Who in Different Languages
Discover 'Who' in 134 Languages: Dive into Translations, Hear Pronunciations, and Uncover Cultural Insights.
Updated on March 6, 2024
The word 'who' is a small but powerful part of our language. It is a pronoun used to ask for the identity of a person or people, and it underpins our ability to communicate and connect with one another. From ancient literature to modern-day conversation, 'who' has played a vital role in shaping our cultural and linguistic heritage.
Did you know that 'who' can be translated into over 7,000 languages worldwide? Each language has its unique way of expressing this fundamental question, reflecting the rich diversity of human culture and language. For example, in Spanish, 'who' is '¿quién?', while in Mandarin Chinese, it is '谁' (shuí).
Understanding the translation of 'who' in different languages can help us bridge cultural divides and deepen our appreciation for the beauty and complexity of human language. So, let's explore some of the many ways 'who' can be translated around the world!
Who
Who in Sub-Saharan African Languages
| Afrikaans | wie | ||
| The word “wie” also means “how” and “like” in Afrikaans. | |||
| Amharic | የአለም ጤና ድርጅት | ||
| Hausa | hukumar lafiya ta duniya | ||
| Igbo | who | ||
| Igbo words like 'onye' and 'ndi' can also translate to 'who' or 'whom' depending on context. | |||
| Malagasy | oms | ||
| "OMS" is also the Malagasy word for "yes" | |||
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | who | ||
| In Nyanja, "aku" can also mean "you" or "they", depending on the context. | |||
| Shona | who | ||
| The Shona word 'ani' can also mean 'which' or 'what' depending on the context of the sentence. | |||
| Somali | hay'ada caafimaadka aduunka | ||
| Sesotho | who | ||
| "WHO" can also mean "what" or "which" in Sesotho. | |||
| Swahili | who | ||
| In Swahili, the word 'nani' is also used to mean 'who'. | |||
| Xhosa | i-who | ||
| The word "i-WHO" in Xhosa derives from the Bantu root "-wo", meaning "to ask". | |||
| Yoruba | àjọ who | ||
| The word Àjọ WHO can also refer to a group or assembly of people | |||
| Zulu | i-who | ||
| I-WHO in Zulu is also used to ask for someone's identity or to inquire about their well-being | |||
| Bambara | jon | ||
| Ewe | ame ka | ||
| Kinyarwanda | ninde | ||
| Lingala | nani | ||
| Luganda | ani | ||
| Sepedi | mang | ||
| Twi (Akan) | hwan | ||
Who in North African & Middle Eastern Languages
| Arabic | منظمة الصحة العالمية | ||
| WHO stands for World Health Organization in both Arabic and English. | |||
| Hebrew | who | ||
| The word "mi" (pronounced "mee") in Hebrew functions as both the interrogative pronoun "who" and the relative pronoun "that". | |||
| Pashto | who | ||
| Alternately, in Pashto, "who" can also refer to the "interrogative pronoun". | |||
| Arabic | منظمة الصحة العالمية | ||
| WHO stands for World Health Organization in both Arabic and English. | |||
Who in Western European Languages
| Albanian | kush | ||
| "Kush" in Albanian shares its root with the Sanskrit word "ka" meaning "who," and the Proto-Indo-European word "kʷos" meaning "who? which?" | |||
| Basque | moe | ||
| The word "Moe" can also be used as an interjection meaning "what?" or "really?" | |||
| Catalan | oms | ||
| OMS, which stands for Organització Mundial de la Salut (World Health Organization) in Catalan, can also refer to the letter 'W' in the Catalan alphabet. | |||
| Croatian | who | ||
| The Croatian word "tko" originates from the Proto-Indo-European root "*kʷo_", meaning "who, which". | |||
| Danish | who | ||
| In Danish, the word "hvem" (who) can also refer to an unknown person or object. | |||
| Dutch | wie | ||
| The Dutch word "wie" is derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *kʷei-, meaning "who" or "what". | |||
| English | who | ||
| The word "who" evolved from the Old English word "hwa," meaning "interrogative or relative pronoun used to refer to a person." | |||
| French | oms | ||
| In French, OMS is an acronym for the World Health Organization (Organisation mondiale de la santé) | |||
| Frisian | wso | ||
| In Frisian, the word "WSO" can also refer to a "who's who" list or a "person of importance." | |||
| Galician | oms | ||
| The word "OMS" in Galician can also mean "world" or "universe". | |||
| German | wer | ||
| The word "Wer" can also refer to a person or individual in German, similar to the English word "whoever". | |||
| Icelandic | who | ||
| In Icelandic, "hvar" means "who" while "hver" means "each". | |||
| Irish | eds | ||
| The Irish "EDS" is a homonym, which can also mean "that" or "which" in addition to its use as an interrogative pronoun. | |||
| Italian | chi | ||
| The Italian word 'chi' can also mean 'that which', 'what', 'whoever', or 'whomever'. | |||
| Luxembourgish | who | ||
| The Luxembourgish word "wie" also means "how" and "which" in English. | |||
| Maltese | min | ||
| The Maltese word "min" (meaning "who") likely derives from the Arabic word "min" meaning "from" or "of." | |||
| Norwegian | who | ||
| The word "hvem" can also mean "whom" in Norwegian. | |||
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | quem | ||
| The Portuguese word "quem" originated from the Latin word "quomodo", meaning "how" or "in what manner". | |||
| Scots Gaelic | who | ||
| In Gaelic the word "who" is used to address someone as a sign of respect or when their name is unknown. | |||
| Spanish | oms | ||
| "OMS" additionally refers to the World Health Organization (Organización Mundial de la Salud). | |||
| Swedish | who | ||
| In Swedish, the word "vem" can also mean "whom". | |||
| Welsh | sefydliad iechyd y byd | ||
Who in Eastern European Languages
| Belarusian | сусветная арганізацыя па ахове здароўя | ||
| The Belarusian acronym "СААЗ" (which translates to "World Health Organization") does not have an independent meaning in the Belarusian language. | |||
| Bosnian | szo | ||
| The Bosnian word "SZO" can also mean "that" or "which", depending on the context. | |||
| Bulgarian | сзо | ||
| The word "СЗО" can also refer to a question about identity, meaning "what is your name?" | |||
| Czech | szo | ||
| The Czech word "SZO" can also refer to a "who" question used as an indirect object or after prepositions. | |||
| Estonian | who | ||
| In Estonian, "WHO" can also refer to the number "five," or to an exclamation used to express disbelief or dismay. | |||
| Finnish | who | ||
| Finnish "kuka" derives from Proto-Uralic *kuka, *koga meaning "who" or "which". | |||
| Hungarian | ki | ||
| The Hungarian word "ki" can refer to both a person and "out", as in the phrase "ki a házból" (out of the house). | |||
| Latvian | pvo | ||
| The PVO form is used for the first, third, and fourth person singular, as well as third person plural. | |||
| Lithuanian | pso | ||
| In Lithuanian, "PSO" is a reflexive pronoun and can also mean "himself" or "herself" depending on context. | |||
| Macedonian | сзо | ||
| The word "СЗО" in Macedonian can also mean "what" or "which". | |||
| Polish | who | ||
| In Polish, the word "who" (który) can also mean "which" or "what," based on grammatical context. | |||
| Romanian | care | ||
| In Romanian, the word "care" can also mean "what" or "which", depending on the context in which it is used. | |||
| Russian | воз | ||
| "ВОЗ" can mean "who" or serve as an abbreviation for the World Health Organization (Всемирная организация здравоохранения). | |||
| Serbian | сзо | ||
| In some Serbian dialects, "СЗО" can also mean "what" or "which". | |||
| Slovak | szo | ||
| SZO was borrowed from an Old Hungarian personal pronoun "SZÓ". Its older forms: SZU, ZUV, SW. | |||
| Slovenian | who | ||
| The Slovenian word "kdo" comes from the Proto-Indo-European root "*kʷi", | |||
| Ukrainian | вооз | ||
| In Ukrainian, the word "ВООЗ" can also mean "World Health Organization" (WHO). | |||
Who in South Asian Languages
| Bengali | who | ||
| WHO is an acronym for the World Health Organization, a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. | |||
| Gujarati | who | ||
| The Gujarati word for 'who', 'કોણ', can also mean 'what' or 'which' depending on the context. | |||
| Hindi | who | ||
| In Hindi, "who" can also mean "which", "whose", or "what". | |||
| Kannada | who | ||
| The word 'who' in Kannada can also refer to a type of bird or a particular caste. | |||
| Malayalam | who | ||
| The Malayalam word "yār" translates to "who" in English, but it can also mean "which" or "whose" in certain contexts. | |||
| Marathi | who | ||
| In Marathi, "कोण" (Kon) can also refer to a title of respect for a deity or an elder. | |||
| Nepali | who | ||
| "को" is often confused with "का" but it means "who" not "whose". | |||
| Punjabi | who | ||
| In Punjabi, "who" can also refer to a place or object | |||
| Sinhala (Sinhalese) | who | ||
| In Sinhala, the word 'WHO' can also be used as an expression of surprise or disbelief. | |||
| Tamil | who | ||
| In Tamil, 'who' can also refer to a person's name or a relative pronoun indicating the subject of a sentence. | |||
| Telugu | who | ||
| Telugu word 'వెవరు (vevaru)' also means 'what type of person'. | |||
| Urdu | ڈبلیو ایچ او | ||
Who in East Asian Languages
| Chinese (Simplified) | who | ||
| In Chinese, the word 'WHO' can also refer to a type of animal or a question word. | |||
| Chinese (Traditional) | who | ||
| In Chinese,WHO can also be a colloquial shortening of “who knows”. | |||
| Japanese | who | ||
| The word "who" also can mean "a person or persons not specified or known." | |||
| Korean | who | ||
| The Korean word '누구' (nugu) also means 'someone', as in 'nugu-ya' (someone-ah), which is a term of endearment used to address a friend or family member. | |||
| Mongolian | дэмб | ||
| } | |||
| Myanmar (Burmese) | ကမ္ဘာ့ကျန်းမာရေးအဖွဲ့ | ||
Who in South East Asian Languages
| Indonesian | who | ||
| In Indonesian, | |||
| Javanese | who | ||
| The Javanese word "sinten" can also mean "you" as a polite form. | |||
| Khmer | who | ||
| In Khmer, "who" translates to "ណាក់ណា" (nak na), which can also mean "whom" or "which one". | |||
| Lao | who | ||
| The Lao word “ໃຜ” (pronounced WHO) is primarily used as an interrogative pronoun meaning “who” but it can also be used as a relative pronoun like the English word “that.” | |||
| Malay | who | ||
| The Malay word "siapa" can alternately mean "who" or "whom", depending on the context. | |||
| Thai | who | ||
| The Thai word "ใคร" (krai) also means "which". | |||
| Vietnamese | who | ||
| The word "WHO" in Vietnamese can also refer to the World Health Organization (WHO). | |||
| Filipino (Tagalog) | who | ||
Who in Central Asian Languages
| Azerbaijani | üst | ||
| The word "üst" also means "self" or "top" in Azerbaijani. | |||
| Kazakh | ддсұ | ||
| ДДСҰ (Kim?) is used to address or refer to a specific person or group of people. | |||
| Kyrgyz | бүткүл дүйнөлүк саламаттык сактоо уюму | ||
| Tajik | ташкили тандурустии ҷаҳон | ||
| Turkmen | kim | ||
| Uzbek | jssv | ||
| In Uzbek, the word "JSSV" is also used as a subject pronoun for people in the plural form. | |||
| Uyghur | كىم | ||
Who in Pacific Languages
| Hawaiian | ʻo wai | ||
| ʻO wai can also be used as an expression of surprise or dismay. | |||
| Maori | ko wai | ||
| This word, now meaning 'who,' originally meant 'this one' or 'that one,' and was only later applied to persons. | |||
| Samoan | who | ||
| In Samoan, "who" can also mean "what" | |||
| Tagalog (Filipino) | sino | ||
| The Tagalog word sino has roots in the Proto-Malayo-Polynesian word *si-nu, meaning “who” in many languages, but also “what” in some languages. | |||
Who in American Indigenous Languages
| Aymara | khiti | ||
| Guarani | mávapa | ||
Who in International Languages
| Esperanto | monda organizaĵo pri sano | ||
| Latin | oms | ||
| In legal Latin, "oms" could also refer to "everyone" or "all men." | |||
Who in Others Languages
| Greek | που | ||
| The word "που" can also mean "where" or "whither," and is cognate with the Latin word "quo". | |||
| Hmong | who | ||
| The Hmong term "le" can also mean "to whom" or "of whom" in addition to "who." | |||
| Kurdish | who | ||
| The Kurdish word "ku", meaning "who", is also a common abbreviation of the word "kîjan", which means "which". | |||
| Turkish | dsö | ||
| DSÖ has alternate meanings like "who" and "which" in Turkish. | |||
| Xhosa | i-who | ||
| The word "i-WHO" in Xhosa derives from the Bantu root "-wo", meaning "to ask". | |||
| Yiddish | וועלט געזונטהייט ארגאניזאציע | ||
| Zulu | i-who | ||
| I-WHO in Zulu is also used to ask for someone's identity or to inquire about their well-being | |||
| Assamese | কোন | ||
| Aymara | khiti | ||
| Bhojpuri | कऊन | ||
| Dhivehi | ކާކު | ||
| Dogri | कु'न | ||
| Filipino (Tagalog) | who | ||
| Guarani | mávapa | ||
| Ilocano | asinno | ||
| Krio | udat | ||
| Kurdish (Sorani) | کێ | ||
| Maithili | के | ||
| Meiteilon (Manipuri) | ꯀꯅꯥꯅꯣ | ||
| Mizo | tunge | ||
| Oromo | eenyu | ||
| Odia (Oriya) | କିଏ | ||
| Quechua | pi | ||
| Sanskrit | कः | ||
| Tatar | кем | ||
| Tigrinya | መን | ||
| Tsonga | mani | ||