Updated on March 6, 2024
Volume, a term that carries significant meaning in various fields such as mathematics, physics, and literature, is a concept that transcends cultural boundaries. Its significance is evident in the way it describes the space occupied by an object or the loudness of a sound. Moreover, volume has played a crucial role in human civilization, from the ancient art of measuring grain to the modern-day technology of sound engineering.
Interestingly, the word 'volume' has fascinating translations in different languages, each with its unique cultural context. For instance, in Spanish, 'volumen' not only refers to the physical size of an object but also to a section of a book. Meanwhile, in Japanese, 'volume' is translated as 'ボリューム' (boriyūmu), which reflects the influence of Western culture on the language.
So, whether you're a language enthusiast, a cultural explorer, or a curious mind, understanding the translations of volume in different languages can offer a unique perspective on the world around us. Here are some translations of the word 'volume' in various languages:
Afrikaans | volume | ||
In Afrikaans, the word "volume" also means "amount", "quantity", or "number". | |||
Amharic | ጥራዝ | ||
The word "ጥራዝ" (volume) derives from the Ge'ez word "ጽርዝር" (volume) and has the secondary meaning of "bulk". | |||
Hausa | girma | ||
In addition to its primary meaning of volume, "girma" can also refer to the size or quantity of something. | |||
Igbo | olu | ||
The Igbo word "olu" can also refer to a person's wealth, status, or influence. | |||
Malagasy | boky | ||
"Boky" is derived from the Proto-Malayo-Polynesian word "*buqan" meaning "book, writing, scripture". | |||
Nyanja (Chichewa) | voliyumu | ||
''Voliyumu'' is used in Nyanja to refer to the size or amount of something and sometimes implies a measure of weight as well. | |||
Shona | vhoriyamu | ||
Etymology: From the root -vhor-, meaning ‘to be full’, ‘to contain’, ‘to be complete’. | |||
Somali | mugga | ||
The word mugga also means "a large amount" or "a crowd" in Somali. | |||
Sesotho | bophahamo ba modumo | ||
In addition to its literal meaning of "volume," "bophahamo ba modumo" also figuratively refers to the intensity or extent of something. | |||
Swahili | ujazo | ||
"Ufazo" can also mean "abundance" or "plenty". | |||
Xhosa | umthamo | ||
"Umthamo" can also mean "measurement," "size" or "quantity." | |||
Yoruba | iwọn didun | ||
Iwọn didun, a Yoruba phrase, also refers to a 'sweet sound' or 'a pleasant melody' in the context of music. | |||
Zulu | ivolumu | ||
Ivolumu in Zulu holds an alternate meaning: "the extent or amount of something." | |||
Bambara | mankan | ||
Ewe | ɣlidodo | ||
Kinyarwanda | ingano | ||
Lingala | volime | ||
Luganda | eddoboozi | ||
Sepedi | bolumu | ||
Twi (Akan) | ne dodoɔ | ||
Arabic | الصوت | ||
The Arabic word "الصوت" (al-sawt) can also mean "a voice" or "a sound". | |||
Hebrew | כרך | ||
"כרך" is also used to mean a "city" or a "metropolitan area" in Hebrew. | |||
Pashto | حجم | ||
In addition to "volume", "حجم" also means "size" or "quantity" in Pashto. | |||
Arabic | الصوت | ||
The Arabic word "الصوت" (al-sawt) can also mean "a voice" or "a sound". |
Albanian | vëllimi | ||
Vëllimi also means "volume" in the sense of a tome or book. | |||
Basque | bolumena | ||
The Basque word "bolumena" is also used to refer to the volume of a solid object or the size of a space. | |||
Catalan | volum | ||
The word "volum" in Catalan also means "bulk", "mass", or "amount". | |||
Croatian | volumen | ||
"Volumen" literally means "will" and is a term from the law field denoting a last will. | |||
Danish | bind | ||
The Danish word "bind" comes from the Old Norse word "binda", which could also mean "to tie up" or "to seize". | |||
Dutch | volume | ||
In Dutch, "volume" refers to a book or publication and is related to the word "boekdeel" (book-part). | |||
English | volume | ||
The word "volume" derives from the Latin word "volumen," meaning "a roll" or "a scroll," referring to the ancient practice of writing on long, rolled-up pieces of parchment. | |||
French | le volume | ||
The French word "le volume" can also refer to a book's size or thickness | |||
Frisian | folume | ||
In Frisian, "folume" is a variant spelling of "folumme" with the same meaning, and is also a word of its own meaning "mass". | |||
Galician | volume | ||
In Galician, "volume" also means "book" or "tome", and comes from the Latin "volumen", meaning "scroll" or "roll". | |||
German | volumen | ||
The German word "Volumen" can also refer to the size of a book, or the amount of space it takes up on a bookshelf. | |||
Icelandic | bindi | ||
In Icelandic, "bindi" also refers to a small, decorative dot worn on the forehead, typically by women, for religious or cultural reasons. | |||
Irish | toirt | ||
The word "toirt" can also mean "benefit" or "wealth" in Irish. | |||
Italian | volume | ||
The Italian word "volume" has the same origin as the English word "volume" and also means "book". | |||
Luxembourgish | volumen | ||
Maltese | volum | ||
The word volum can also refer to "quantity" or "number of elements" in Maltese. | |||
Norwegian | volum | ||
The word “volum” also means “number” of issues of a publication in Norwegian. | |||
Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | volume | ||
In Portuguese, "volume" can also refer to a book's physical size or thickness. | |||
Scots Gaelic | toirt | ||
"Toirt" is cognate with the Irish word "toirth" and the Welsh word "tẁrf" meaning "hillock". | |||
Spanish | volumen | ||
"Volumen" also means scroll or roll in Spanish | |||
Swedish | volym | ||
"Volym" is cognate with English "volume", but in Swedish it can also refer to "quantity of goods" or "weight of a ship." | |||
Welsh | cyfrol | ||
The word 'cyfrol' also means 'number' in Welsh, as in 'cyfrnod' (digit). |
Belarusian | аб'ём | ||
The word comes from the Greek word | |||
Bosnian | volumen | ||
The word "volumen" in Bosnian can also be used to refer to the act or process of winding or rolling something up, as in the case of a scroll. | |||
Bulgarian | сила на звука | ||
The word "сила на звука" can also mean "sound power" or "loudness". | |||
Czech | hlasitost | ||
The Czech word "hlasitost" also means "loudness". | |||
Estonian | helitugevus | ||
Helitugevus comes from the Estonian words "heli," meaning "sound," and "tugevus," meaning "strength." | |||
Finnish | äänenvoimakkuus | ||
Äänenvoimakkuus originates from the words ääni ("sound") and voimakkuus ("intensity") | |||
Hungarian | hangerő | ||
The Hungarian word "hangerő" can also refer to the "power of a speaker or amplifier". | |||
Latvian | skaļums | ||
The word "skaļums" is derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *kel-, meaning "to call" or "to shout" | |||
Lithuanian | apimtis | ||
The word 'apimtis' is derived from the verb 'apimti', meaning 'to encompass', and is also occasionally used to refer to 'scope' or 'range'. | |||
Macedonian | волумен | ||
Polish | tom | ||
"Tom" comes from the Greek "τόμος," meaning "volume" as a book, or a "section," like in anatomy. | |||
Romanian | volum | ||
In Romanian, "volum" can also refer to the process or result of rolling or wrapping something. | |||
Russian | объем | ||
The word "объем" comes from the Proto-Slavic "obъjьmъ" , which originally meant "embrace, hug." | |||
Serbian | запремину | ||
The word "запремину" can also refer to a person's chest or torso. | |||
Slovak | objem | ||
The word "objem" also means "embrace" in Slovak. | |||
Slovenian | glasnost | ||
The Slovenian word "glasnost" also means "loudness" and is related to the word "glas", which means "voice". | |||
Ukrainian | гучність | ||
The word гучність ultimately stems from the Old Ukrainian word гукъ, which meant "sound" or "voice". |
Bengali | ভলিউম | ||
The word "ভলিউম" can also mean "loudness" or "bulk" in Bengali. | |||
Gujarati | વોલ્યુમ | ||
The word 'વોલ્યુમ' ('volume') in Gujarati also refers to 'a large number or amount' or 'a bound book' or 'a specific portion of a larger work or publication'. | |||
Hindi | आयतन | ||
'आयतन' is derived from 'आयत' meaning 'rectangle' and 'ण' meaning 'amount', thus indicating the amount of space enclosed by a rectangle. | |||
Kannada | ಪರಿಮಾಣ | ||
The Kannada word "ಪರಿಮಾಣ" also means "quantity" or "amount". | |||
Malayalam | വ്യാപ്തം | ||
The word 'വ്യാപ്തം' derives from the Sanskrit words 'व्याप्' (expand) and 'त' (suffix), meaning something that is expanded or extended. | |||
Marathi | आवाज | ||
The Marathi word “आवाज” also means “sound”. | |||
Nepali | भोल्यूम | ||
The word "भोल्यूम" can also refer to a book's size or dimensions. | |||
Punjabi | ਵਾਲੀਅਮ | ||
The word "ਵਾਲੀਅਮ" can also refer to the loudness or strength of a sound, as in the expression "turn up the volume on the radio". | |||
Sinhala (Sinhalese) | පරිමාව | ||
The word "පරිමාව" can also mean "quantity", "amount", or "size" in Sinhala. | |||
Tamil | தொகுதி | ||
In Tamil, the word "தொகுதி" can also refer to a group, or a bundle, or an anthology of literary works. | |||
Telugu | వాల్యూమ్ | ||
The word "వాల్యూమ్" is derived from the Latin word "volumen", meaning "a roll" or "a book". | |||
Urdu | حجم | ||
The word "حجم" comes from the Arabic word "حجم", which means "to gather" or "to collect" |
Chinese (Simplified) | 卷 | ||
The character "卷" (juǎn) can also mean "to roll up" or "a scroll". | |||
Chinese (Traditional) | 卷 | ||
卷 can also mean to roll up, to wrap up, or to involve oneself in something. | |||
Japanese | ボリューム | ||
"ボリューム" can also mean "tone" or "knob". | |||
Korean | 음량 | ||
The hanja used in '음량' initially had the meaning of 'sound' or 'voice', and now refers to the intensity of sound. | |||
Mongolian | хэмжээ | ||
The Mongolian word хэмжээ means not only 'volume', but also 'size', 'measure', and 'amount'. | |||
Myanmar (Burmese) | အသံအတိုးအကျယ် | ||
Indonesian | volume | ||
Volume, meaning "a large quantity," comes from the Latin word "volvere," meaning "to roll" or "to turn." | |||
Javanese | volume | ||
In Javanese, 'volume' can also refer to a traditional Javanese dance or a book. | |||
Khmer | កម្រិតសំឡេង | ||
Lao | ປະລິມານ | ||
Malay | isi padu | ||
The word "isi padu" is a Malay expression composed of "isi" ("content") and "padu" ("solid, condensed"), and it also refers to measurements in the context of physics or cooking. | |||
Thai | ปริมาณ | ||
In classical usage, "ปริมาณ" also means "amount" and "quantity". | |||
Vietnamese | âm lượng | ||
"Âm lượng" also refers to the volume of a physical entity, such as a liquid or solid. | |||
Filipino (Tagalog) | dami | ||
Azerbaijani | həcm | ||
The word "həcm" is the result of the consonant alternation between Azerbaijani "k" and Persian "h". The Persian version, "hajm", was borrowed through Arabic "hajm", which has the same connotation. | |||
Kazakh | көлем | ||
"Көлем" also means "span, range, scope" in Kazakh. | |||
Kyrgyz | көлөмү | ||
Kyrgyz көлөмү ('volume') could also mean 'capacity', 'size', 'dimension', or 'scope'. | |||
Tajik | ҳаҷм | ||
The word "ҳаҷм" can also mean "size" or "amount" in Tajik. | |||
Turkmen | göwrümi | ||
Uzbek | hajmi | ||
"Hajmi" also means "capacity" in Uzbek. | |||
Uyghur | ھەجىمى | ||
Hawaiian | leo | ||
The word "leo" can also mean "the head of a canoe". | |||
Maori | rōrahi | ||
"Rōrahi" can be also be used to refer to the "contents of the stomach" and "a receptacle". | |||
Samoan | tele | ||
Tele can also mean 'sound' or 'voice' in Samoan, and is related to the Polynesian word 'telei', meaning 'to speak' or 'to call out'. | |||
Tagalog (Filipino) | dami | ||
"dami" can also mean "plenty" or "lots". |
Aymara | wulumina | ||
Guarani | tuichakue | ||
Esperanto | volumo | ||
Esperanto's "volumo" also carries its mathematical meaning "content of a geometric body" | |||
Latin | magnitudo | ||
Latin "magnitudo" referred to the greatness of mind or character, before it came to mean physical size or volume. |
Greek | ενταση ηχου | ||
The Greek word "Ενταση ΗΧΟΥ" can also refer to the intensity or loudness of a sound. | |||
Hmong | ntim | ||
"Ntim" also means "to sing" and is likely derived from the sound of singing. | |||
Kurdish | bend | ||
The word "bend" in Kurdish can also mean "portion" or "share". | |||
Turkish | ses | ||
The word 'ses' also refers to speech, sound or song. | |||
Xhosa | umthamo | ||
"Umthamo" can also mean "measurement," "size" or "quantity." | |||
Yiddish | באַנד | ||
The word "באַנד" in Yiddish is cognate with the German "Band", both of which mean "bookbinding" and derive ultimately from the Latin "banda", meaning "band" or "strap." | |||
Zulu | ivolumu | ||
Ivolumu in Zulu holds an alternate meaning: "the extent or amount of something." | |||
Assamese | পৰিমাণ | ||
Aymara | wulumina | ||
Bhojpuri | मात्रा | ||
Dhivehi | އަޑު | ||
Dogri | मिकदार | ||
Filipino (Tagalog) | dami | ||
Guarani | tuichakue | ||
Ilocano | kapigsa | ||
Krio | ɔmɔs | ||
Kurdish (Sorani) | قەبارە | ||
Maithili | मात्रा | ||
Meiteilon (Manipuri) | ꯆꯥꯎꯕꯒꯤꯡꯆꯥꯉ | ||
Mizo | ri rin lam tehna | ||
Oromo | hamma qabachuu danda'uu | ||
Odia (Oriya) | ଭଲ୍ୟୁମ୍ | ||
Quechua | urayina sayay | ||
Sanskrit | मात्रा | ||
Tatar | күләм | ||
Tigrinya | ትሕዝቶ | ||
Tsonga | vholumu | ||