Unlikely in Different Languages
Discover 'Unlikely' in 134 Languages: Dive into Translations, Hear Pronunciations, and Uncover Cultural Insights.
Unlikely
Afrikaans onwaarskynlik | ||
Albanian nuk ka gjasa | ||
Amharic የማይሆን | ||
Arabic من غير المرجح | ||
Armenian քիչ հավանական է | ||
Assamese অসম্ভৱ | ||
Aymara janiw ukhamäkiti | ||
Azerbaijani mümkün deyil | ||
Bambara a tɛ se ka kɛ | ||
Basque nekez | ||
Belarusian малаверагодна | ||
Bengali অসম্ভব | ||
Bhojpuri संभावना कम बा | ||
Bosnian malo vjerovatno | ||
Bulgarian малко вероятно | ||
Catalan poc probable | ||
Cebuano dili mahimo | ||
Chinese (Simplified) 不太可能 | ||
Chinese (Traditional) 不太可能 | ||
Corsican improbabile | ||
Croatian malo vjerojatno | ||
Czech nepravděpodobné | ||
Danish usandsynlig | ||
Dhivehi ނާދިރު ކަމެކެވެ | ||
Dogri संभावना नहीं | ||
Dutch onwaarschijnlijk | ||
English unlikely | ||
Esperanto neverŝajna | ||
Estonian ebatõenäoline | ||
Ewe anɔ eme be menye nenemae o | ||
Filipino (Tagalog) malabong | ||
Finnish epätodennäköistä | ||
French improbable | ||
Frisian ûnwierskynlik | ||
Galician improbable | ||
Georgian ნაკლებად სავარაუდოა | ||
German unwahrscheinlich | ||
Greek απίθανος | ||
Guarani ndaha’éi oje’éva | ||
Gujarati અસંભવિત | ||
Haitian Creole fasil | ||
Hausa bazai yuwu ba | ||
Hawaiian ʻaʻole paha | ||
Hebrew לא סביר | ||
Hindi संभावना नहीं | ||
Hmong tsis zoo li | ||
Hungarian valószínűtlen | ||
Icelandic ólíklegt | ||
Igbo eleghi anya | ||
Ilocano saan a nalabit | ||
Indonesian tidak sepertinya | ||
Irish ní dócha | ||
Italian improbabile | ||
Japanese ありそうもない | ||
Javanese ora mungkin | ||
Kannada ಅಸಂಭವ | ||
Kazakh екіталай | ||
Khmer មិនទំនង | ||
Kinyarwanda ntibishoboka | ||
Konkani अशक्य आसा | ||
Korean 있을 것 같지 않게 | ||
Krio i nɔ go izi fɔ du | ||
Kurdish bêgûman | ||
Kurdish (Sorani) بەدووری نازانرێت | ||
Kyrgyz күмөн | ||
Lao ຄົງຈະບໍ່ເປັນ | ||
Latin unlikely | ||
Latvian maz ticams | ||
Lingala ekoki kosalema te | ||
Lithuanian mažai tikėtina | ||
Luganda tekisuubirwa | ||
Luxembourgish onwahrscheinlech | ||
Macedonian малку веројатно | ||
Maithili असंभावित | ||
Malagasy inoana | ||
Malay tidak mungkin | ||
Malayalam സാധ്യതയില്ല | ||
Maltese improbabbli | ||
Maori kaore pea | ||
Marathi संभव नाही | ||
Meiteilon (Manipuri) ꯌꯥꯝꯅꯥ ꯊꯥꯖꯗꯕꯥ꯫ | ||
Mizo a rinawm loh | ||
Mongolian магадлал багатай | ||
Myanmar (Burmese) မဖြစ်နိုင်ဘူး | ||
Nepali असम्भव | ||
Norwegian lite sannsynlig | ||
Nyanja (Chichewa) zosatheka | ||
Odia (Oriya) ସମ୍ଭବ ନୁହେଁ | ||
Oromo hin fakkaanne | ||
Pashto ناممکن | ||
Persian بعید | ||
Polish mało prawdopodobne | ||
Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) improvável | ||
Punjabi ਸੰਭਾਵਨਾ | ||
Quechua mana yaqapaschá | ||
Romanian improbabil | ||
Russian навряд ли | ||
Samoan ono | ||
Sanskrit असम्भाव्यम् | ||
Scots Gaelic eu-coltach | ||
Sepedi go sa kgonege | ||
Serbian мало вероватно | ||
Sesotho ha ho bonahale joalo | ||
Shona zvisingaite | ||
Sindhi ممڪن ناهي | ||
Sinhala (Sinhalese) නොහැක්කකි | ||
Slovak nepravdepodobné | ||
Slovenian malo verjetno | ||
Somali lagama yaabo | ||
Spanish improbable | ||
Sundanese teu dipikaresep | ||
Swahili haiwezekani | ||
Swedish osannolik | ||
Tagalog (Filipino) malabong mangyari | ||
Tajik гумон аст | ||
Tamil சாத்தியமில்லை | ||
Tatar мөгаен | ||
Telugu అవకాశం లేదు | ||
Thai ไม่น่าเป็นไปได้ | ||
Tigrinya ዘይመስል እዩ። | ||
Tsonga a swi nge endleki | ||
Turkish olası olmayan | ||
Turkmen ähtimal | ||
Twi (Akan) ɛnyɛ nea ɛbɛyɛ yiye | ||
Ukrainian малоймовірно | ||
Urdu امکان نہیں | ||
Uyghur مۇمكىن ئەمەس | ||
Uzbek ehtimoldan yiroq | ||
Vietnamese không chắc | ||
Welsh annhebygol | ||
Xhosa akunakwenzeka | ||
Yiddish אַנלייקלי | ||
Yoruba išẹlẹ ti | ||
Zulu akunakwenzeka |
Etymology & Notes
| Language | Etymology / Notes |
|---|---|
| Afrikaans | "Onwaarskynlik" is derived from the Dutch word "onwaarschijnlijk", which has the same meaning but is also used as an adverb to mean "improbable". |
| Albanian | In Albanian, the term "nuk ka gjasa" also signifies "unlikely" or "not probable". |
| Amharic | The word "የማይሆን" can also mean "impossible" or "not feasible". |
| Arabic | The Arabic word "من غير المرجح" literally translates to "from the absence of likelihood". |
| Azerbaijani | The Azerbaijani word "mümkün deyil" also means "impossible" in Turkish. |
| Basque | The word "nekez" means "difficult" or "impossible" and originates from the Basque word "neke" meaning "effort" or "labor". |
| Bengali | The word "অসম্ভব" in Bengali is related to the idea of something that is not possible to achieve or realize, derived from the root "সম্ভব" |
| Bosnian | The word "malo vjerovatno" in Bosnian is derived from the Slavic root "mal" meaning "small" and "vjerovatno" meaning "probable". It therefore literally means "slightly probable" or "not very likely". |
| Bulgarian | The Bulgarian word "малко вероятно" literally translates to "a little likely" (a negative connotation) or "slightly likely". |
| Catalan | The word "poc probable" in Catalan is composed of two words, "poc" (little) and "probable" (probable), and its meaning is the opposite of what one would expect: it means "unlikely". |
| Cebuano | "Dili mahimo" in Cebuano shares the same etymology as "impossible" in English, but it can also mean "it's not possible" or "it's not right". |
| Chinese (Simplified) | 不太可能'源自'不太可能实现', 指实现的可能性很低。 |
| Chinese (Traditional) | 「不太可能」可指微乎其微的可能性，或指某事困難度極高，近乎不可能發生。 |
| Corsican | Corsican `improbabile (improbabile/improbabili)` also means strange, unusual, surprising, odd, bizarre, queer, atypical, irregular, anomalous, eccentric, whimsical, unpredictable, wayward, volatile, or whimsical in English. |
| Croatian | The word "malo vjerojatno" literally means "little probable" or "slightly probable". |
| Czech | The Czech word "nepravděpodobné" is derived from the Proto-Slavic "nepravdь", meaning "false" or "untrue". |
| Danish | The word "usandsynlig" comes from the Old Norse word "úsanni", meaning "not true" or "untrue". |
| Dutch | The Dutch word "onwaarschijnlijk" is derived from the Old Saxon word "unwar" meaning "unaware" and "lik" meaning "body". This suggests an original meaning of "not knowing what one's body is doing". |
| Esperanto | The word "neverŝajna" is derived from the root "ŝajni" meaning "to seem" and the prefix "ne-" meaning "no, not". |
| Estonian | Ebatõenäoline derives from eba- ('not') + tõenäoline ('likely'), and can also mean 'improbable' or 'doubtful'. |
| Finnish | "Epätodennäköistä" derives from "epä-" (not), "toden-" (real), and "näköinen" (looking, seeming). |
| French | The French word "improbable" comes from the Latin word "improbabilis," meaning "not fit to be approved" |
| Galician | The Galician word "improbable" comes from the Latin "improbabilis", meaning "not proven". |
| German | The word "unwahrscheinlich" is derived from the Old High German "unwārschinlīh," meaning "not appearing true." |
| Greek | "απίθανος" means "unlikely" in Greek, but it can also mean "unbelievable" or "astonishing". |
| Gujarati | The word "અસંભવિત" literally means "not probable" in Gujarati, implying something that is not likely to happen. |
| Haitian Creole | Haitian Creole "fasil" also means "without" in Spanish but is not spelled the same. |
| Hausa | The phrase literally means "a cat's beard". |
| Hawaiian | ʻAʻole paha is made up of several words that have multiple meanings: ʻaʻole (maybe not), paha (perhaps), and kaha (firmly). |
| Hebrew | The Hebrew word "לא סביר" also means "unbearable". |
| Hindi | The word "संभावना नहीं" (sam̄bhāvanā nahīṃ) literally means "not possible" in Hindi. |
| Hmong | It is likely that the word "tsis zoo li" was borrowed from the Chinese word "不可能" (bù kě néng), meaning "impossible". |
| Hungarian | The Hungarian word "valószínűtlen," originally meaning "without probability," can also mean "improbable" or "doubtful." |
| Icelandic | Ólíklegt is a loanword from the Old Norse word "úlíkligr" which meant "dissimilar" or "different." |
| Igbo | The Igbo word "eleghi anya" literally translates to "not seeing the eye". |
| Indonesian | "Tidak sepertinya" literally translates as "not like it", which can also mean "unnatural" or "abnormal". |
| Italian | 'Improbabile' derives from the Latin 'im' (not), 'probus' (good) and '-bile' (capable), and had the primary meaning of 'unsuitable' or 'improper', especially in a legal or moral sense. |
| Japanese | "ありそうもない"は「有る様も無い」が変化したもの。 |
| Javanese | The word "ora mungkin" in Javanese is derived from "ora" (not) and "mungkin" (possible), meaning "not possible" or "unlikely." |
| Kannada | "ಅಸಂಭವ" is derived from the Sanskrit word "असंभव" which literally means "not possible". |
| Kazakh | The word "екіталай" in Kazakh also means "unexpected". |
| Korean | The Korean word "있을 것 같지 않게" literally means "it is not like there will be something", implying a low probability. |
| Kurdish | The Kurdish word "bêgûman" has no direct translation in English, but its closest meaning is "impossible" or "beyond belief." |
| Kyrgyz | In Kyrgyz, "күмөн" ("unlikely") also means "doubt" or "uncertainty". |
| Latin | The word "unlikely" derives from the late Middle English word "unlikly," which itself derives from the Old English word "ungelīc," meaning "dissimilar" or "unlike." |
| Latvian | The Latvian word "maz ticams" originally meant "of little faith", but its meaning has since evolved to mean "unlikely" or "improbable". |
| Lithuanian | The Lithuanian word "mažai tikėtina" can also be translated as "improbable" or "hardly likely" |
| Macedonian | The Macedonian word "малку веројатно" is derived from the Slavic root "ver", meaning "faith" or "belief," and the prefix "малку," meaning "little" or "slightly". Therefore, it literally means "slightly unlikely" or "not very likely". |
| Malagasy | The word "inoana" also means "unlikely" in Malagasy, and it is derived from the word "ino" which means "not". |
| Malay | "Tidak mungkin" literally means "not possible" in Malay, but it's often used to convey the idea of something being unlikely or improbable. |
| Maltese | The word "improbabbli" is derived from the Italian word "improbabile" and has the alternate meaning of "unbelievable". |
| Maori | "Kaore Pea" means "not here" or "non-existence" and is the Maori equivalent of "never" or "hardly ever" in English. |
| Marathi | The Marathi word "संभव नाही" can also refer to "impossibility" or "inability." |
| Mongolian | The Mongolian word 'магадлал багатай', meaning 'unlikely', literally translates to 'with little probability'. |
| Nepali | The word "असम्भव" is derived from the Sanskrit word "संभव," meaning "possible" or "feasible," and the negative prefix "अ," meaning "not" or "without." |
| Norwegian | The word "lite sannsynlig" can also mean "slightly probable" or "somewhat likely" in Norwegian. |
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | Zosatheka is derived from 'ku-satha', meaning 'to doubt', likely because the unlikely is something you would doubt. |
| Pashto | The word "ناممکن" can also mean "impossible" in Pashto. |
| Persian | "بعید" is the past participle of the verb "بُعد" (bood), meaning "to be distant", and also means "far" or "remote". |
| Polish | "Mało" means "few," so "mało prawdopodobne" literally means "few probable." |
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | "Improvável" in Portuguese also means "badly done" or "unsuitable". |
| Punjabi | The word "ਸੰਭਾਵਨਾ" in Punjabi is derived from the Sanskrit word "संभावना" (sambhavana), which means "possibility" or "probability". Ironically, in Punjabi, it has come to mean "unlikely" or "improbable". |
| Romanian | The word "improbabil" comes from the Latin word "improbabilis", which means "unbelievable". |
| Russian | The word may also be connected to the Russian idiom "от ворот поворот" ("to be turned away at the gate"), suggesting strong denial. |
| Samoan | The Samoan word 'ono' also means 'delicious'. This secondary meaning comes from the belief that improbable things are likely to be especially tasty. |
| Scots Gaelic | The first element, eu-, is a nominalising prefix but is not found in other words in the language; the second element, coltach, means "similar, like". |
| Serbian | The word "мало вероватно" is derived from the Slavic root "ver-" (meaning "faith" or "belief"), and literally means "little faith" or "lack of belief". |
| Sesotho | The phrase "ha ho bonahale joalo" can also mean "it is not a coincidence" or "it is not surprising" in Sesotho. |
| Shona | The word "zvisingaite" is derived from the verb "kusinga", meaning "to be rare or unusual". It is also sometimes used to refer to something that is improbable or unlikely to happen. |
| Slovak | The word "nepravdepodobné" in Slovak is derived from the negation of the word "pravdepodobné" (likely), making it literally mean "not likely". |
| Slovenian | The Slovene word "malo verjetno" is a compound of "malo" ("little") and "verjetno" ("likely"), thus literally meaning "a little likely". |
| Somali | The phrase 'lagama yaabo' has an alternate literal translation meaning 'there are no things'. |
| Spanish | The Spanish word "improbable" comes from the Latin word "improbabilis", meaning "not approved" or "disapproved of". |
| Sundanese | The word "teu dipikaresep" in Sundanese is derived from "teu" (not), "di" (passive voice), "pikaresep" (to be liked), and "se" (resultative suffix), meaning "not able to be liked." |
| Swahili | The Swahili word "haiwezekani" is derived from the Arabic "hādhā yusīru maḥāla", meaning "this will become difficult or impossible". |
| Swedish | The Swedish word "osannolik" is derived from the Old Norse "ólík", which means "unlike" or "dissimilar". |
| Telugu | The word "అవకాశం లేదు" literally means "no opportunity" in Telugu, implying a lack of possibility or feasibility. |
| Thai | "ไม่น่าเป็นไปได้" is used not only to mean "unlikely" but also "impossible". |
| Turkish | "Olası olmayan" kelimesi Türkçe'de "olabilen" veya "mümkün" anlamına da gelebilir. |
| Ukrainian | The word 'малоймовірно' (unlikely) in Ukrainian derives from the root 'малий' (small) and means 'having a small probability' or 'being not very likely to happen'. |
| Urdu | The Urdu word 'امکان نہیں' literally translates to 'not possible,' while its deeper meaning implies 'highly unlikely' or 'nearly impossible'. |
| Uzbek | The word "ehtimoldan yiroq" (unlikely) in Uzbek comes from the Persian word "ehtemal" (probability), with the addition of the suffix "-siz" (without). |
| Vietnamese | The word "không chắc" can also mean "maybe" or "perhaps" in Vietnamese. |
| Welsh | The Welsh word "annhebygol" can also mean "unpleasant" or "unbecoming." |
| Xhosa | The term "akunakwenzeka" in Xhosa is derived from the combination of "akuna" (there is not) and "kwenzeka" (to happen), forming the compound word "akunakwenzeka," meaning "cannot happen" or "unlikely." |
| Yiddish | "אַנלייקלי" also means "not loving" or "reluctant" |
| Yoruba | The literal meaning of "išẹlẹ ti" is a "not occurring thing". |
| Zulu | The Zulu word "akunakwenzeka" is loosely etymologized as "it can't be made to come to happen". |
| English | "Unlikely" derives from the Middle English "unlikly," meaning both "not like," or "not natural," and "not likely," a sense that emerged in the late 15th century. |