Serious in Different Languages
Discover 'Serious' in 134 Languages: Dive into Translations, Hear Pronunciations, and Uncover Cultural Insights.
Serious
Afrikaans ernstig | ||
Albanian serioze | ||
Amharic ከባድ | ||
Arabic جدي | ||
Armenian լուրջ | ||
Assamese গহীন | ||
Aymara amulaqa | ||
Azerbaijani ciddi | ||
Bambara sɛbɛ | ||
Basque larria | ||
Belarusian сур'ёзна | ||
Bengali গুরুতর | ||
Bhojpuri गम्भीर | ||
Bosnian ozbiljno | ||
Bulgarian сериозно | ||
Catalan greu | ||
Cebuano grabe | ||
Chinese (Simplified) 严重 | ||
Chinese (Traditional) 嚴重 | ||
Corsican seriu | ||
Croatian ozbiljan | ||
Czech vážně | ||
Danish alvorlig | ||
Dhivehi ސީރިއަސް | ||
Dogri नाजक | ||
Dutch echt | ||
English serious | ||
Esperanto serioza | ||
Estonian tõsine | ||
Ewe moveviẽ | ||
Filipino (Tagalog) seryoso | ||
Finnish vakava | ||
French sérieux | ||
Frisian serieus | ||
Galician serio | ||
Georgian სერიოზული | ||
German ernst | ||
Greek σοβαρός | ||
Guarani vaieterei | ||
Gujarati ગંભીર | ||
Haitian Creole serye | ||
Hausa mai tsanani | ||
Hawaiian koʻikoʻi | ||
Hebrew רְצִינִי | ||
Hindi गंभीर | ||
Hmong loj heev | ||
Hungarian komoly | ||
Icelandic alvarlegt | ||
Igbo akwa | ||
Ilocano serioso | ||
Indonesian serius | ||
Irish tromchúiseach | ||
Italian grave | ||
Japanese 深刻 | ||
Javanese serius | ||
Kannada ಗಂಭೀರ | ||
Kazakh байсалды | ||
Khmer ធ្ងន់ធ្ងរ | ||
Kinyarwanda bikomeye | ||
Konkani गंभीर | ||
Korean 진지한 | ||
Krio siriɔs | ||
Kurdish ciddî | ||
Kurdish (Sorani) جددی | ||
Kyrgyz олуттуу | ||
Lao ຮ້າຍແຮງ | ||
Latin gravis | ||
Latvian nopietns | ||
Lingala ya ntina | ||
Lithuanian rimtas | ||
Luganda kikulu | ||
Luxembourgish eescht | ||
Macedonian сериозен | ||
Maithili गंभीर | ||
Malagasy matotra | ||
Malay serius | ||
Malayalam ഗുരുതരമായത് | ||
Maltese serju | ||
Maori tino | ||
Marathi गंभीर | ||
Meiteilon (Manipuri) ꯑꯔꯨꯕ | ||
Mizo tihtakzet | ||
Mongolian ноцтой | ||
Myanmar (Burmese) အလေးအနက်ထား | ||
Nepali गम्भीर | ||
Norwegian seriøs | ||
Nyanja (Chichewa) kwambiri | ||
Odia (Oriya) ଗମ୍ଭୀର | ||
Oromo qoosaa kan hin ta'iin | ||
Pashto جدي | ||
Persian جدی | ||
Polish poważny | ||
Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) grave | ||
Punjabi ਗੰਭੀਰ | ||
Quechua llasaq | ||
Romanian serios | ||
Russian серьезный | ||
Samoan matuia | ||
Sanskrit गम्भीरः | ||
Scots Gaelic trom | ||
Sepedi tiišitše | ||
Serbian озбиљно | ||
Sesotho tebile | ||
Shona zvakakomba | ||
Sindhi سنجيده | ||
Sinhala (Sinhalese) බරපතල | ||
Slovak vážne | ||
Slovenian resno | ||
Somali culus | ||
Spanish grave | ||
Sundanese serius | ||
Swahili kubwa | ||
Swedish allvarlig | ||
Tagalog (Filipino) seryoso | ||
Tajik ҷиддӣ | ||
Tamil தீவிரமானது | ||
Tatar җитди | ||
Telugu తీవ్రమైన | ||
Thai จริงจัง | ||
Tigrinya ቁም ነገር | ||
Tsonga tiyimisela | ||
Turkish ciddi | ||
Turkmen çynlakaý | ||
Twi (Akan) ani abere | ||
Ukrainian серйозний | ||
Urdu سنجیدہ | ||
Uyghur ئېغىر | ||
Uzbek jiddiy | ||
Vietnamese nghiêm trọng | ||
Welsh difrifol | ||
Xhosa nzulu | ||
Yiddish ערנסט | ||
Yoruba pataki | ||
Zulu sina |
Etymology & Notes
| Language | Etymology / Notes |
|---|---|
| Afrikaans | The Afrikaans word "ernstig" can also refer to a state of anger or annoyance. |
| Albanian | "Serioze" (serious) derives from the Latin "serius" or "serosus" meaning "whey" or "watery," and hence "sluggish" or "dull." |
| Amharic | The word "ከባድ" can also mean "difficult" or "heavy". |
| Arabic | "جدي" also means grandfather in Arabic, which is why you sometimes hear people joke "لا يوجد شيء غير جدي أكثر من جدك" (There is nothing more serious than your grandfather). |
| Armenian | The Armenian word "լուրջ" is connected to the Akkadian word "lu'ûru" which meant "enemy". In the 17th century it acquired the meaning of "serious". |
| Azerbaijani | The word "ciddi" in Azerbaijani also means "firm", "solid", "steadfast", and "earnest". |
| Basque | "Larria": it comes from Latin but it also means the plague or pestilence |
| Belarusian | сур'ёзна is a Belarusian adjective meaning "serious", "solemn", or "severe", and derives from the Slavic word *surъ" meaning "raw" or "unripe". |
| Bengali | In Bengali, 'গুরুতর' (serious) is derived from Sanskrit 'গুরু' (heavy) and 'তর' (to cross), referring to something that carries significant weight or poses a great challenge. |
| Bosnian | The word "ozbiljno" comes from the Turkish word "vazgeçilmez" meaning "irreplaceable" or "indispensable". |
| Bulgarian | "Сериозно" also means "in earnest" or "sincerely". |
| Catalan | The Catalan word "greu" also means "fat" or "big" in the sense of "heavy". |
| Cebuano | The word "grabe" can also mean "severe" or "intense". |
| Chinese (Simplified) | In Classical Chinese, 严重 can also refer to a person's facial expression, meaning "solemn" or "respectful". |
| Chinese (Traditional) | 嚴 (yán) in 嚴重 refers to sternness, while 重 (zhòng) means heavy or important. |
| Corsican | The Corsican word "seriu" is thought to derive from the Latin word "serius" (serious) or "serus" (late). |
| Croatian | The word "ozbiljan" comes from the Proto-Slavic root "ozbъ", meaning "firm" or "severe". |
| Czech | Vážně (serious) comes from the Proto-Slavic word *věšč (< *věč-ti), meaning "to believe" or "to trust". |
| Danish | The Danish word "alvorlig" is ultimately derived from the Latin word "gravitas," meaning "weight" or "importance." |
| Dutch | Echt (serious) derives from the Proto-Germanic adjective *ahtaz meaning "pertaining to property, estate". |
| Esperanto | The word "serioza" in Esperanto can also mean "earnest" or "important". |
| Estonian | In Estonian, the word "tõsine" also means "heavy; weighty" and is used to describe both physical and metaphorical weightiness. |
| Finnish | The word "vakava" comes from the Proto-Finnic word *vakava, which also meant "heavy" or "weighty" in reference to either physical or emotional weight. |
| French | The word "sérieux" can also refer to a set of related things, such as a series of lectures or a set of exercises. |
| Frisian | The Frisian word "serieus" also means "painful" or "difficult". |
| Galician | In Galician, "serio" also means "cold" or "wet and cold". |
| German | The German word "ernst" has been used since the 10th century and derives from the Old High German word "ernust" |
| Greek | The word |
| Gujarati | The word "ગંભીર" has a rich etymology, originating from Sanskrit and holding alternate meanings such as "weighty", "gravely", and "deeply involved". |
| Haitian Creole | The word "serye" is borrowed from the French word "sérieux" which means "serious". |
| Hausa | "Mai tsanani" can also refer to a strict or disciplined person. |
| Hawaiian | Hawaiian “koʻikoʻi,” meaning “serious” in English, also refers to one’s physical state of health or condition. |
| Hebrew | The root of the word "רְצִינִי" ("serious") is "רצ" ("to run"), possibly alluding to the idea of "not taking things lightly" or "running after" one's responsibilities. |
| Hindi | The Hindi word "गंभीर" is derived from the Sanskrit word "गम्भीर", which also commonly translates to "serious" in English, but its alternate meanings in Hindi also include "dignified", "weighty", and "deep". |
| Hmong | "Loj heev" literally means "cold liver" in Hmong. |
| Hungarian | The word "komoly" is also used to describe something that is important or weighty. |
| Icelandic | The word "alvarlegt" is derived from the Old Norse word "alvarr," which means "careful" or "watchful. |
| Igbo | "Akwa" can also mean "a state of being without blemish or fault". |
| Indonesian | The word "serius" in Indonesian can also mean "in earnest" or "diligently". |
| Irish | "Tromchúiseach" refers to a person in a serious mood or having a long face. |
| Italian | The Italian word "grave" derives from the Latin word "gravis," which means both "heavy" and "serious." |
| Japanese | The word "深刻" literally means "deep-cut" or "deeply engraved", implying a sense of gravity or seriousness. |
| Javanese | The Javanese word "serius" also means "difficult to please" and is related to the word "tresna" (to love). |
| Kannada | The word "ಗಂಭೀರ" also means "majestic" or "impressive" in Kannada. |
| Kazakh | The word "байсалды" in Kazakh can also refer to a "wise person" or "sage". |
| Khmer | The word ធ្ងន់ធ្ងរ can also be used in the context of weight and physical heaviness, and it may be cognate to the Thai word หนัก (nak), meaning 'heavy'. |
| Korean | In addition to its primary meaning of 'serious,' 진지한 can also mean 'sincere' or 'earnest'. |
| Kurdish | The word 'ciddî' in Kurdish originates from the Arabic word 'jiddi' and shares its meaning of 'serious'. |
| Kyrgyz | The word "олуттуу" in Kyrgyz has the same root ("олут") as the word meaning "death" ("ölüm"), and the two words share a similar pronunciation. |
| Lao | ຮ່າຍແຮງ was originally used to mean 'painful or injurious' in the context of poison or weapons. |
| Latin | The Latin word "gravis" also refers to the low register in ancient Greek music. |
| Latvian | The noun "nopietnība" (seriousness) is a derivative of the adjective "nopietns" (serious), which in turn comes from the Old Prussian "napirsti" (serious) and the ancient Greek "anêpsis" (relish) and "anapneo" (to recover one's breath). |
| Lithuanian | The word "rimtas" also means "gravity" in the context of physics. |
| Luxembourgish | Besides its basic meaning of "serious", "eescht" can also mean "very" or "really" in Luxembourgish. |
| Macedonian | The word "сериозен" can also mean "solemn" or "grave" in Macedonian. |
| Malagasy | The word “matotra” comes from the root “totra” meaning “deep.” |
| Malay | The word "serius" in Malay has an alternate meaning of "strict". |
| Malayalam | The word "ഗുരുതരമായത്" in Malayalam also means "heavy" when referring to weight. |
| Maltese | The word "serju" (serious) in Maltese is derived from the Latin "serius" and can also mean "quiet" or "well-behaved". |
| Maori | In Maori, "tino" also means "very" or "intense". |
| Marathi | The word "गंभीर" in Marathi is derived from the Sanskrit word "गम्भीर" which can also mean "deep" or "heavy". |
| Mongolian | The Mongolian word "ноцтой" also means "weighty" or "burdensome". |
| Myanmar (Burmese) | The term is used in both literary and colloquial settings. |
| Nepali | 'गम्भीर' (gambhīr) comes from Sanskrit 'गम्भीर' (gambhīra) meaning 'deep', referring to the depth of seriousness. |
| Norwegian | The word "seriøs" ("serious") in Norwegian can also mean "solemn" or "formal." |
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | The word "kwambiri" can also mean "very" or "extremely" in Nyanja. |
| Pashto | The Pashto word "جدي" can also mean "grandparent" or "ancestor". |
| Persian | Originally meant "heavy" in Persian and is related to the word "load". |
| Polish | The Polish word "poważny" originally meant "worthy of trust" or "authoritative". |
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | The Portuguese word "grave" can also mean "low" or a "deep sound", derived from Latin "gravis" (heavy). |
| Punjabi | The word "ਗੰਭੀਰ" (serious) in Punjabi is derived from the Sanskrit word "गम्भीर" (deep, profound), and also means "dignified, majestic, or solemn". |
| Romanian | "Serios" in Romanian can also mean "kind" or "nice". |
| Russian | The archaic Russian verb 'серять' ('seryat') means 'to urinate', so 'серьёзный' ('serious') may have originally described the grim expression of a person relieving themselves in public. |
| Samoan | The word “matuia” may come from the Proto-Polynesian term “*matu,” which also meant “heavy” or “grave.” |
| Scots Gaelic | The origin of the Gaelic word "trom" is uncertain, but it may derive from the Proto-Germanic root "*draugmaz" meaning "phantom" or "spirit." |
| Serbian | The word 'озбиљно' is derived from the Old Church Slavonic word 'озри' meaning 'to see', and it can also mean 'clear', 'evident' or 'certain'. |
| Sesotho | In Northern Sotho, "tebile" can refer to both "serious" and the act of making a fire. |
| Shona | The word "zvakakomba" (serious) in Shona can also mean "thoroughly" or "completely." |
| Sindhi | Sindhi "سنجيده" "serious" can also mean "weighed" or "measured". |
| Sinhala (Sinhalese) | The word "බරපතල" (barapathala) in Sinhala has multiple meanings, including "heavy," "important," and "difficult." |
| Slovak | The Slovak word "vážne" can also mean "seriously" or "really". |
| Slovenian | "Resno" also denotes solemnity or dignity in Slovenian. |
| Somali | In addition to its primary meaning of "serious," "culus" can also mean "important," "grave," or "critical" in Somali. |
| Spanish | In Spanish, "grave" also means "accent" and is used to refer to the tilde (~) above "n" in "año". |
| Sundanese | The Sundanese word "serius" can also refer to a person who is stubborn or difficult to deal with. |
| Swahili | "Kubwa" also means "great" in Swahili. |
| Swedish | The word 'allvarlig' derives from the Old Norse word 'alvor' meaning 'seriousness' or 'strength'. |
| Tagalog (Filipino) | The word "seryoso" also means "firm" or "rigid" in Tagalog. |
| Tajik | The term "ҷиддӣ" may also refer to the concept of "being responsible" or "acting maturely" in Tajik. |
| Thai | The word "จริงจัง" can also mean "earnest" or "sincere". |
| Turkish | "Ciddi" shares the same etymological root with "jiddi" in Arabic, which means "paternal grandfather". |
| Ukrainian | The Ukrainian word “серйозний” originates from the Old Church Slavonic word “сьрѧнъ”, meaning “grave” or “severe”. |
| Urdu | 'سنجیدہ' ('serious') is derived from the Persian word 'سنجیدن' ('to weigh, to ponder') which also means 'thoughtful', 'prudent', or 'considerate'. |
| Uzbek | The Uzbek word "jiddiy" traces its roots back to the Arabic word "jidd" signifying both seriousness and an ancestor. |
| Vietnamese | The Vietnamese word "nghiêm trọng" originates from the Chinese word "嚴重", which itself means "serious". |
| Welsh | The word "difrifol" in Welsh has also been used to describe a state of being "in the dumps". |
| Xhosa | The Xhosa word "nzulu" also means "heavy" in Zulu, highlighting the connection between seriousness and weightiness. |
| Yiddish | The word "ערנסט" can also mean "earnest" or "solemn" in Yiddish. |
| Yoruba | In Yoruba, the term "pataki" additionally implies gravity or significance, emphasizing the weighty nature of crucial matters. |
| Zulu | The word 'sina' also has connotations of 'earnestness', 'devotion', and 'fervor'. |
| English | The word 'serious' comes from the Latin word 'serius,' meaning 'grave' or 'important.' |