Pursue in Different Languages
Discover 'Pursue' in 134 Languages: Dive into Translations, Hear Pronunciations, and Uncover Cultural Insights.
Updated on March 6, 2024
The word 'pursue', rich in significance and cultural importance, carries with it a sense of determination and ambition. To pursue signifies to chase after, follow, or continue to strive for something with tenacity and resolve. This concept has been woven into the fabric of human culture, inspiring countless stories of individuals who have relentlessly pursued their dreams, ambitions, and goals.
Throughout history, the word 'pursue' has been associated with notable figures such as Martin Luther King Jr., whose famous quote 'I have a dream', embodies the very essence of pursuing a noble cause. Moreover, the word has been the subject of many philosophical debates, with philosophers like Immanuel Kant emphasizing the importance of pursuing one's goals with a sense of duty and moral obligation.
Understanding the translation of 'pursue' in different languages can open up a world of cultural insights and nuances. For instance, in Spanish, 'pursue' is translated as 'perseguir', while in French, it is translated as 'poursuivre'. In German, the word is translated as 'verfolgen', and in Japanese, it is translated as ' pursuit を続ける'.
Join us as we delve deeper into the translations of 'pursue' in various languages, shedding light on the fascinating cultural contexts that underpin this powerful word.
Pursue
Pursue in Sub-Saharan African Languages
| Afrikaans | agtervolg | ||
| The Afrikaans word "agtervolg" is derived from the Middle Dutch word "achtervolghen", which means "to follow closely" or "to search for". | |||
| Amharic | ማሳደድ | ||
| The Amharic term for ማሳደድ (pursue) is cognate with the Hebrew term סעד (to support), suggesting a conceptual connection between the two. | |||
| Hausa | bi | ||
| The Hausa word bi, meaning "to pursue," is also used in the sense of "to acquire" or "to obtain." | |||
| Igbo | na-achụ | ||
| The word "na-achụ" may also refer to the act of following a path, trail, or direction. | |||
| Malagasy | hanenjika | ||
| The Malagasy word for "pursue" is "hanenjika," which also means "to seek, search, or look for." | |||
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | kutsatira | ||
| "Kutsatira" in Nyanja also means "to investigate" or "to question." | |||
| Shona | tevera | ||
| Tevera, meaning 'pursue' in Shona, also means 'to follow' or 'to go after something'. | |||
| Somali | eryan | ||
| The verb "eryan" can also mean "drive away". | |||
| Sesotho | phehella | ||
| The word "phehella" can also mean "to follow after", or "to hunt down". | |||
| Swahili | fuatilia | ||
| Fuatilia can also refer to "follow up", "chase", "follow", or "trace and find." | |||
| Xhosa | landela | ||
| The Xhosa word "landela" derives from the verb "landa," meaning "to reach" or "to arrive at." | |||
| Yoruba | lepa | ||
| The verb 'lepa' in Yoruba also means 'to search' or 'to seek' akin to its English counterpart 'pursue'. | |||
| Zulu | phishekela | ||
| The Zulu word "phishekela" is also used to mean "to search for" or "to look for". | |||
| Bambara | nɔgɛn | ||
| Ewe | tsi eyome | ||
| Kinyarwanda | kurikira | ||
| Lingala | kolanda | ||
| Luganda | okulemerako | ||
| Sepedi | šala morago | ||
| Twi (Akan) | di akyire | ||
Pursue in North African & Middle Eastern Languages
| Arabic | لاحق | ||
| The word "لاحق" also means "to join" or "to meet" in Arabic, indicating a sense of proximity or connection in addition to pursuit. | |||
| Hebrew | לרדוף | ||
| The Hebrew word 'לרדוף' ('radof') can also mean to oppress or persecute. | |||
| Pashto | تعقیب | ||
| The Pashto word 'تعقیب' also refers to the process of seeking a court order or following up on an issue. | |||
| Arabic | لاحق | ||
| The word "لاحق" also means "to join" or "to meet" in Arabic, indicating a sense of proximity or connection in addition to pursuit. | |||
Pursue in Western European Languages
| Albanian | ndjekin | ||
| The Albanian word "ndjekin" is also used idiomatically to mean "to follow someone's lead" or "to take someone's advice." | |||
| Basque | jarraitu | ||
| The word "jarraitu" has different meanings, including "to follow the path", "to continue", and "to persist with something." | |||
| Catalan | perseguir | ||
| In Catalan, "perseguir" also means "to haunt" or "to persecute". | |||
| Croatian | progoniti | ||
| The word "progoniti" in Croatian means "to drive away", "to chase away", "to expel", and "to hunt down". | |||
| Danish | forfølge | ||
| In Norwegian, the word "forfølge" can also mean "to prosecute". | |||
| Dutch | na te streven | ||
| "Na te streven" (Dutch) is also used in the sense of "to court or woo" a woman. | |||
| English | pursue | ||
| The word "pursue" derives from the Old French word "poursuivre," meaning "to follow up," or "to continue." | |||
| French | poursuivre | ||
| "Poursuivre" derives from the Latin "prosequi" meaning "follow" or "accompany". | |||
| Frisian | efterfolgje | ||
| The word "efterfolgje" may refer to the "following" of a person or an idea. | |||
| Galician | perseguir | ||
| The Galician word "perseguir" can also mean "to torment" or "to harass". | |||
| German | verfolgen | ||
| "Verfolgen" originally meant "to follow the tracks of" and is etymologically related to "folgen" (to follow). | |||
| Icelandic | stunda | ||
| The word "stunda" also means "hour" in Icelandic, and may be derived from the Proto-Germanic word "*stundô" meaning "time". | |||
| Irish | shaothrú | ||
| In Old Irish, 'shaothrú' also had the meaning 'to pursue something in a military context'. | |||
| Italian | perseguire | ||
| The Italian word "perseguire" can also mean "to punish" or "to seek vengeance", and is derived from the Latin word "persequi" meaning "to follow after". | |||
| Luxembourgish | verfollegen | ||
| In the field of hunting, "verfollegen" also means "to quarter". | |||
| Maltese | issegwi | ||
| The word is derived from the Arabic verb 'assaga,' meaning 'to seek or pursue,' and the root 'sgw,' meaning 'to move or go'. | |||
| Norwegian | forfølge | ||
| The word "forfølge" comes from the Old Norse word "forfylgja", which means "to follow after" or "to chase". | |||
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | perseguir | ||
| The Portuguese word "perseguir" can also mean "to persecute" or "to harass". | |||
| Scots Gaelic | an tòir | ||
| An tòir, meaning "pursue," originates from the Old Irish word "fòir," which denotes "to march, advance, or strive. | |||
| Spanish | perseguir | ||
| Perseguir in Spanish comes from the Latin verb 'persequi', which means to follow after or to chase. | |||
| Swedish | bedriva | ||
| The word "bedriva" is derived from the Old Norse "drífa", meaning "to drive", and can also refer to "operating a business" or "keeping up a habit." | |||
| Welsh | ymlid | ||
| The Welsh word "ymlid" derives from the Proto-Celtic root *ad-lhid-, meaning "to strive, to pursue". | |||
Pursue in Eastern European Languages
| Belarusian | пераследваць | ||
| Bosnian | nastaviti | ||
| The verb nastavlja is derived from the noun nastav(ak) 'continuation', which is itself derived from the verb nastaviti 'to set out, to begin'. | |||
| Bulgarian | преследват | ||
| The verb "преследват" can also mean "to haunt" or "to persecute" in Bulgarian. | |||
| Czech | sledovat | ||
| The Czech word "sledovat" ultimately derives from the Proto-Slavic word "slěditi", meaning "to follow" or "to track". | |||
| Estonian | jälitama | ||
| "Jälitama" in Estonian shares the same root, "jäli", with other words pertaining to the concept of tracking or following, such as "jälg" (track, trace) and "jälgimine" (tracking, monitoring). | |||
| Finnish | jatkaa | ||
| The word "jatkaa" can also mean "to lengthen" or "to extend" in Finnish. | |||
| Hungarian | folytatni | ||
| The Hungarian word 'folytatni' is derived from a verb meaning 'to flow'. | |||
| Latvian | turpināt | ||
| The word "turpināt" comes from the Indo-European root *terp-, which originally meant "to turn". | |||
| Lithuanian | siekti | ||
| The Lithuanian word "siekti" not only means "pursue"; in the old language it was used to signify "stretch", "reach", or "aspire to obtain"" | |||
| Macedonian | извршуваат | ||
| Polish | kontynuować | ||
| The word 'kontynuować' in Polish comes from the Latin word 'continuus', meaning 'continuous' or 'uninterrupted'. | |||
| Romanian | urmări | ||
| The Romanian verb "urmări" derives from the noun "urmă" meaning "trace," suggesting the idea of following a trail. | |||
| Russian | преследовать | ||
| "Преследовать" may also refer to being followed by bad luck. | |||
| Serbian | гонити | ||
| The word 'гонити' also means to 'urge' or 'encourage' in Serbian. | |||
| Slovak | prenasledovať | ||
| The verb "prenasledovať" not only means "to pursue" but also "to persecute," which is evident from its prefix "pre-" (meaning "through") and the root "nasledovať" (meaning "to follow"). | |||
| Slovenian | zasledovati | ||
| "Zasledovati" also means "to track" in English. | |||
| Ukrainian | переслідувати | ||
| The word "переслідувати" can also mean "to follow" or "to harass" in Ukrainian. | |||
Pursue in South Asian Languages
| Bengali | অন্বেষণ করা | ||
| "অন্বেষণ করা" also means to search for something or to try to find out something. | |||
| Gujarati | પીછો | ||
| Hindi | आगे बढ़ाने | ||
| The Hindi verb "आगे बढ़ाने" also means to "promote" or "advance" something, such as a career or idea. | |||
| Kannada | ಮುಂದುವರಿಸಿ | ||
| Malayalam | പിന്തുടരുക | ||
| പിന്തുടരുക (pursue) in Malayalam can also mean 'to follow' or 'to chase', and is derived from the Sanskrit word "padanuśaraṇa" | |||
| Marathi | पाठपुरावा | ||
| Derived from the Sanskrit word 'पथ' (path), 'पाठपुरावा' initially meant 'to walk along a path', and later came to mean 'to pursue' or 'to follow'. | |||
| Nepali | पछि लाग्नु | ||
| Meaning 'to go after', 'to chase' in Nepali, the word 'पछि लाग्नु' literally means 'to follow behind'. | |||
| Punjabi | ਪਿੱਛਾ | ||
| Sinhala (Sinhalese) | ලුහුබඳින්න | ||
| Tamil | தொடர | ||
| "தொடர" also means to continue without interruption, or to be adjacent. | |||
| Telugu | కొనసాగించండి | ||
| The word "pursue" derives from Old French "poursivre", meaning to follow, chase or seek, from Late Latin "prosequi", from "sequi" (meaning to follow); compare with "sequel", from Latin "sequela" | |||
| Urdu | پیچھا | ||
| The word "پیچھا" is derived from the Persian word "پای" meaning "foot" and "چیدن" meaning "to pick up" representing the act of following someone's footsteps. | |||
Pursue in East Asian Languages
| Chinese (Simplified) | 追求 | ||
| 追求 (zhuiqiu) also means 'to seek', 'to strive for', or 'to desire'. | |||
| Chinese (Traditional) | 追求 | ||
| 追求, the original Chinese character means "follow in the footsteps of," with connotations of "seek and seek again," and is used in modern Chinese to mean "diligent and striving" | |||
| Japanese | 追求する | ||
| "追求する" can mean "to pursue" or "to investigate". | |||
| Korean | 추구하다 | ||
| "추구하다" is derived from the Middle Korean word "추고다," which had the same meaning as the modern term. | |||
| Mongolian | мөрдөх | ||
| The verb "мөрдөх" is also used in the Mongolian language to mean "to seek out", "to find" or "to investigate". | |||
| Myanmar (Burmese) | လိုက် | ||
| The term လိုက် (/laiʔ/) can also mean "to go," "to follow after," and "to accompany" in contexts involving spatial relationships. | |||
Pursue in South East Asian Languages
| Indonesian | mengejar | ||
| In Old Javanese and Old Malay, the word "mengejar" also meant "to follow someone in order to harm them". | |||
| Javanese | ngoyak | ||
| The Javanese word "ngoyak" can also refer to the act of searching for something. | |||
| Khmer | ដេញតាម | ||
| The word "ដេញតាម" (pursue) is used to describe someone who follows, tracks, or chases something or someone else. | |||
| Lao | ໄລ່ຕາມ | ||
| The Lao word ໄລ່ຕາມ derives from the Proto-Tai word *laaŋ-taam, meaning "to follow after". | |||
| Malay | mengejar | ||
| "Mengejar" also means "to chase after" or "to run after". | |||
| Thai | ไล่ตาม | ||
| The word "ไล่ตาม" also means "to follow" or "to chase". | |||
| Vietnamese | theo đuổi | ||
| "Theo đuổi" literally means "follow and chase", and it can be used to describe the pursuit of a goal, a person, or an object. | |||
| Filipino (Tagalog) | ituloy | ||
Pursue in Central Asian Languages
| Azerbaijani | təqib etmək | ||
| The word "təqib etmək" can also mean "to prosecute" or "to follow up". | |||
| Kazakh | іздеу | ||
| The Kazakh word "іздеу" can also mean "to look for" or "to seek". | |||
| Kyrgyz | артынан түшүү | ||
| Tajik | дунбол кардан | ||
| The verb has Turkic origin, from the word "dunbulqagh", meaning "to turn, to whirl, to revolve, to wander, to run round". | |||
| Turkmen | yzarla | ||
| Uzbek | ta'qib qilish | ||
| Ta'qib qilish is a common Uzbek word for "chase" or "follow". | |||
| Uyghur | قوغلاش | ||
Pursue in Pacific Languages
| Hawaiian | alualu | ||
| "Alualu" also means "to follow, accompany, attend, chase, hunt, or escort." | |||
| Maori | whai | ||
| The Maori word "whai" also means "to desire" or "to seek after". | |||
| Samoan | tuliloa | ||
| Also has the literal meaning of "to go away" when "tu" is replaced by "sa". In this sense, "sa" has the meaning of "out" as in "sa i fafo" (go outside). | |||
| Tagalog (Filipino) | habulin | ||
| The word 'habulin' may also refer to a game where one person chases and tries to catch another. | |||
Pursue in American Indigenous Languages
| Aymara | thaqhaña | ||
| Guarani | hapykuéri | ||
Pursue in International Languages
| Esperanto | persekuti | ||
| The word "persekuti" also has the alternate meaning of "persecute" in Esperanto. | |||
| Latin | persequi | ||
| The Latin term "persequi" also means "to follow up on," "to investigate," or "to punish." | |||
Pursue in Others Languages
| Greek | επιδιώκω | ||
| επιδιώκω is sometimes used with an object and an infinitive. | |||
| Hmong | caum kev | ||
| The word "caum kev" can also mean "to follow" or "to chase" in Hmong. | |||
| Kurdish | şopgirtin | ||
| The Kurmancî Kurdish verb 'şopgirtin' is derived from the Persian verb 'shopgereftan', meaning 'to catch' or 'to seize'. | |||
| Turkish | takip etmek | ||
| The word "takip etmek" literally means "to follow" in Turkish, but it also carries the connotation of "to chase" or "to hunt. | |||
| Xhosa | landela | ||
| The Xhosa word "landela" derives from the verb "landa," meaning "to reach" or "to arrive at." | |||
| Yiddish | נאָכגיין | ||
| The Yiddish word "נאָכגיין" (nakhgeyn) derives from the German word "nachgehen" (to follow behind, to pursue). | |||
| Zulu | phishekela | ||
| The Zulu word "phishekela" is also used to mean "to search for" or "to look for". | |||
| Assamese | অনুসৰণ কৰা | ||
| Aymara | thaqhaña | ||
| Bhojpuri | लागल रहल | ||
| Dhivehi | ހިޔާރުކުރުން | ||
| Dogri | लक्ष्य रक्खना | ||
| Filipino (Tagalog) | ituloy | ||
| Guarani | hapykuéri | ||
| Ilocano | suroten | ||
| Krio | rɔnata | ||
| Kurdish (Sorani) | ئەنجامدان | ||
| Maithili | जारी रखनाइ | ||
| Meiteilon (Manipuri) | ꯇꯥꯟꯅꯕ | ||
| Mizo | bawhzui | ||
| Oromo | hordofuu | ||
| Odia (Oriya) | ଅନୁସରଣ କର | ||
| Quechua | qatiykachay | ||
| Sanskrit | प्रयक्षते | ||
| Tatar | эзләү | ||
| Tigrinya | ክትትል | ||
| Tsonga | hlongorisa | ||