Rare in Different Languages
Discover 'Rare' in 134 Languages: Dive into Translations, Hear Pronunciations, and Uncover Cultural Insights.
Rare
Afrikaans skaars | ||
Albanian i rrallë | ||
Amharic አልፎ አልፎ | ||
Arabic نادر | ||
Armenian հազվագյուտ | ||
Assamese বিৰল | ||
Aymara mayt'aña | ||
Azerbaijani nadir | ||
Bambara manteli ka kɛ | ||
Basque arraroa | ||
Belarusian рэдка | ||
Bengali বিরল | ||
Bhojpuri दुलम | ||
Bosnian rijetko | ||
Bulgarian рядко | ||
Catalan rar | ||
Cebuano talagsa ra | ||
Chinese (Simplified) 罕见 | ||
Chinese (Traditional) 罕見 | ||
Corsican raru | ||
Croatian rijetko | ||
Czech vzácný | ||
Danish sjælden | ||
Dhivehi ވަރަށް މަދުން | ||
Dogri ओपरा | ||
Dutch bijzonder | ||
English rare | ||
Esperanto malofta | ||
Estonian haruldane | ||
Ewe mebᴐ o | ||
Filipino (Tagalog) bihira | ||
Finnish harvinainen | ||
French rare | ||
Frisian seldsum | ||
Galician raro | ||
Georgian იშვიათი | ||
German selten | ||
Greek σπάνιος | ||
Guarani jepivegua'ỹ | ||
Gujarati દુર્લભ | ||
Haitian Creole ra | ||
Hausa ba safai ba | ||
Hawaiian kākaʻikahi | ||
Hebrew נָדִיר | ||
Hindi दुर्लभ | ||
Hmong tsawg tsawg | ||
Hungarian ritka | ||
Icelandic sjaldgæft | ||
Igbo obere | ||
Ilocano manmano | ||
Indonesian langka | ||
Irish annamh | ||
Italian raro | ||
Japanese レア | ||
Javanese langka | ||
Kannada ಅಪರೂಪ | ||
Kazakh сирек | ||
Khmer កម្រណាស់ | ||
Kinyarwanda gake | ||
Konkani किरकोळ | ||
Korean 드문 | ||
Krio at fɔ si | ||
Kurdish kêm | ||
Kurdish (Sorani) دەگمەن | ||
Kyrgyz сейрек | ||
Lao ຫາຍາກ | ||
Latin rara | ||
Latvian reti | ||
Lingala emonanaka mingi te | ||
Lithuanian retas | ||
Luganda tekilabikalabika | ||
Luxembourgish selten | ||
Macedonian ретки | ||
Maithili दुर्लभ | ||
Malagasy tsy fahita firy | ||
Malay jarang berlaku | ||
Malayalam അപൂർവ്വം | ||
Maltese rari | ||
Maori onge | ||
Marathi दुर्मिळ | ||
Meiteilon (Manipuri) ꯑꯇꯥꯡꯕ | ||
Mizo vang | ||
Mongolian ховор | ||
Myanmar (Burmese) ရှားပါး | ||
Nepali विरलै | ||
Norwegian sjelden | ||
Nyanja (Chichewa) osowa | ||
Odia (Oriya) ବିରଳ | ||
Oromo darbee darbee kan mul'atu | ||
Pashto نادر | ||
Persian نادر | ||
Polish rzadko spotykany | ||
Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) raro | ||
Punjabi ਦੁਰਲੱਭ | ||
Quechua mana riqsisqa | ||
Romanian rar | ||
Russian редкий | ||
Samoan seasea | ||
Sanskrit दुर्लभः | ||
Scots Gaelic tearc | ||
Sepedi sewelo | ||
Serbian ретко | ||
Sesotho seoelo | ||
Shona kushoma | ||
Sindhi نادر | ||
Sinhala (Sinhalese) දුර්ලභයි | ||
Slovak zriedkavé | ||
Slovenian redko | ||
Somali dhif ah | ||
Spanish raro | ||
Sundanese langka | ||
Swahili nadra | ||
Swedish sällsynt | ||
Tagalog (Filipino) bihira | ||
Tajik нодир | ||
Tamil அரிதானது | ||
Tatar сирәк | ||
Telugu అరుదు | ||
Thai หายาก | ||
Tigrinya ብበዝሒ ዘይርከብ | ||
Tsonga talangi | ||
Turkish nadir | ||
Turkmen seýrek | ||
Twi (Akan) nna | ||
Ukrainian рідко | ||
Urdu نایاب | ||
Uyghur ناھايىتى ئاز ئۇچرايدۇ | ||
Uzbek kamdan-kam | ||
Vietnamese quý hiếm | ||
Welsh prin | ||
Xhosa kunqabile | ||
Yiddish זעלטן | ||
Yoruba toje | ||
Zulu akuvamile |
Etymology & Notes
| Language | Etymology / Notes |
|---|---|
| Afrikaans | The Afrikaans word "skaars" also means "scarcely" and "hardly" in English. |
| Albanian | The word "i rrallë" can also refer to a situation or event that happens infrequently or is uncommon. |
| Amharic | አብ አብ is derived from both አትባጥ ("one") and an iteration of ኢ ("and") that has been infixed with -ff- (assimilation of -ff- to /f/), thus "one and one and...". |
| Arabic | "نادر" also means "scarce" and "deficient" in Arabic. |
| Azerbaijani | The Azerbaijani word "nadir" (نادر) is derived from the Arabic word "nādir" (نادر), which means "precious" or "uncommon". |
| Basque | The Basque word "arraroa" also means "unexpectedly". |
| Belarusian | "Рэдка" (rare) in Belarusian also denotes "infrequently", "scarcely" and "seldom." |
| Bengali | বিরল can also mean 'exceptional' or 'unusual'. |
| Bosnian | The word 'rijetko' has Proto-West Slavic origin and is cognate with Czech and Slovak 'řádko' ('infrequently'). |
| Bulgarian | The word "рядко" can also refer to something that occurs infrequently or irregularly. |
| Catalan | The Catalan word "rar" can also mean "strange" or "odd" in English, further highlighting its rarity. |
| Cebuano | "Talagsa ra" can be translated to "rare" and can also be used to mean "seldom found"} |
| Chinese (Simplified) | In addition to its usual meaning of "rare," the Chinese character "罕见" can also mean "unusual" or "uncommon." |
| Chinese (Traditional) | "罕見" originally means "seldom seen" and can refer to something unusual or worthy of attention. |
| Corsican | Corsican 'raru' is cognate with Catalan 'rar' and French 'rare', but can also mean 'strange' or 'curious'. |
| Croatian | The word "rijetko" also means "seldom" or "infrequently". |
| Czech | The word "vzácný" comes from the Proto-Slavic root *cьstъ, which originally meant "guest" or "foreigner, which later developed into the meaning of "precious" or "rare". |
| Danish | Sjælden can also mean 'seldom' or 'uncommon' in Danish. |
| Dutch | "Bijzonder" also means "special" or "important" in Dutch. |
| Esperanto | The Esperanto word “malofta” likely derives from the French word “mal” (“bad”) and the Latin word “optus” (“chosen”) and originally meant “lesser favored” before narrowing its meaning to “rare”. |
| Estonian | In Old Estonian, "haruldane" meant "valuable" or "expensive". |
| Finnish | The word "harvinainen" is likely derived from the Proto-Finnic word "*haru," meaning "wide" or "distant." |
| French | The French word "rare" comes from the Latin word "rarus," which means "thin" or "sparse." |
| Frisian | The Frisian word 'seldsum' comes from Old Frisian and originally meant 'seldom occurring'. |
| Galician | In Galician, "raro" can also mean "strange" or "unusual." |
| German | The word "Selten" is derived from the Middle High German word "selten", which means "infrequently" or "seldom". |
| Greek | The word "σπάνιος" also signifies "precious" and "valuable" in the context of ancient Greek literature. |
| Gujarati | "दुर्लभ" is derived from Sanskrit "दुर्" (difficult) and "लभ्" (to obtain), indicating something that is not easily acquired. |
| Haitian Creole | In Haitian Creole, "ra" translates to the English word "rare" or "infrequent". |
| Hausa | The word "ba safai ba" is related to the word "ba" (to do) and "safai" (cleanliness), suggesting something that is rarely done or difficult to clean. |
| Hawaiian | "Kāka'ikahi" also means 'unique', 'distinct', 'unprecedented', or 'unparalleled' in Hawaiian. |
| Hebrew | In Semitic languages, the root of "נָדִיר" means "to separate" and is related to "נֵדֶר" (vow), "נָדִיב" (generous), and "נֵדָה" (menstrual impurity). |
| Hindi | The word "दुर्लभ" also means "infrequent", "difficult to obtain", or "scarce" in some contexts. |
| Hmong | The word "tsawg tsawg" can also mean "expensive" or "valuable" in Hmong. |
| Hungarian | Ritka can also mean loose, thin, infrequent, infrequent, and unusual. |
| Icelandic | The word 'sjaldgæft' is derived from the Old Norse word 'skjaldgæfr', which means 'rare' or 'precious'. |
| Igbo | Igbo 'obere' means 'rare', but can also refer to 'different' or 'unfamiliar'. |
| Indonesian | Langka's origin is from 'jarang', meaning 'sparse'. |
| Irish | The word “annamh” is also used to talk about something that is wonderful or hard to come by. |
| Italian | The word "raro" in Italian also means "uncooked" or "undercooked". |
| Japanese | "レア” can also indicate something cooked on low heat |
| Javanese | The Javanese word "langka" is derived from the Sanskrit word "langkha", meaning "a step", and was originally used to describe something that was difficult to obtain and hence of high value. |
| Kannada | "ಅಪರೂಪ" (rare) is cognate with the Tamil word "அபரிதம்", which means "strange, unfamiliar". In Telugu, the word "అపరూపం" also has a similar meaning, "unfamiliar". |
| Kazakh | In Kazakh, 'сирек' means not only 'rare', but also 'not often repeated', 'uncommon', or 'seldom happening'. |
| Korean | 드문(rare) is also used to mean 'strange', 'unusual', or 'seldom' |
| Kurdish | The word "kêm" may also refer to an unfulfilled wish or a lack of something in a specific place or context. |
| Kyrgyz | "Сейрек" also means "infrequent" and "thin" in Kyrgyz. |
| Lao | 'หายาก' can also mean "expensive" in some contexts. |
| Latin | The Latin word "rara" also means "thin" or "scattered". |
| Latvian | The Latvian word "reti" also has the alternate meaning of "seldom". |
| Lithuanian | Although "retas" means "rare" in Lithuanian, it could also mean "thin," "scarce," or "seldom." |
| Luxembourgish | Despite being synonymous with "rare", "selten" can also describe something as "strange" in Luxembourgish, which may derive from German "seltsam" with the same meaning. |
| Macedonian | The word "ретки" in Macedonian can also mean "infrequent" or "uncommon". |
| Malagasy | "Tsy fahita firy" is related to the words "faha" (to find) and "vary" (iron), but also connotes something extraordinary or unusual. |
| Malay | In addition to its primary meaning of "rare," "jarang berlaku" can also mean "infrequent" or "uncommon." |
| Maltese | Maltese "rari" derives from Arabic "nâdr," also meaning "rare" or "infrequent." |
| Maori | The word "onge" can also be used to refer to something that is difficult to obtain or uncommon. |
| Marathi | "दुर्मिळ" Marathi could have gotten its name from the fact that it is "दूर्" or hard to come by. |
| Mongolian | The Mongolian word "ховор" (rare) shares the same etymology with the word "ховорч" (bird) due to the perception that birds were rare to see in the vast Mongolian steppe. |
| Nepali | The Nepali word "विरलै" is derived from Sanskrit, where it originally meant "rarely occurring" or "scarce". |
| Norwegian | The word "sjelden" is derived from the Old Norse word "sjaldan", meaning "seldom, infrequently." |
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | In Nyanja (Chichewa), "osowa" can also mean "few," "not many," or "scattered." |
| Pashto | The word "نادر" in Pashto may also refer to a kind of sweet made from molasses, flour, and oil. |
| Persian | "نادر" can also mean "exceptional" or "uncommon" in Persian. |
| Polish | The Polish word "rzadko spotykany" ("rare") is derived from the Proto-Slavic word *rědъ ("row"), which also gave rise to the noun "rzad" ("row") and the adjective "rzędny" ("orderly"). |
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | The Portuguese word 'raro' can also mean 'uncommon' or 'unusual', and it comes from the Latin word 'rarus', meaning 'separated' or 'scattered'. |
| Punjabi | The word "ਦੁਰਲੱਭ" is derived from the Sanskrit words "dur" (meaning "difficult") and "labh" (meaning "to obtain"). |
| Romanian | The Romanian word "rar" can also mean "seldom" or "infrequently", and is cognate with the English word "rare". |
| Russian | In Russian, "редкий" also means "sparse" or "infrequent" in the sense of not being crowded or tightly packed together. |
| Samoan | The Samoan word for seasea is sometimes shortened to sea and means "rare" or "scarce." |
| Scots Gaelic | The Gaelic word "tearc" also means "few" or "a small number". |
| Serbian | The word 'ретко' also means 'occasionally' in Serbian. |
| Sesotho | The word "seoelo" is also used figuratively to describe something of exceptional quality or value. |
| Shona | The etymology of "kushoma" is not definitively known, but it is thought to be a blend of "kupfuma" (to come out) and "kushoma" (to be scarce). |
| Sindhi | The Sindhi word "نادر" not only means "rare" but also "unique" and "precious". |
| Sinhala (Sinhalese) | දුර්ලභයි comes from the Sanskrit word "durlabha," which also means "difficult to obtain" or "hard to find." |
| Slovak | The word 'zriedkavé' comes from the Old Slavic word 'zrěti' meaning 'to see' and the suffix '-dkavý' which means 'tending to'. |
| Slovenian | Slovenian "redko" is connected to an old Slavic root *rъd- "to arrange" (cf. "order") through Polish "rzadko" "not often." |
| Somali | The word "dhif ah" is also used to mean "costly" or "valuable." |
| Spanish | Raro also means "unusual" or "odd" in Spanish. |
| Sundanese | The word "langka" can also refer to something that is unusual or difficult to obtain. |
| Swahili | The word "nadra" has an alternate meaning of "beautiful, precious, or esteemed." |
| Swedish | In older expressions, sällsynt was used in the meaning of 'different' or 'strange' |
| Tagalog (Filipino) | "Bihira" is also used to describe a person who is shy or has a quiet personality. |
| Tajik | The Tajik word "нодир" derives from the Persian word "nadir", which means "uncommon" or "unusual". |
| Telugu | The word "అరుదు" (arudu) can also refer to something scarce or uncommon. |
| Thai | The word "หายาก" can also mean "hard to find" or "scarce". |
| Turkish | Nadir is also used figuratively in Turkish as "the lowest point" or "worst situation". |
| Ukrainian | The word "рідко" is cognate with the Slavic "ridkyй", meaning "sparse", and can also mean "seldom" or "at long intervals". |
| Urdu | The word "نایاب" can also refer to something that is unique or difficult to find. |
| Uzbek | The Uzbek word "kamdan-kam" also has meanings such as "uncommonly" and "infrequently" |
| Vietnamese | "quý" means "valuable" and "hiếm" means "scarce" in Vietnamese, so "quý hiếm" translates to precious or "rare". |
| Welsh | The word "prin" also means "important" in Welsh, which is also true for the similar-sounding word "prime" in English. |
| Xhosa | The Xhosa word "kunqabile" also means "difficult to obtain" or "precious". |
| Yiddish | The etymology of the Yiddish word "זעלטן" ("rare") is traced to the Proto-Slavic root "*solь" (meaning "salt"), reflecting an early connection between salt's scarcity and value. |
| Yoruba | The Yoruba word "toje" can also be used colloquially in some communities to describe someone that is slow in comprehension |
| Zulu | "Akuvamile" can also refer to something that is unique, or that has not been seen or experienced before. |
| English | The word "rare" (when used to describe a meat) derives from the medieval Latin word "rarus," meaning "cooked," whereas the other meaning (meaning "scarce") derives from the word's use in the 16th century to describe something that was "thin" or "infrequent." |