰ | ||
Aymara jariyawi | ||
Azerbaijani həbsxana | ||
Bambara kaso | ||
Basque kartzela | ||
Belarusian турма | ||
Bengali কারাগার | ||
Bhojpuri जेल | ||
Bosnian zatvor | ||
Bulgarian затвор | ||
Catalan presó | ||
Cebuano bilanggoan | ||
Chinese (Simplified) 监狱 | ||
Chinese (Traditional) 監獄 | ||
Corsican prigiò | ||
Croatian zatvor | ||
Czech vězení | ||
Danish fængsel | ||
Dhivehi ޖަލު | ||
Dogri जै'ल | ||
Dutch gevangenis | ||
English prison | ||
Esperanto malliberejo | ||
Estonian vangla | ||
Ewe mɔ | ||
Filipino (Tagalog) bilangguan | ||
Finnish vankila | ||
French prison | ||
Frisian gefangenis | ||
Galician prisión | ||
Georgian ციხე | ||
German gefängnis | ||
Greek φυλακή | ||
Guarani ka'irãi | ||
Gujarati જેલ | ||
Haitian Creole prizon | ||
Hausa kurkuku | ||
Hawaiian hale paʻahao | ||
Hebrew בית כלא | ||
Hindi जेल व | ||
Hmong nkuaj | ||
Hungarian börtön | ||
Icelandic fangelsi | ||
Igbo ụlọ mkpọrọ | ||
Ilocano pagbaludan | ||
Indonesian penjara | ||
Irish príosún | ||
Italian prigione | ||
Japanese 刑務所 | ||
Javanese pakunjaran | ||
Kannada ಜೈಲು | ||
Kazakh түрме | ||
Khmer ពន្ធនាគារ | ||
Kinyarwanda gereza | ||
Konkani कादय | ||
Korean 감옥 | ||
Krio jel | ||
Kurdish girtîgeh | ||
Kurdish (Sorani) بەندیخانە | ||
Kyrgyz түрмө | ||
Lao ຄຸກ | ||
Latin carcerem | ||
Latvian cietums | ||
Lingala boloko | ||
Lithuanian kalėjimas | ||
Luganda ekkomera | ||
Luxembourgish prisong | ||
Macedonian затвор | ||
Maithili कारागार | ||
Malagasy am-ponja | ||
Malay penjara | ||
Malayalam ജയിൽ | ||
Maltese ħabs | ||
Maori whare herehere | ||
Marathi तुरुंग | ||
Meiteilon (Manipuri) ꯐꯥꯗꯣꯛꯁꯪ | ||
Mizo lungin | ||
Mongolian шорон | ||
Myanmar (Burmese) အကျဉ်းထောင် | ||
Nepali जेल | ||
Norwegian fengsel | ||
Nyanja (Chichewa) ndende | ||
Odia (Oriya) କାରାଗାର | ||
Oromo mana hidhaa | ||
Pashto زندان | ||
Persian زندان | ||
Polish więzienie | ||
Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) prisão | ||
Punjabi ਜੇਲ | ||
Quechua atisanka wasi | ||
Romanian închisoare | ||
Russian тюрьма | ||
Samoan falepuipui | ||
Sanskrit कारागृह | ||
Scots Gaelic phrìosan | ||
Sepedi kgolego | ||
Serbian затвор | ||
Sesotho chankana | ||
Shona jeri | ||
Sindhi جيل | ||
Sinhala (Sinhalese) බන්ධනාගාර | ||
Slovak väzenie | ||
Slovenian zapor | ||
Somali xabsi | ||
Spanish prisión | ||
Sundanese panjara | ||
Swahili gereza | ||
Swedish fängelse | ||
Tagalog (Filipino) kulungan | ||
Tajik зиндон | ||
Tamil சிறையில் | ||
Tatar төрмә | ||
Telugu జైలు | ||
Thai คุก | ||
Tigrinya እስር ቤት | ||
Tsonga khotso | ||
Turkish hapishane | ||
Turkmen türme | ||
Twi (Akan) afiase | ||
Ukrainian тюрма | ||
Urdu جیل | ||
Uyghur تۈرمە | ||
Uzbek qamoqxona | ||
Vietnamese nhà tù | ||
Welsh carchar | ||
Xhosa intolongo | ||
Yiddish טורמע | ||
Yoruba tubu | ||
Zulu ijele |
Etymology & Notes
| Language | Etymology / Notes |
|---|---|
| Afrikaans | The word 'gevangenis' likely originates from the Latin 'captivus', meaning 'captive.' |
| Albanian | An alternative meaning is "a place where animals are kept". |
| Amharic | The word 'እስር ቤት' in Amharic literally means 'house of chains'. |
| Arabic | The Arabic word "السجن" (al-sijn) also means "fortification" or "stronghold" and is derived from the root word "سجن" (sajana), meaning "to enclose" or "to shut in." |
| Armenian | The word "բանտ" (prison) in Armenian is derived from the Persian word "بند" (bond, fetter) and ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European root "*bʰendh-" (to bind). |
| Azerbaijani | "Həbsxana" is derived from the Persian word "habs", meaning "custody", and the Azerbaijani suffix "-xana", meaning "place". It can also refer to a detention center or a juvenile detention facility. |
| Basque | "Kartzel" is a loanword from Spanish "cárcel" which, in turn, comes from Latin "carcer". It has been part of the Basque language since at least the 16th century. |
| Belarusian | The term "турма" is also used in some Slavic languages to refer to a prison or a place of detention. |
| Bengali | "কারাগার" can also mean "captivity," "bondage," or "slavery" in Bengali. |
| Bosnian | "Zatvor" has several meanings in Bosnian, including "constipation", "closure" and "conclusion of a case or meeting". |
| Bulgarian | The Bulgarian word "затвор" is related to the Serbian words "zatvor" ("closure, imprisonment") and "zatvoriti" ("to close, to imprison"). |
| Catalan | The word "presó" in Catalan is derived from the Latin word "prensus", meaning "captured" or "seized". |
| Chinese (Simplified) | The Chinese word "监狱" (jiànyù) literally means "to isolate and educate". |
| Chinese (Traditional) | The character 監 (jiàn) in 監獄 originally meant 'to supervise', while 獄 (yù) meant 'a place of detention'. During the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BCE), the character 監獄 was officially adopted to refer to prisons. |
| Corsican | 'Prigione' in Tuscan, 'prisò' in Provençal, 'presó' in Catalan. From the classical Latin 'prehensio'. Also in Corsica it can indicate a 'seizure', especially when it came to seizing goods from debtors. |
| Croatian | "Zatvor" is derived from the Croatian word "zatvoriti," meaning "to close" or "to lock," and originally referred to a closed-off space; it can also mean "constipation" or "a blockage." |
| Czech | The word "vězení" comes from the Old Czech word "věziti," meaning "to bind" or "to hold captive." |
| Danish | The word "fængsel" is derived from the Old Norse word "fengs" meaning "fetter" and the Old Danish word "sal" meaning "house". |
| Dutch | "Gevangenis" is derived from the Middle Dutch word "gevangenisse," meaning "captivity" or "imprisonment." |
| Esperanto | "Malliberejo" literally means "free-unplace" or "not-liberty-place", which reflects the negative connotation associated with prison. |
| Estonian | Etymology of "vangla" is uncertain, but it may derive from German "fangen" (to catch) or Latin "vinculum" (bond). |
| Finnish | Its Proto-Germanic origin means 'curved', which could relate to a type of prison. |
| French | The French word 'prison' comes from the Latin 'prehendere', meaning 'to seize or capture'. |
| Frisian | In some contexts, the West Frisian word "gefangenis" can refer to the act of capturing or imprisonment. |
| Galician | In the Galician language, the word "prisión" can also refer to a clamp used to fasten something tightly. |
| Georgian | In Georgian, the word "ციხე" originally meant "fortified place" and was only later used to refer to prisons. |
| German | The word "Gefängnis" derives from the Old High German word "givancnissa", meaning "capture" or "imprisonment". |
| Greek | The word 'φυλακή' (prison) in Greek also means 'guard', 'watch', or 'protection'. |
| Gujarati | "જેલ" can refer to prison or a lattice of any material |
| Haitian Creole | The word "prizon" in Haitian Creole comes from the Spanish "prision" while "prizonye" is derived from the French word "prisonnier" which means "prisoner". |
| Hausa | The Hausa word "kurkuku" also means "a small hole" |
| Hawaiian | Historically 'hale pa'ahao' referred to prisons with walls of stone or coral. |
| Hebrew | בית כלא in Hebrew comes from the Talmudic phrase על בית סוהר, and originally meant a place of detention for non-criminals |
| Hindi | The word "जेल" is derived from the Persian word "زندان" (zindān), meaning "a place of confinement". |
| Hmong | The word "nkuaj" is possibly derived from the Vietnamese word "ngục," meaning "prison." |
| Hungarian | The Hungarian word "börtön" ("prison") is derived from the Turkic word "börte" meaning "tent" or "dwelling place". |
| Icelandic | The term 'fangelsi' was originally a term for the space between two posts or branches supporting a trap. |
| Indonesian | The Indonesian word "penjara" can also refer to a cage, an enclosure, or a place of confinement. |
| Irish | The word "príosún" (prison) in Irish comes from the Latin word "prehensio" (seizure) and also means "capture". |
| Italian | "Prigione" derives from the Latin word "prendere," meaning "to seize" or "to capture" |
| Japanese | The word "刑務所" is derived from the Chinese word "刑務", meaning "punishment". |
| Javanese | Pakunjaran, derived from Sanskrit, originally meant 'island', and evolved to refer to a place of confinement due to its isolation. |
| Kannada | The word "ಜೈಲು" in Kannada is thought to be derived from the Portuguese word "gaiola" or the English word "jail", both meaning "prison". |
| Kazakh | The Kazakh word "түрме" is also used in Turkish and means "tomb" or "sepulcher". |
| Khmer | In Khmer, the word "ពន្ធនាគារ" literally means "a place where you are wrapped up in chains of snakes." |
| Korean | 감옥 is derived from the Middle Chinese word 'kám-ngiok' meaning 'locked building' and its original meaning was more like 'jail' or 'detention centre'. |
| Kurdish | The word 'girtîgeh' is derived from the Persian word 'gerdīgah', which means 'a place where people are detained'. |
| Kyrgyz | The word "түрмө" (tyurma) is not originally Kyrgyz but has been adopted from Russian and is a cognate of the Turkic word "тюрьма" (tyurma), meaning "place of confinement". |
| Lao | In Lao, the word "ຄຸກ" can also refer to a "cage" or a "pen". |
| Latin | The word "carcerem" originates from the Latin verb "carcere," meaning "to enclose," and its root is shared with the word "coercive." |
| Latvian | The word "cietums" is derived from the Proto-Germanic word "*ketjōną", which originally meant "to bind together". |
| Lithuanian | "Kalėjimas" also means "blacksmithing" in Lithuanian and comes from the verb "kalti" ("to forge") |
| Luxembourgish | The Luxembourgish word "Prisong" can also refer to a dungeon or a small cell. |
| Macedonian | The word "затвор" ("zatvor") also refers to a hermit's cell in an Eastern Orthodox monastery, where a monk lives in secluded prayer. |
| Malagasy | "Am-ponja" is derived from the Malay word "penjara", originally meaning "trap". |
| Malay | The word "penjara" originally meant "cage" or "enclosure" in Javanese. |
| Malayalam | The word "ജയിൽ" also means "successful" in Malayalam. |
| Maltese | The Maltese word for prison, "ħabs", also has an alternative meaning, "confines" or "boundaries". |
| Maori | The word "whare herehere" in Maori can also refer to a house of corrections or a place of confinement. |
| Marathi | "तुरुंग" (prison) originated from "तुरुंग" (cave) and was later used for prisons possibly due to caves being used as makeshift prisons in the past. |
| Mongolian | In some dialects of Mongolian, this word refers to “fence made of reeds” or “sheep fold” |
| Nepali | The word "जेल" is derived from the Persian word "زندان" (zindān), meaning "dungeon" or "prison". |
| Norwegian | The word 'fengsel' is derived from the Old Norse word 'fanga', meaning 'to catch or capture'. |
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | In Nyanja, 'ndende' is also a type of wooden fence used to encircle villages or cattle pens. |
| Pashto | The Pashto word "زندان" is cognate with the Persian word "زندان", both of which derives from the Arabic root word "ز-ن-د" meaning "to restrain" or "to imprison". |
| Persian | زندان is derived from the Middle Persian word 'band', meaning 'bond, fetter', and refers to the confinement of individuals in a guarded space. |
| Polish | The Polish word "więzienie" can also mean "a bond" or "a fetter". |
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | The Portuguese word "prisão" derives from the Latin "prehensio", meaning "seizure" or "capture", and can also refer to a legal restraint, such as an injunction or arrest. |
| Punjabi | In Punjabi, "jail" can also be used as a verb meaning "to confine" or "to restrain". |
| Romanian | "Închisoare" is derived from the Latin word "incarcerare", meaning "to imprison". In Romanian, it can also refer to a monastery or a place of confinement. |
| Russian | The word "тюрьма" (prison) in Russian comes from the Turkic word "türmä", meaning "dwelling" or "place of confinement". |
| Samoan | The word "falepuipui" derives from the Samoan words "fale" (house) and "puipui" (to enclose), suggesting its historical use as a place of confinement. |
| Scots Gaelic | The Scots Gaelic word "phrìosan" is related to the Latin word "prensio" meaning "to seize" and the Irish word "príosún" meaning "a catch or trap". |
| Serbian | The word "затвор" (prison) is derived from the verb "затворити" (to close), suggesting a place of confinement or isolation. |
| Sesotho | The word "chankana" also means "to trap" or "to ensnare" in Sesotho. |
| Shona | The word "jeri" in Shona, meaning "prison," originates from the verb "kujira" (to shut or enclose). |
| Sindhi | The word "جيل" is also used figuratively to refer to a place of confinement or restriction. |
| Sinhala (Sinhalese) | The Sinhala term 'bandanagara' for 'prison' derives from Sanskrit and originally referred to a 'residence of the bound' |
| Slovak | The word "väzenie" (prison) is derived from the Slavic verb "vęzati" (to bind), implying confinement and restriction of movement. |
| Slovenian | "Zapor" in Slovenian can also refer to a barrier or enclosure, not just a prison. |
| Somali | The Somali word "xabsi" also means "cage" or "confinement". |
| Spanish | "Prisión" also means "pressure" or "tightness" in Spanish. |
| Sundanese | In Sundanese, the word "panjara" can also refer to a cage or an enclosure for animals. |
| Swahili | The term 'gereza' may be related to 'gerezo', a type of tree found near a prison in Zanzibar and used to make prison walls. |
| Swedish | "Fängelse" in Swedish originates from the Old Norse word "fengsel", meaning "to catch" or "to hold captive." |
| Tagalog (Filipino) | The Tagalog word "kulungan" is derived from the root word "kulong," which means "to confine" or "to imprison." |
| Tajik | "Зиндон" is an Arabic loanword meaning "dungeon" or "cell". In modern Tajik, it is used to refer to prisons in general. |
| Tamil | The Tamil word "சிறையில்" comes from the Sanskrit word "श्री" meaning "prosperous" or "auspicious", which is ironic considering its current meaning of "prison". |
| Telugu | The word "జైలు" (prison) is derived from the Persian word "زندان" (zindān), meaning "stronghold" or "dungeon". |
| Thai | The word "คุก" also means "to cough" in Thai. |
| Turkish | The word "hapishane" originates from the Persian word "habs" meaning "detention" and the Turkish suffix "-hane" meaning "house". |
| Ukrainian | The word "тюрма" (prison) in Ukrainian originates from the ancient Greek word "turme" (watchtower, dungeon). |
| Urdu | The word "جیل" ultimately derives from the Latin word "caveola", meaning "small cave". |
| Uzbek | Qamoqxona is derived from the Persian word "qamoghikhounah" which means "place of arrest and detention". |
| Vietnamese | "Nhà tù" can also refer to a specific type of traditional Vietnamese architecture. |
| Welsh | Carchar is derived from the Middle Welsh term 'carchar' meaning 'enclosure' or 'confine' |
| Xhosa | The word 'intolongo' in Xhosa also carries connotations of isolation and containment. |
| Yiddish | In Hebrew, "טורמע" originally meant "wall" or "barrier" and was only later used figuratively to refer to "prison". |
| Yoruba | Tubu is thought to be derived from the word 'tu', meaning 'to guard' in Yoruba. |
| Zulu | The word "ijele" in Zulu, meaning "prison," is etymologically related to the verb "jele," meaning "to lock up or imprison." |
| English | The word "prison" derives from the Old French word "prisun" meaning "capture," and ultimately from the Latin word "prehendere" meaning "to seize." |