Afrikaans selde | ||
Albanian rrallë | ||
Amharic አልፎ አልፎ | ||
Arabic نادرا | ||
Armenian հազվադեպ | ||
Assamese কাচিত্ | ||
Aymara juk'apachaki | ||
Azerbaijani nadir hallarda | ||
Bambara a man ca | ||
Basque gutxitan | ||
Belarusian рэдка | ||
Bengali খুব কমই | ||
Bhojpuri शायदे कब्बो | ||
Bosnian rijetko | ||
Bulgarian рядко | ||
Catalan poques vegades | ||
Cebuano talagsa ra | ||
Chinese (Simplified) 很少 | ||
Chinese (Traditional) 很少 | ||
Corsican raramente | ||
Croatian rijetko | ||
Czech zřídka | ||
Danish sjældent | ||
Dhivehi ވަރަށްމަދުން | ||
Dogri कदें-कदाएं | ||
Dutch zelden | ||
English rarely | ||
Esperanto malofte | ||
Estonian harva | ||
Ewe medzᴐna zi geɖe o | ||
Filipino (Tagalog) bihira | ||
Finnish harvoin | ||
French rarement | ||
Frisian komselden | ||
Galician poucas veces | ||
Georgian იშვიათად | ||
German selten | ||
Greek σπανίως | ||
Guarani sapy'aguáva | ||
Gujarati ભાગ્યે જ | ||
Haitian Creole raman | ||
Hausa da wuya | ||
Hawaiian kākaʻikahi | ||
Hebrew לעתים רחוקות | ||
Hindi शायद ही कभी | ||
Hmong tsis tshua muaj | ||
Hungarian ritkán | ||
Icelandic sjaldan | ||
Igbo adịkarịghị | ||
Ilocano manmano | ||
Indonesian jarang | ||
Irish annamh | ||
Italian raramente | ||
Japanese めったに | ||
Javanese arang banget | ||
Kannada ವಿರಳವಾಗಿ | ||
Kazakh сирек | ||
Khmer កម្រណាស់ | ||
Kinyarwanda gake | ||
Konkani क्वचित | ||
Korean 드물게 | ||
Krio at fɔ si | ||
Kurdish kêm caran | ||
Kurdish (Sorani) بە دەگمەن | ||
Kyrgyz сейрек | ||
Lao ບໍ່ຄ່ອຍ | ||
Latin raro | ||
Latvian reti | ||
Lingala mbala mingi te | ||
Lithuanian retai | ||
Luganda lumu na lumu | ||
Luxembourgish selten | ||
Macedonian ретко | ||
Maithili शायदे कहियो | ||
Malagasy zara raha | ||
Malay jarang | ||
Malayalam അപൂർവ്വമായി | ||
Maltese rarament | ||
Maori varavara | ||
Marathi क्वचितच | ||
Meiteilon (Manipuri) ꯇꯍꯥꯅ | ||
Mizo khat | ||
Mongolian ховор | ||
Myanmar (Burmese) ခဲသည် | ||
Nepali विरलै | ||
Norwegian sjelden | ||
Nyanja (Chichewa) kawirikawiri | ||
Odia (Oriya) କ୍ଵଚିତ | ||
Oromo darbee darbee | ||
Pashto نادره | ||
Persian به ندرت | ||
Polish rzadko | ||
Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) raramente | ||
Punjabi ਬਹੁਤ ਘੱਟ | ||
Quechua mana riqsisqa | ||
Romanian rareori | ||
Russian редко | ||
Samoan seasea | ||
Sanskrit दुर्लभतः | ||
Scots Gaelic ainneamh | ||
Sepedi ka sewelo | ||
Serbian ретко | ||
Sesotho ka seoelo | ||
Shona kashoma | ||
Sindhi نادر | ||
Sinhala (Sinhalese) කලාතුරකින් | ||
Slovak zriedka | ||
Slovenian redko | ||
Somali dhif ah | ||
Spanish raramente | ||
Sundanese jarang | ||
Swahili nadra | ||
Swedish sällan | ||
Tagalog (Filipino) bihira | ||
Tajik кам | ||
Tamil அரிதாக | ||
Tatar сирәк | ||
Telugu అరుదుగా | ||
Thai นาน ๆ ครั้ง | ||
Tigrinya ሓልሓሊፉ | ||
Tsonga talangi | ||
Turkish seyrek | ||
Turkmen seýrek | ||
Twi (Akan) ntaa nsi | ||
Ukrainian рідко | ||
Urdu شاذ و نادر ہی | ||
Uyghur ناھايىتى ئاز ئۇچرايدۇ | ||
Uzbek kamdan-kam hollarda | ||
Vietnamese ít khi | ||
Welsh anaml | ||
Xhosa kunqabile | ||
Yiddish ראַרעלי | ||
Yoruba ṣọwọn | ||
Zulu kuyaqabukela |
| Language | Etymology / Notes |
|---|---|
| Afrikaans | The Afrikaans word "selde" is derived from the Dutch word "zelden", which also means "rarely". |
| Albanian | The Albanian word "rrallë" is the same word as the Greek word "araion" (απαιον), which also means "rarely". |
| Amharic | The word "አልፎ አልፎ" is derived from the root "አልፎ" (to go) and "አልፎ" (to go) and originally meant "going and going," implying a frequent occurrence. |
| Arabic | نادرا derives from the root "ندر," meaning "to be scarce or uncommon," and also refers to "vowing" or "making a pledge." |
| Azerbaijani | Nadir hallarda, also means "at all times" in Azeri, and derives from the Arabic "nadiran". |
| Basque | The word "gutxitan" also means "seldom," "few," and "scarcely." |
| Belarusian | The word "рэдка" is derived from the Proto-Slavic word *rědъkъ, meaning "thin" or "sparse". |
| Bengali | উল্লেখ্য, 'খুব কমই' এর অপর একটি অর্থ হল 'খুব ক্ষুদ্র আকারের'। |
| Bosnian | The word "rijetko" in Bosnian comes from the Proto-Slavic word "rědъkъ", which also means "thin" or "sparse". |
| Bulgarian | The Russian word "редко" for "rarely" is also used in Bulgarian, where it means "infrequently". |
| Catalan | "Poques vegades", meaning "rarely", is derived from the Latin "pauca vice" meaning "few times". |
| Cebuano | The word "talagsa ra" comes from the root word "tagas" which means "to drop" or "to leak", implying that something happens infrequently or sparingly. |
| Chinese (Simplified) | The word '很少' ('rarely') was originally written as '稍禾' and meant 'sparsely planted rice'. |
| Chinese (Traditional) | In classical Chinese, it also meant to have few people, or a small population. |
| Corsican | Corsican "raramente" comes from Italian "raramente" and Catalan "rarament". |
| Croatian | The word "rijetko" is derived from the Proto-Slavic word "*redьkъ", which also means "thin" or "sparse." |
| Czech | The word "zřídka" originally meant "at times, occasionally" |
| Danish | The word "sjældent" is derived from the Old Norse word "sjaldan", meaning "scarcely" or "infrequently". |
| Dutch | The Dutch word "zelden" is derived from the Old Dutch "seldom, meaning "unusual" or "infrequent". |
| Esperanto | The word "malofte" is a compound of the negative prefix "mal-" and the noun "ofte" (often), thus meaning "not often" or "rarely" |
| Estonian | The word "harva" in Estonian can also mean "distant" or "sparse" in the sense of distribution or occurrence. |
| Finnish | The word "harvoin" is derived from the Proto-Finnic word *harwa, meaning "sparse" or "open". |
| French | In French, "rarement" can also mean "unusually" or "hardly ever". |
| Frisian | Komselden is also used to describe something that is difficult to find or obtain, or something that is not common or usual. |
| Galician | Poucas veces deriva do latín paucas vices, que significa 'poucas vezes'. |
| Georgian | The Georgian word "იშვიათად" can also mean "seldom", "infrequently", "not often", or "occasionally". |
| German | The word "selten" is also used in the sense of "wonderful" or "exquisite" in archaic or poetic speech, derived from its Old High German root "sëltēni" meaning "excellence". |
| Greek | The word 'σπανίως' is derived from the Greek word 'σπάνις', meaning 'scarcity'. |
| Haitian Creole | "Raman is the Haitian Creole form of the French phrase "de temps a autre", "occasionally." |
| Hausa | "Da wuya" can also mean "in an unusual way" |
| Hawaiian | The word "kākaʻikahi" also means "one by one" or "one at a time". |
| Hebrew | לעתים רחוקות, "a long time," "a moment," later transformed into its current sense "rarely" |
| Hindi | The word "शायद ही कभी" can also be used to mean "hardly ever" or "almost never". |
| Hmong | The Hmong word "tsis tshua muaj" can also have connotations of "seldom", "infrequently", and "uncommonly", emphasizing a low frequency of occurrence. |
| Hungarian | The word "ritkán" is a derivative of the word "ritka," which means "sparse" or "porous." |
| Icelandic | The word 'sjaldan' is a doublet of 'sjaldan' meaning 'seldom' and 'sjaldan' meaning 'a good while'. |
| Igbo | The Igbo word "adịkarịghị" literally translates to "not being frequent, common, or normal". It carries the connotation of unusual occurrence or absence |
| Indonesian | "Jarung" also refers to an object with uneven surfaces, a gap or opening between two objects or even the gap between teeth. |
| Irish | From Middle Irish annam 'infrequent', literally "without honour". |
| Italian | The word "raramente" is derived from the Latin word "rarus" meaning "thin" or "scattered". |
| Japanese | "めったに" (rarely) derives from "滅多", a term used to describe something that seldom happens or exists. |
| Javanese | The idiom 'arang banget' is literally translated to 'not hot', implying an event's rarity and specialness. |
| Kannada | The word ವಿರಳವಾಗಿ (viralaavagi) in Kannada also means 'infrequently', 'seldom', and 'occasionally'. |
| Kazakh | The word "сирек" in Kazakh does have the meaning "rarely", but it can also mean "however" or "nevertheless." |
| Khmer | In the 16th century, the word កម្រណាស់ was used to mean "not yet" or "has not yet happened," and it was not until the 19th century that it began to be used to mean "rarely." |
| Korean | The word "드물게" is derived from the Middle Korean word "드믈다", meaning "to be few". The word is also related to the Japanese word "まれ" (rare), and the Chinese word "稀" (rare). |
| Kurdish | The word "kêm caran" in Kurdish is literally translated as "less time". |
| Kyrgyz | Сейрек is also used as a measurement of time, especially in the context of how often something happens. |
| Lao | The word "ບໍ່ຄ່ອຍ" can also mean "not very" or "not so much" when used in a comparative sense. |
| Latin | The word "raro" in Latin also means "to steal" or "to take away." |
| Latvian | Reti can also refer to a net, screen, or grid. |
| Lithuanian | The word "retai" in Lithuanian also means "sparsely" or "thinly." |
| Luxembourgish | "Selten" in Luxembourgish comes from Old High German "seltan" and also means "infrequently" or "occasionally". |
| Macedonian | The word "ретко" in Macedonian can also mean "infrequently" or "seldom". |
| Malagasy | The Malagasy word "zara raha" derives from the Malay word "jara", meaning "distantly spaced" or "spread out". |
| Malay | "Jarung" in Old Javanese and "jarum" in Malay both mean "rare" or "uncommon." |
| Maltese | The word "rarament" in Maltese is derived from the Latin word "rarus", which means "thin" or "scattered". |
| Maori | The word "varavara" derives from the Maori word "vara" meaning "separation" or "distance". |
| Marathi | क्वचितच (kvaccitac) is derived from the Sanskrit word 'kvacid', meaning 'sometimes, on occasions' and the suffix 'it', denoting diminution, hence meaning 'rarely'. |
| Mongolian | Ховор shares a root with ховорсон (a wanderer), and in Old Mongolian it meant "a few". |
| Nepali | The Nepali word “विरलै” ("rarely") comes from the Sanskrit word “विरल” ("thin") and also means "sparsley." |
| Norwegian | "Sjelden" in Norwegian also means "soul" or "spirit" |
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | The word "kawirikawiri" is derived from the root word "kawiri", meaning "two", and is used to express the idea of something happening "twice over" or "on two occasions". |
| Pashto | The word نادره "rarely" can also mean "beautiful" or "unique". It derives from the Arabic word "nadir" which means "precious" or "valuable". |
| Persian | The word به ندرت (ba nadratan) is a compound, consisting of the noun ندرت (nadrat, "rarity") and the suffix -ان (-an), which forms adverbs of manner, like English "-ly." |
| Polish | The word "rzadko" in Polish has a Proto-Slavic root "*rědъkъ" meaning "sparse, thin". It can also mean "infrequent, not often" or "unusual, uncommon". |
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | "Raramente" comes from the Latin "raro" and also means "thin" or "loose" |
| Punjabi | The word "ਬਹੁਤ ਘੱਟ" is derived from the Sanskrit word "बहुत" (bahut), meaning "much" or "very," and is used to denote a lack of abundance. In English, it is typically translated as "seldom" or "rarely." |
| Romanian | The word "rareori" is derived from the Latin "raro," meaning "seldom," and the suffix "-ori," meaning "from time to time." |
| Russian | The word "редко" can also mean "infrequently" or "sparsely" in Russian. |
| Samoan | The Samoan word "seasea" is a reduplication of the word "sea", which means "one" or "a few". |
| Scots Gaelic | Historically, "ainneamh" referred to the "infrequent" visits by a priest, as the people lived far away from the churches. |
| Serbian | The word 'ретко' also means 'infrequently' or 'seldom' in Serbian. |
| Sesotho | The word "ka seoelo" is derived from the word "seoelo", which means "seldom" or "infrequently". |
| Shona | Shona "kashoma" is an archaic word also meaning "secretly" or "clandestinely". |
| Sindhi | In Sindhi, "نادر" can also mean "few" or "small in number". |
| Slovak | Zriedka can also mean 'thin' or 'sparse' when describing people or things. |
| Slovenian | Both 'red' ('red') and 'redko' ('rarely') in Slovenian derive from the Slavic root 'red' ('order'). |
| Somali | The word "dhif ah" is derived from the Arabic word "dhif", meaning "guest". |
| Spanish | "Raramente" also means "strange" or "unique". |
| Sundanese | The word "jarang" in Sundanese has an alternate meaning of "wide" when used to describe the space between two things. |
| Swahili | The word "nadra" also means "uncommonly" or "seldom" in Swahili. |
| Swedish | "Sällan" is cognate with the German "selten". Less commonly it can be used in the sense of "seldomly, seldom". |
| Tagalog (Filipino) | "Bihira" is derived from the Proto-Malayo-Polynesian word *bi(h)iʀ, meaning "few" or "scarce." |
| Tajik | The word "кам" can also mean "just" or "only" in Tajik. |
| Tamil | 'அரிதாக' is a Tamil word originated from the word 'அரிது' which means 'difficult' or 'hard to get'. |
| Telugu | The word "అరుదుగా" is derived from the Sanskrit word "アルパ" meaning "few" or "little". |
| Thai | In Thai, "นาน ๆ ครั้ง" (naan naan khrang) literally means "once in a long while" or "from time to time." |
| Turkish | In Turkish, "seyrek" can also mean "sparse" or "thin". |
| Ukrainian | The word "рідко" also means "liquid" in Ukrainian, derived from the Proto-Slavic word *ridъkъ, meaning "thin" or "liquid." |
| Uzbek | "Kamdan-kam hollarda" (rarely) comes from the Persian phrase "kam az kam", which literally means "at least" or "no less than". |
| Vietnamese | The word "ít khi" can also mean "seldom" or "infrequently". |
| Welsh | "Anam" is an archaic form of "an" (a), which is a mutation of "un" (not)" |
| Xhosa | The Xhosa word "kunqabile" is also an alternate form of "iqhile", meaning "ashes". |
| Yiddish | The word "ראַרעלי" is a Yiddish borrowing from the Hebrew word "רארה," meaning "moment" or "rare." |
| Yoruba | The word "ṣọwọn" has an alternate meaning, "scarcity." |
| Zulu | "Kuyaqabukela" can also be used to refer to a "little bit," "slightly," or "a few." |
| English | The word "rarely" originates from the Old English word "rære," meaning "rarely, seldom, occasionally, or infrequently." |