Sheet in Different Languages
Discover 'Sheet' in 134 Languages: Dive into Translations, Hear Pronunciations, and Uncover Cultural Insights.
Updated on March 6, 2024
The word 'sheet' is simple, yet versatile, with a rich history and cultural significance that may surprise you. Originally referring to a flat piece of fabric or cloth, the term 'sheet' has evolved to encompass a wide range of meanings, from a bed covering to a surface coating, and even a type of sail in nautical terminology. In many cultures, the sheet holds great importance, symbolizing protection, comfort, and even status.
Did you know that the word 'sheet' has influenced various languages and dialects around the world? For instance, in Spanish, 'sheet' is translated as 'hoja,' which also means 'leaf.' In German, 'sheet' becomes 'Bettlaken,' directly translating to 'bed linen.' In French, 'sheet' is 'feuille,' which shares roots with the English word 'folio,' referring to a sheet of paper.
Discover the many translations and cultural nuances of the word 'sheet' in different languages. Explore the rich history and significance of this common term, and broaden your understanding of the world around you.
Sheet
Sheet in Sub-Saharan African Languages
| Afrikaans | laken | ||
| Afrikaans 'laken', meaning 'sheet', is derived from Middle Dutch 'laken', which itself is derived from Old French 'lacane', which in turn is derived from Late Latin 'lacana', which is ultimately derived from Proto-Germanic '*lakōną', meaning cloth. | |||
| Amharic | ሉህ | ||
| The word "ሉህ" can also mean "a piece of cloth" or "a sheet of paper". | |||
| Hausa | takardar | ||
| Hausa "takardar" is cognate with Arabic "taqaddara", meaning "to measure something out", which likely referred to measuring out quantities of paper on a sheet. | |||
| Igbo | mpempe akwụkwọ | ||
| Mpempe akwụkwọ has a secondary meaning referring to a piece of paper used for writing. | |||
| Malagasy | lamba | ||
| The word "lamba" in Malagasy can also refer to a type of traditional cloth or garment. | |||
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | pepala | ||
| The word “pepala” is also used to refer to a large piece of cloth or a sail. | |||
| Shona | jira | ||
| In Shona, “jira' can also refer to the placenta covering a child during birth | |||
| Somali | xaashi | ||
| "Xaashi" is the Somali word for "sheet" or a "broad piece of fabric with no sleeves or a neckline." | |||
| Sesotho | lakane | ||
| The word "lakane" in Sesotho is derived from the Proto-Bantu word "-kaani", meaning "to spread" or "to lay out". | |||
| Swahili | karatasi | ||
| The word "karatasi" in Swahili originates from the Arabic word "qirtas" meaning "paper". It can also refer to a document or a letter. | |||
| Xhosa | iphepha | ||
| In some instances, 'iphepha' can refer to a piece of leather used to make shoes. | |||
| Yoruba | dì | ||
| The word "dì" in Yoruba also means "ground" or "earth", as in the phrase "dì tí" (on the ground). | |||
| Zulu | ishidi | ||
| The word 'ishidi' can also mean a mat made of reeds or grass. | |||
| Bambara | dara | ||
| Ewe | agbalẽ kakɛ | ||
| Kinyarwanda | urupapuro | ||
| Lingala | lokasa | ||
| Luganda | ebbaati | ||
| Sepedi | letlakala | ||
| Twi (Akan) | krataa | ||
Sheet in North African & Middle Eastern Languages
| Arabic | ورقة | ||
| The Arabic word "ورقة" is derived from the verb "ورق" meaning both "to cause to fall" and "to blossom". | |||
| Hebrew | דַף | ||
| A homophone of "דַּף" in Yiddish means "book" or "book page". | |||
| Pashto | پا sheetه | ||
| The word "پا sheetه" (sheet) in Pashto also means "a piece of paper" or "a document". | |||
| Arabic | ورقة | ||
| The Arabic word "ورقة" is derived from the verb "ورق" meaning both "to cause to fall" and "to blossom". | |||
Sheet in Western European Languages
| Albanian | fletë | ||
| "Fletë" in Albanian also refers to the blade or flat part of a knife or sword. | |||
| Basque | maindire | ||
| The word "maindire" can also refer to the "main" of a river or the "bed" of a stream or river. | |||
| Catalan | full | ||
| The words "folle" (sheet) and "follia" (nonsense) come from the Latin "folium" with the secondary meaning "thin lamina made with vegetable fiber." | |||
| Croatian | list | ||
| The noun "list" (or "leest"), meaning "a border," derives from the Old English "list" and is cognate with the Dutch "lijst." | |||
| Danish | ark | ||
| Danish word "ark" derives from Middle High German "arch" which stems from Latin "arca" and Old French "arche". | |||
| Dutch | vel | ||
| The word "vel" in Dutch also means "skin" or "membrane". | |||
| English | sheet | ||
| The word "sheet" derives from the Old English "scyte," meaning a broad piece of fabric or a sail. | |||
| French | feuille | ||
| In French, the word "feuille" derives from the Latin word "folia" meaning "leaf" and can also refer to a printed page in a book or newspaper. | |||
| Frisian | fel | ||
| The Frisian word "fel" can also refer to a thin layer or film on a surface. | |||
| Galician | folla | ||
| Galician "folla" comes from Latin "folia" (plural), leaves that are arranged together, and has alternate meanings such as crowd and pamphlet. | |||
| German | blatt | ||
| "Blatt" is also the German word for the botanical structure of a leaf. | |||
| Icelandic | blað | ||
| In Old Norse, "blað" meant "leaf" or "blade" and was related to the Proto-Germanic word "*bladaz" with the same meaning. | |||
| Irish | bileog | ||
| The Irish word "bileog" is possibly derived from the Proto-Indo-European root "*bhelg-," meaning "to swell" or "to burst." | |||
| Italian | foglio | ||
| The Italian word "foglio" derives from the Latin word "folium", meaning "leaf" or "piece of paper". | |||
| Luxembourgish | blat | ||
| Originally, "blat" meant "white linen" and later evolved to mean "sheet". | |||
| Maltese | folja | ||
| Folja is derived from the Latin word folium, meaning 'leaf' or 'sheet' and has multiple alternate meanings such as 'newspaper', 'magazine', 'page', 'membrane' or 'blade' depending on the context. | |||
| Norwegian | ark | ||
| In Norwegian, "ark" can also mean "scar". | |||
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | folha | ||
| "Folha" in Portuguese can mean not only "sheet" but also "newspaper" or "leaf". | |||
| Scots Gaelic | duilleag | ||
| The word "duilleag" is used in Scots Gaelic to refer to a sheet of paper or cloth, but it also has the more general meaning of "page" or "leaf". | |||
| Spanish | sábana | ||
| The term "sábana" derives from the Arabic word "sabána," meaning "fine, soft fabric," and also refers to a wide, flat piece of fabric used to cover a bed or wrap a body. | |||
| Swedish | ark | ||
| The word "ark" in Swedish can also mean "chest" or "box". | |||
| Welsh | cynfas | ||
| The word "cynfas" in Welsh is derived from the Proto-Celtic word "kannabos", meaning "hemp cloth". | |||
Sheet in Eastern European Languages
| Belarusian | ліст | ||
| The word "ліст" can also mean "leaf" in the botanical sense. | |||
| Bosnian | list | ||
| The word "list" can also refer to a document that contains a sequence of items, such as a shopping list or a to-do list. | |||
| Bulgarian | лист | ||
| The word "лист" also means "leaf" and is related to the Latin word "folium" and the Greek word "φύλλον" | |||
| Czech | prostěradlo | ||
| The word "prostěradlo" is derived from the Old Czech word "prostrědlo", meaning "that which is spread out". | |||
| Estonian | leht | ||
| The word "leht" also means "leaf" or "page" in Estonian. | |||
| Finnish | arkki | ||
| While "arkki" typically denotes a flat printed material, it can also refer to the arch or vault of a structure or the layer of a plant's cell wall. | |||
| Hungarian | lap | ||
| The Hungarian word "lap" originally meant "fabric", but nowadays it usually refers to a "sheet". | |||
| Latvian | lapa | ||
| The word "lapa" can also refer to a flat piece of land or a paw in Latvian. | |||
| Lithuanian | lapas | ||
| The word "lapas" is derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *leh₂p- meaning "to peel" or "to strip off"} | |||
| Macedonian | лист | ||
| The word "лист" can also mean "page" or "letter" in Macedonian. | |||
| Polish | arkusz | ||
| The word "arkusz" in Polish originally comes from the German "Arch" meaning "paper". | |||
| Romanian | foaie | ||
| "Foaie" in Romanian can also refer to a newspaper or a page in a book. | |||
| Russian | простынь | ||
| The word "простынь" is derived from the Old Church Slavonic word "простирати" (to spread), and can also refer to a tablecloth or a towel. | |||
| Serbian | лист | ||
| In Serbian, "лист" can also mean a "leaf" on a plant or a "letter". | |||
| Slovak | list | ||
| In Slovak, "list" can also refer to a "strip" or "tape." | |||
| Slovenian | list | ||
| V slovenščini beseda "list" tudi pomeni kos papirja, na katerega pišemo. | |||
| Ukrainian | аркуша | ||
| "Аркуша" (sheet) is derived from the Proto-Slavic "orkъ", which meant "land" or "field". | |||
Sheet in South Asian Languages
| Bengali | চাদর | ||
| The word "চাদর" in Bengali comes from the Sanskrit word "छद", meaning "covering" or "to cover". | |||
| Gujarati | ચાદર | ||
| The word "ચાદર" can also mean a "cover" or a "blanket". | |||
| Hindi | चादर | ||
| The word "चादर" (chadar) also refers to a long scarf or shawl worn by men and women in South Asia. | |||
| Kannada | ಶೀಟ್ | ||
| The word 'sheet' in Kannada ('ಶೀಟ್') can also refer to a thin layer or covering, as in 'a sheet of paper' or 'a sheet of ice'. | |||
| Malayalam | ഷീറ്റ് | ||
| In Malayalam, "ഷീറ്റ്" can also refer to a piece of paper, a letter, or a document. | |||
| Marathi | पत्रक | ||
| The Marathi word 'पत्रक' (patrak), meaning 'sheet,' is derived from the Sanskrit 'patra' ('leaf')—sharing the root word with 'patrakar' ('journalist')—and can also refer to a document, a letter, a leaflet, a certificate, a newspaper page or a piece of writing. | |||
| Nepali | पाना | ||
| In English, we have the word 'folio', which derives from the Latin 'folium', meaning 'leaf' - a cognate of 'पाना' via Proto-Indo-European *bʰolyom. | |||
| Punjabi | ਸ਼ੀਟ | ||
| "Sheet" in Punjabi can also refer to a layer of soil or rock strata. | |||
| Sinhala (Sinhalese) | පත්රය | ||
| The word පත්රය (sheet) is derived from the Sanskrit word पত্র (patra), meaning 'a leaf'. | |||
| Tamil | தாள் | ||
| தாள் in Tamil can also mean 'leaf' of a plant. | |||
| Telugu | షీట్ | ||
| షీట్ also refers to the word 'to spread' in Telugu. | |||
| Urdu | چادر | ||
| In Urdu, the word "چادر" can also mean a type of women's modest clothing covering the body and head. | |||
Sheet in East Asian Languages
| Chinese (Simplified) | 片 | ||
| The character '片' was originally used to represent a thin piece of wood. | |||
| Chinese (Traditional) | 片 | ||
| 片 originally meant a bamboo slip, and is still used in the idiom "片言碎语" (meaning "snippets of conversation") to refer to that original meaning. | |||
| Japanese | シート | ||
| The term "シート" can also refer to a "seat" or an "area" in the context of sports like baseball or tennis. | |||
| Korean | 시트 | ||
| The Korean word '시트' can also refer to the surface of a body of water or to a large sheet of ice. | |||
| Mongolian | хуудас | ||
| Mongolian 'хуудас' also refers to the white, thick, and felt-like covering over an infant's head after birth. | |||
| Myanmar (Burmese) | စာရွက် | ||
Sheet in South East Asian Languages
| Indonesian | lembar | ||
| The word "lembar" in Indonesian can also refer to a page or a piece of paper, while its Javanese cognate "lembaran" specifically means a leaf. | |||
| Javanese | lembaran | ||
| The word 'lembaran' in Javanese also refers to the 'blades' of a knife or sword. | |||
| Khmer | សន្លឹក | ||
| The word "សន្លឹក" can also refer to a page of paper or a piece of cloth. | |||
| Lao | ແຜ່ນ | ||
| The Lao word แຜ່ນ (sheet) can also refer to a flat piece of metal, or a layer of something. | |||
| Malay | lembaran | ||
| Lembaran is derived from the Proto-Malay word "lambi" which also means "long" and "extended". | |||
| Thai | แผ่น | ||
| The word "แผ่น" can also refer to a flat surface, a piece of paper, or a layer. | |||
| Vietnamese | tấm | ||
| It can also mean cloth for sewing traditional clothes, and the word is related to the words for quilt and blanket. | |||
| Filipino (Tagalog) | sheet | ||
Sheet in Central Asian Languages
| Azerbaijani | vərəq | ||
| The word "vərəq" is derived from the Persian word "varaq" which also means "paper" or "page". | |||
| Kazakh | парақ | ||
| The word "парақ" in Kazakh can also mean "a page" or "a leaf." | |||
| Kyrgyz | барак | ||
| The word "барак" can also refer to a barracks or a hut. | |||
| Tajik | варақ | ||
| The word "варақ" can also mean "leaf" (of a plant) or a "page" (in a book). | |||
| Turkmen | sahypa | ||
| Uzbek | varaq | ||
| The word "varaq" in Uzbek can also refer to a thin metal coating or the leaf of a plant. | |||
| Uyghur | ۋاراق | ||
Sheet in Pacific Languages
| Hawaiian | pepa | ||
| The word 'pepa' in Hawaiian also refers to a type of traditional hula dance performed with a piece of kapa cloth. | |||
| Maori | pepa | ||
| "Pepa" also refers to a piece of paper, envelope, or document, and derives from the English word "paper" | |||
| Samoan | ie afu | ||
| The word “ie afu” is used today in the context of a traditional fine mat, as well as to refer to modern fabrics and even paper. | |||
| Tagalog (Filipino) | sheet | ||
| In Tagalog, the word "sheet" can also refer to a piece of paper or a document, similar to its English counterpart. | |||
Sheet in American Indigenous Languages
| Aymara | laphi | ||
| Guarani | savana | ||
Sheet in International Languages
| Esperanto | folio | ||
| The Esperanto word "folio" also means "page number" and is derived from the Latin word "folium," meaning "leaf". | |||
| Latin | sheet | ||
| In Latin, 'sheet' can also refer to a thin layer or coating, or a piece of paper | |||
Sheet in Others Languages
| Greek | σεντόνι | ||
| "Σεντόνι" is a Greek word that literally means "cloth" or "fabric" and can also refer to a "winding sheet" or a "shroud". | |||
| Hmong | daim ntawv | ||
| "Daim ntawv" is a homophone, meaning it has multiple meanings and is pronounced the same as another word or phrase. | |||
| Kurdish | rûberê nivînê | ||
| Turkish | çarşaf | ||
| In Turkish, "çarşaf" also means "veil" and is cognate with the Persian word "چادر" (chādar). | |||
| Xhosa | iphepha | ||
| In some instances, 'iphepha' can refer to a piece of leather used to make shoes. | |||
| Yiddish | בלאַט | ||
| From Middle High German blat "leaf", "blade", from Old High German blat "leaf", "page", "blade", from Proto-Germanic *blada- "leaf", from Proto-Indo-European *bʰle- "to sprout", from *bʰel- "to blow", "to swell", from the Proto-Indo-European root *bhel-, which also produced Sanskrit bhalati "blows", Old Persian bara (Middle Persian bar, Modern Persian 𐭡𐭥𐭧 bar) "to carry". | |||
| Zulu | ishidi | ||
| The word 'ishidi' can also mean a mat made of reeds or grass. | |||
| Assamese | চাদৰ | ||
| Aymara | laphi | ||
| Bhojpuri | चादर | ||
| Dhivehi | ޝީޓް | ||
| Dogri | ब'रका | ||
| Filipino (Tagalog) | sheet | ||
| Guarani | savana | ||
| Ilocano | paset | ||
| Krio | shit | ||
| Kurdish (Sorani) | پەڕە | ||
| Maithili | शीट | ||
| Meiteilon (Manipuri) | ꯃꯣꯝꯄꯥꯛ ꯐꯤꯗꯛ | ||
| Mizo | phek | ||
| Oromo | baaqqee | ||
| Odia (Oriya) | ସିଟ୍ | | ||
| Quechua | rapi | ||
| Sanskrit | आस्तरण | ||
| Tatar | таблица | ||
| Tigrinya | ወረቐት | ||
| Tsonga | lakana | ||