Thing in Different Languages
Discover 'Thing' in 134 Languages: Dive into Translations, Hear Pronunciations, and Uncover Cultural Insights.
Thing
Afrikaans ding | ||
Albanian sendi | ||
Amharic ነገር | ||
Arabic شيء | ||
Armenian բան | ||
Assamese বস্তু | ||
Aymara yä | ||
Azerbaijani şey | ||
Bambara fɛn | ||
Basque gauza | ||
Belarusian рэч | ||
Bengali জিনিস | ||
Bhojpuri चीज | ||
Bosnian stvar | ||
Bulgarian нещо | ||
Catalan cosa | ||
Cebuano butang | ||
Chinese (Simplified) 事情 | ||
Chinese (Traditional) 事情 | ||
Corsican cosa | ||
Croatian stvar | ||
Czech věc | ||
Danish ting | ||
Dhivehi އެއްޗެއް | ||
Dogri चीज | ||
Dutch ding | ||
English thing | ||
Esperanto afero | ||
Estonian asi | ||
Ewe nu | ||
Filipino (Tagalog) bagay | ||
Finnish asia | ||
French chose | ||
Frisian ding | ||
Galician cousa | ||
Georgian რამე | ||
German sache | ||
Greek πράγμα | ||
Guarani mba'e | ||
Gujarati વસ્તુ | ||
Haitian Creole bagay | ||
Hausa abu | ||
Hawaiian mea | ||
Hebrew דָבָר | ||
Hindi चीज़ | ||
Hmong khoom | ||
Hungarian dolog | ||
Icelandic hlutur | ||
Igbo ihe | ||
Ilocano banag | ||
Indonesian benda | ||
Irish rud | ||
Italian cosa | ||
Japanese 事 | ||
Javanese bab | ||
Kannada ವಿಷಯ | ||
Kazakh нәрсе | ||
Khmer រឿង | ||
Kinyarwanda ikintu | ||
Konkani गजाल | ||
Korean 맡은 일 | ||
Krio tin | ||
Kurdish tişt | ||
Kurdish (Sorani) شت | ||
Kyrgyz нерсе | ||
Lao ສິ່ງ | ||
Latin rem | ||
Latvian lieta | ||
Lingala eloko | ||
Lithuanian dalykas | ||
Luganda ekintu | ||
Luxembourgish saach | ||
Macedonian ствар | ||
Maithili चीज | ||
Malagasy zavatra | ||
Malay benda | ||
Malayalam കാര്യം | ||
Maltese ħaġa | ||
Maori mea | ||
Marathi गोष्ट | ||
Meiteilon (Manipuri) ꯄꯣꯠꯁꯛ | ||
Mizo thil | ||
Mongolian зүйл | ||
Myanmar (Burmese) အရာ | ||
Nepali कुरा | ||
Norwegian ting | ||
Nyanja (Chichewa) chinthu | ||
Odia (Oriya) ଜିନିଷ | ||
Oromo wanta | ||
Pashto شی | ||
Persian چیز | ||
Polish rzecz | ||
Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) coisa | ||
Punjabi ਚੀਜ਼ | ||
Quechua ima | ||
Romanian lucru | ||
Russian предмет | ||
Samoan mea | ||
Sanskrit वस्तु | ||
Scots Gaelic rud | ||
Sepedi selo | ||
Serbian ствар | ||
Sesotho ntho | ||
Shona chinhu | ||
Sindhi شيءِ | ||
Sinhala (Sinhalese) දෙයක් | ||
Slovak vec | ||
Slovenian stvar | ||
Somali shay | ||
Spanish cosa | ||
Sundanese hal | ||
Swahili kitu | ||
Swedish sak | ||
Tagalog (Filipino) bagay | ||
Tajik чиз | ||
Tamil விஷயம் | ||
Tatar нәрсә | ||
Telugu విషయం | ||
Thai สิ่ง | ||
Tigrinya ነገር | ||
Tsonga xilo | ||
Turkish şey | ||
Turkmen zat | ||
Twi (Akan) adeɛ | ||
Ukrainian річ | ||
Urdu چیز | ||
Uyghur نەرسە | ||
Uzbek narsa | ||
Vietnamese điều | ||
Welsh peth | ||
Xhosa into | ||
Yiddish זאַך | ||
Yoruba nkan | ||
Zulu into |
Etymology & Notes
| Language | Etymology / Notes |
|---|---|
| Afrikaans | "Ding" is derived from the Proto-Germanic "*þingą" and has meanings including "assembly," "court," and "parliament." |
| Albanian | The Albanian word "sendi" derives from Proto-Indo-European *ḱʰtóm- "ground, earth". |
| Amharic | The word "ነገር" in Amharic is derived from the Proto-Semitic root *n-g-r*, meaning "to move". It can also refer to "speech" or "matter". |
| Arabic | The Arabic word "شيء" can also refer to a matter, an affair, a business, or an event. |
| Armenian | The Armenian word "բան" can also refer to a matter, issue, or affair |
| Azerbaijani | The Azerbaijani word "şey", besides meaning "thing", can also be used in the sense of "property" or "estate". |
| Basque | The Basque word "gauza" can also refer to "matter", "substance", or "affair". |
| Belarusian | The word "рэч" can be used figuratively to denote "property" or "affair." |
| Bengali | The word "জিনিস" can also mean "goods" or "property" in Bengali. |
| Bosnian | "Stvar" can also mean "creation" in Bosnian, derived from its Slavic root word "sŭtvarŭ" which means "to create". |
| Bulgarian | In the Bulgarian word "нещо" there is no prefix. The word "не" usually translates to "not", but here it has a different meaning, it has an indefinite meaning. |
| Catalan | It derives from the Latin word causa, meaning 'cause', 'motive' or 'reason', from which derives also the English word 'cause'. |
| Cebuano | The word is derived from the Malay word 'benda' which means 'thing' or 'object'. |
| Chinese (Simplified) | The two characters that compose 事情 ( |
| Chinese (Traditional) | "事情" (thing) was originally an event, but since anything can become a topic, it is now also "thing". |
| Corsican | In Corsican, "cosa" also denotes an issue or matter. |
| Croatian | "Stvar" comes from the Old Slavic *stvarъ, which meant "property" but later acquired a broader sense of "thing, object". |
| Czech | The etymology of "věc" suggests a connection to the notion of "property" or "affair," indicating its significance beyond mere materiality. |
| Danish | The Danish word "ting" can also refer to a legislative or judicial assembly, or to a meeting or gathering. |
| Dutch | In Dutch, the word "ding" can also refer to a gadget, device, or object, similar to the English "gizmo" or "contraption". |
| Esperanto | The Esperanto word "afero" ultimately derives from the Latin "res" meaning "thing, matter, or affair." |
| Estonian | The Estonian word "asi", which means "thing", shares a linguistic origin with the Latin word for "matter" and "stuff" in the form of the Indo-European words "h₂é-so" (meaning, "thing, stuff, substance, material, stuff, it") and "h₃ehs₂-ó-", meaning, "to be". |
| Finnish | The word "asia" can also mean "cause" or "matter", and is related to the word "asia" meaning "case" in Estonian and "cause" in Livonian. |
| French | The word "chose" is derived from the Latin word "causa", which means "cause" or "matter". The French word "chose" can therefore have both a concrete meaning ("thing") and an abstract meaning ("cause"). |
| Frisian | In Frisian, the word "ding" has a dual meaning, referring to both "thing" and "trial." |
| Galician | The Galician word "cousa" is derived from the Latin "causa", meaning "cause, reason, or matter". |
| Georgian | The word "რამე" can also refer to a concept, an idea, or a topic of conversation. |
| German | The term 'Sache' has a dual origin: the Middle Low German word "sake", which referred to "litigation" and a legal case and the Middle High German term "sahhe", which referred to the subject under discussion and was related to "Sagen" ("to say"). |
| Greek | In Greek, "πράγμα" can also refer to a matter, case, or action. |
| Gujarati | The word "વસ્તુ" means "thing", but it can also mean "substance", "matter", or "object". |
| Haitian Creole | The Haitian Creole word 'bagay' originates from the Fon word 'bag', which means 'thing'. |
| Hausa | Its plural, "abubuwa," denotes "property," "affairs," while "abu na..." means "that which is of..." |
| Hawaiian | The Hawaiian word "mea" can also refer to a concept, an object, or a matter. |
| Hebrew | The word "דָבָר" has another meaning, "plague" or "pestilence", which is related to its root meaning of "to speak" or "to utter". |
| Hindi | The Hindi word "चीज़" can also refer to an artifact, item, or substance. |
| Hmong | In Hmong, "khoom" encompasses the concept of "existence," meaning not only inanimate objects but also entities like dreams, ideas, and events. |
| Hungarian | The word "dolog" derives from the verb "dolokik", meaning to work or to make, and is related to the word "dologidő", which means time spent working. |
| Icelandic | The word "hlutur" can also mean "object" or "matter". |
| Igbo | The Igbo word 'ihe' can also refer to an event, an issue, or a situation. |
| Indonesian | Benda, also spelled bendaa, is also a title often given to traditional religious leaders such as dukun or bomoh in certain regions of Indonesia, particularly East Java. |
| Irish | In Old Irish, 'rud' could refer to a possession, property, or wealth. |
| Italian | The Italian word "cosa" can also mean "business", "affair", or "matter". |
| Japanese | The word "事" (こと) in Japanese can also mean "affair", "matter", "event", or "circumstance". |
| Javanese | In the Madurese language, "bab" refers to a specific type of woven fabric skirt. |
| Kannada | "ವಿಷಯ" can also mean 'context', 'substance' or 'topic'. |
| Kazakh | The word 'нәрсе' ('thing' in Kazakh) comes from the Turkic root 'narse', meaning 'substance'. |
| Khmer | In Old Khmer, 'រឿង' also meant 'a type of poem'. |
| Korean | The word "맡은 일" in Korean can also mean "duty" or "responsibility". |
| Kurdish | The word "tişt" in Kurdish can also refer to an object, a tool, or a property. |
| Kyrgyz | The word "нерсе" can also mean "business" or "affair" in Kyrgyz. |
| Lao | The word "thing" can also refer to an action or an event. |
| Latin | The word "rem" also means an "object", or "article", and is related to "res", meaning "affair". |
| Latvian | The word "lieta" can also mean "case" or "matter" in a legal context. |
| Lithuanian | The word "dalykas" derives from the Proto-Indo-European root *(dʰegʷʰ)- "to put, set", also found in English "thing" and "deed." |
| Luxembourgish | The word "Saach" is derived from the Proto-West Germanic word *saka, meaning "dispute" or "lawsuit". |
| Macedonian | "The word 'ствар' is derived from the Old Slavic words 'stvoriti' (to create, to make) and 'tvar' (form, appearance)." |
| Malagasy | The Malagasy word "zavatra" can also mean "substance", "matter", "property", or "wealth" in different contexts. |
| Malay | The word "benda" has many different meanings in Malay, depending on the context. It can mean an "object," a "thing," a "creature," or a "person." |
| Malayalam | The word 'കാര്യം' can also mean 'reason', 'purpose', or 'matter'. |
| Maltese | The Maltese word "ħaġa" can also be used to refer to an object or a concept |
| Maori | The Maori word "mea" is derived from the Proto-Polynesian word "*mea" and has the alternate meaning of "belongings" or "goods". |
| Marathi | The word "गोष्ट" can also refer to a story, affair, or a matter, deriving from the Sanskrit word "घोष्टा" meaning "conversation" or "talk." |
| Mongolian | The Mongolian word зүйл derives from the Proto-Mongolic word *süyel, meaning "thing, object." |
| Myanmar (Burmese) | The word "အရာ" is also used to refer to a person or object of uncertain or unspecified nature. |
| Nepali | कुरा shares its root word with English |
| Norwegian | The word "ting" in Norwegian is cognated with the English word "thing", and shares its etymological roots in Old Norse and Proto-Germanic. |
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | "Chinthu" in Nyanja also refers to a matter or issue needing attention. |
| Pashto | The word "شی" can also refer to a matter, an object, or a piece of property in Pashto. |
| Persian | چیز ('thing') is also a homonym and shares its spelling and pronunciation with four other words ('dung,' 'glue,' 'wound,' and 'case'). |
| Polish | The word "rzecz" can also refer to a "republic" or a "matter" in Polish. |
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | The etymology of "coisa" can be traced back to the Latin "causa," meaning "case," "reason," or "motive." |
| Punjabi | The word "ਚੀਜ਼" (thing) in Punjabi can also refer to "a matter" or "an object of value." |
| Romanian | In Romanian, "lucru" can also refer to a business or a task, stemming from Latin "lucrum" meaning "profit," similar to its English use in "lucrative." |
| Russian | The Russian word "предмет" can also refer to a subject of study or a topic of discussion. |
| Samoan | The word 'mea' in Samoan, besides its literal meaning of 'thing', also carries connotations of personal belongings or possession. |
| Scots Gaelic | The Gaelic word rud means 'thing', but it can also mean 'element' or 'matter'. |
| Serbian | The word "ствар" can also refer to a lawsuit or a legal dispute. |
| Sesotho | Ntho can also mean 'affair', 'business', or 'matter'. |
| Shona | The word "chinhu" can also refer to a matter, issue, or affair, and is related to the verb "kuita", meaning "to do". |
| Sindhi | The Sindhi word "شيءِ" can also mean a substance, an entity, or an article. |
| Sinhala (Sinhalese) | The word "දෙයක්" (deyek) in Sinhala can also mean "property" or "belonging". |
| Slovak | The word "vec" in Slovak can also refer to a "device" or an "object" of any kind. |
| Slovenian | The Slovenian word "stvar" is a cognate of the Russian word "veshch", meaning "essence" or "material being." |
| Somali | Somali "shay" has an alternate plural form, "waxyaalo," and is also a noun root meaning "to be, to exist." |
| Spanish | The word "cosa" (thing) derives from the Latin word "causa" (cause or reason), hence its original meaning in Spanish was "reason" or "matter". |
| Sundanese | Sundanese 'hal' also refers to an action, event or process |
| Swahili | The word 'kitu' ('thing') in Swahili can also refer to an object, a matter, or an affair. |
| Swedish | The word "sak" can also refer to a legal case or a document. |
| Tagalog (Filipino) | Bagay can also refer to an article of clothing, a suit, or an outfit. |
| Tajik | The word "чиз" can refer to a particular item, a specific instance of something, or an object in general. |
| Tamil | "விஷயம்" has multiple meanings, including "matter", "topic", "business", "affair", "case", "subject", and "circumstance". |
| Telugu | In Telugu, "విషయం" ("vishayam") means both "thing" and "subject". |
| Thai | The Thai word "สิ่ง" is cognate with other Kra-Dai languages, and its root meaning is likely "existence", "entity" or "fact"} |
| Turkish | The word 'şey' can also mean 'it' or 'that' and is the origin of 'şöyle' ('like this') and 'öyle' ('like that'). |
| Ukrainian | In Ukrainian, "річ" can also refer to a possession or property. |
| Urdu | The Urdu word "چیز" (thing) is derived from the Persian word "چیز" and can also refer to a piece of property or an object used in sorcery. |
| Uzbek | The word "narsa" also means "what" and "which" and is related to words like "nerse" which means "this". |
| Vietnamese | The word "Điều" can also mean "article", "point" or "condition". |
| Welsh | The word "peth" in Welsh can also refer to a "piece" of something, or a "part" of something. |
| Xhosa | In Nguni languages, the cognate -nto signifies a physical location, or 'interior'. For example, in Swati the word endlini translates to 'in/inside the house'. |
| Yiddish | זאַך, meaning "a thing" in Yiddish, is derived from the Middle High German "sache", which also means "a thing" and can refer to property or a legal affair |
| Yoruba | In addition to its primary meaning of "thing" in Yoruba, "nkan" can also refer to a "matter, subject, affair, business, case, or problem." |
| Zulu | The word 'into' derives from the Proto-Bantu *in-tu 'thing'. This is a common Bantu root and so it has cognates in many modern day Bantu languages. |
| English | The origin of 'thing' is Proto-Germanic *þeŋgaz, or possibly a Proto-Indo-European root meaning 'to press' or 'to grasp' |