Why in Different Languages
Discover 'Why' in 134 Languages: Dive into Translations, Hear Pronunciations, and Uncover Cultural Insights.
Why
Afrikaans hoekom | ||
Albanian pse | ||
Amharic እንዴት | ||
Arabic لماذا ا | ||
Armenian ինչու | ||
Assamese কিয় | ||
Aymara kunata | ||
Azerbaijani niyə | ||
Bambara munna | ||
Basque zergatik | ||
Belarusian чаму | ||
Bengali কেন | ||
Bhojpuri काहें | ||
Bosnian zašto | ||
Bulgarian защо | ||
Catalan per què | ||
Cebuano ngano man | ||
Chinese (Simplified) 为什么 | ||
Chinese (Traditional) 為什麼 | ||
Corsican perchè | ||
Croatian zašto | ||
Czech proč | ||
Danish hvorfor | ||
Dhivehi ކީއްވެ | ||
Dogri की | ||
Dutch waarom | ||
English why | ||
Esperanto kial | ||
Estonian miks | ||
Ewe nu ka ta | ||
Filipino (Tagalog) bakit | ||
Finnish miksi | ||
French pourquoi | ||
Frisian wêrom | ||
Galician por que? | ||
Georgian რატომ | ||
German warum | ||
Greek γιατί | ||
Guarani mba'érepa | ||
Gujarati શા માટે | ||
Haitian Creole poukisa | ||
Hausa me ya sa | ||
Hawaiian no ke aha mai | ||
Hebrew למה | ||
Hindi क्यों | ||
Hmong vim li cas | ||
Hungarian miért | ||
Icelandic af hverju | ||
Igbo gịnị kpatara | ||
Ilocano apay | ||
Indonesian mengapa | ||
Irish cén fáth | ||
Italian perché | ||
Japanese なぜ | ||
Javanese ngopo | ||
Kannada ಏಕೆ | ||
Kazakh неге | ||
Khmer ហេតុអ្វី | ||
Kinyarwanda kubera iki | ||
Konkani किद्याक | ||
Korean 왜 | ||
Krio wetin du | ||
Kurdish çima | ||
Kurdish (Sorani) بۆچی | ||
Kyrgyz неге | ||
Lao ເປັນຫຍັງ | ||
Latin quare | ||
Latvian kāpēc | ||
Lingala mpo na nini | ||
Lithuanian kodėl | ||
Luganda lwaaki | ||
Luxembourgish firwat | ||
Macedonian зошто | ||
Maithili किएक | ||
Malagasy nahoana | ||
Malay mengapa | ||
Malayalam എന്തുകൊണ്ട് | ||
Maltese għaliex | ||
Maori he aha | ||
Marathi का | ||
Meiteilon (Manipuri) ꯀꯔꯤꯒꯤꯅꯣ | ||
Mizo engati nge | ||
Mongolian яагаад | ||
Myanmar (Burmese) အဘယ်ကြောင့် | ||
Nepali किन | ||
Norwegian hvorfor | ||
Nyanja (Chichewa) bwanji | ||
Odia (Oriya) କାହିଁକି? | ||
Oromo maalif | ||
Pashto ولې | ||
Persian چرا | ||
Polish czemu | ||
Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) porque | ||
Punjabi ਕਿਉਂ | ||
Quechua imanasqa | ||
Romanian de ce | ||
Russian зачем | ||
Samoan aisea | ||
Sanskrit किमर्थम् | ||
Scots Gaelic carson | ||
Sepedi ka lebaka la eng | ||
Serbian зашто | ||
Sesotho hobaneng | ||
Shona sei | ||
Sindhi ڇو | ||
Sinhala (Sinhalese) ඇයි | ||
Slovak prečo | ||
Slovenian zakaj | ||
Somali sababta | ||
Spanish por qué | ||
Sundanese kunaon | ||
Swahili kwanini | ||
Swedish varför | ||
Tagalog (Filipino) bakit | ||
Tajik чаро | ||
Tamil ஏன் | ||
Tatar нигә | ||
Telugu ఎందుకు | ||
Thai ทำไม | ||
Tigrinya ንምንታይ | ||
Tsonga hikokwalaho ka yini | ||
Turkish neden | ||
Turkmen näme üçin | ||
Twi (Akan) adɛn | ||
Ukrainian чому | ||
Urdu کیوں | ||
Uyghur نېمىشقا | ||
Uzbek nima uchun | ||
Vietnamese tại sao | ||
Welsh pam | ||
Xhosa ngoba | ||
Yiddish פארוואס | ||
Yoruba idi | ||
Zulu ngani |
Etymology & Notes
| Language | Etymology / Notes |
|---|---|
| Afrikaans | The Afrikaans word "hoekom" originates from the Dutch word "waarom", which in turn is derived from the Middle Dutch phrase "waer ombe", meaning 'for what purpose' |
| Albanian | Pse in Albanian can also mean 'what for' or 'wherefore'. |
| Amharic | The Amharic word "እንዴት" ("why") also means "how," "by what means," or "in what way." |
| Arabic | "Why" in Arabic, "لماذا ا," derives from the phrase "for what," but has come to be used in questions and other contexts with a more general sense of "why." |
| Armenian | The term "inchu" can also refer to the "cause" or "reason" for something. |
| Azerbaijani | The word "niyə" can also be used interrogatively to express surprise, disbelief, or indignation. |
| Basque | The word "zergatik" derives from the Basque word "zergaitik", meaning "for what reason". |
| Belarusian | "Чаму" is derived from the Proto-Slavic "čьmo" meaning "what for?" |
| Bengali | In Bengali, "কেন" can also mean "cause" or "reason", derived from Sanskrit "किन" (kina). |
| Bosnian | "Zašto" is also a question word meaning "for what purpose" or "what is the reason for". |
| Bulgarian | "Защо" is often used in Bulgarian to ask for an explanation or a reason, but it can also be used to express surprise or disbelief. |
| Catalan | In some cases, "per què" can also be translated as "for what" or "because" depending on context |
| Chinese (Simplified) | "为什么" (literally "why cause") is formed by combining "为" (cause, because) and "什么" (what). |
| Chinese (Traditional) | In Chinese, “為什麼” can also be used as a noun to mean “reason” or “cause”, or as a verb to mean “to question” or “to investigate”. |
| Corsican | Corsican "perchè" is a contraction of "pè", with the sense of "for", and the article "che". |
| Croatian | The word "zašto" in Croatian is derived from the Proto-Slavic word "zače", meaning "beginning" or "origin". |
| Czech | The Czech word "proč" ("why") comes from the Proto-Slavic word "pro-čьto" ("for-what"), which also gave rise to the Russian "pochemu" and the Polish "dlaczego". |
| Danish | In Danish, the word "hvorfor" derives from Old Norse "hví" ('where') and "for" ('for'), thus originally meaning "for what reason". |
| Dutch | The word 'waarom' is a combination of the words 'wa' ('what') and 'om' (around), and it can also mean 'for what reason' or 'on what account'. |
| Esperanto | The word "kial" is derived from Proto-Indo-European *kwes- or *kwi-, "to inquire". |
| Estonian | Estonian |
| Finnish | Miksi is derived from mi, a question particle, and ksi, a form of the verb tehdä, meaning 'to do'. |
| French | The word 'pourquoi' comes from the Latin 'pro qua re,' meaning 'for which thing'. |
| Frisian | In the Frisian language, "Wêrom" also refers to a small insect, such as a midge or gnat. |
| Galician | In Galician, "por que" can mean both "why" and "because", depending on the context. |
| German | The word "warum" (why) derives from the Old High German "wâruma," meaning "for what reason." |
| Greek | In Modern Greek, "Γιατί" can also mean "because". |
| Gujarati | The word "શા માટે" can also mean "what for" or "for what purpose". |
| Haitian Creole | The word “poukisa” can be broken into “poukisa”, meaning “what for”, and “a” indicating an infinitive, thus emphasizing the reason behind an action. |
| Hausa | In Hausa, "me ya sa" can also mean "what is it" or "what is that?" |
| Hawaiian | The Hawaiian phrase "no ke aha mai" can also be translated as "for what purpose" or "to what end". |
| Hebrew | 'למה' can also mean 'for what' or 'to what purpose' (לְמָה זֶה), e.g. 'למה לי ללכת?' (Why should I go?) |
| Hindi | It also means 'since' or 'because' |
| Hmong | The phrase "vim li cas" can also be used to express surprise or disbelief. |
| Hungarian | A "miért" szó az eredetileg "mért" alakból származik, melynek jelentése "valamiért" vagy "azért". A szónak van egy ritkábban használt, "mert" jelentésű alakja is, mely főleg archaikus nyelvben fordul elő. |
| Icelandic | "Af hverju" is a compound word formed from "af" (off, from) and "hverju" (what). |
| Igbo | The word "gịnị kpatara" can also mean "what is the reason for" or "what caused" in Igbo. |
| Indonesian | Diambil dari kata 'menipa' (yang berarti 'mengenai') dan kata 'apa', 'Mengapa' secara harfiah berarti 'mengenai apa' |
| Italian | The Italian word “perché” is derived from the Latin “propter quid”, which means |
| Japanese | "なぜ" (naze) can also mean "how" when used with a negative verb form. |
| Javanese | The term 'ngopo' is also used in colloquial Javanese to express amazement or surprise. |
| Kannada | The word "ಏಕೆ" can also refer to a cause or reason, and is related to the word "ಏಕ" (one). |
| Kazakh | Etymology and alternates for "неге": Kazakh for "why" or "because", cognate to Hungarian "nek" "to", from Proto-Turkic *nē "to". Also in use are its synonyms, "кәмең" and "неліктен". |
| Korean | This word, often used as an interrogative, can also mean "there" or "where" in some expressions. |
| Kurdish | The word 'çima' is also used to express surprise or disbelief. |
| Kyrgyz | In Kyrgyz, "неге" can be used as an interjection to express surprise or frustration. |
| Latin | The Latin word 'Quare' is related to the English word 'where' and the German word 'wo', all deriving from the Proto-Indo-European root *kʷo- 'where, when, how'. |
| Latvian | Latvian “kāpēc” originated as “ka (what) -pēc (for/after)”, and thus originally meant “for what,” with the modern meaning emerging through a shift in stress placement. |
| Lithuanian | The Lithuanian word "kodėl" is derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *kʷod-, meaning "what"} |
| Luxembourgish | In Luxembourgish, "firwat" can also mean "wherefore" or "on account of what". |
| Macedonian | The word "зошто" is derived from the Proto-Slavic root *čьto, meaning "what". |
| Malagasy | Malagasy "nahoana" is a combination of "naho" ("how") and "ana" ("thing"), and can be used to ask about the reason or purpose of something. |
| Malay | "Mengapa" ultimately stems from Proto-Austronesian *manu, meaning "bird" or "fowl". |
| Maltese | In Maltese, "għaliex" originally referred to cause and effect, evolving to also mean "purpose" and then "reason," and is thus related to "għal" ("for"). |
| Maori | "He aha" can also mean "the purpose," and so, an important "purpose of our creation" is to be happy and at peace. |
| Marathi | The word "का" can also mean "what" or "what is the matter" in Marathi. |
| Nepali | The word 'किन' in Nepali can also refer to the cause or reason for something. |
| Norwegian | The Norwegian word "hvorfor" is etymologically related to the Old Norse "hví" and "for", with "hví" meaning "where" or "whither" and "for" meaning "cause". |
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | The word "bwanji" in Nyanja (Chichewa) can also mean "how" or "in what manner". |
| Pashto | The Pashto word "ولې" ("why") also means "because". |
| Persian | The Persian word "چرا" (why) also means "light" or "lamp" and is used in the context of "enlightenment" or "illumination". |
| Polish | In Polish, the word 'czemu' can also mean 'because' or 'for what reason'. |
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | In Portuguese, "porque" can also mean "because" or "therefore," depending on sentence structure. |
| Punjabi | The word 'ਕਿਉਂ' ('why') in Punjabi can also be used in the sense of 'how' or 'in what way' |
| Romanian | In Romanian, "de ce" can be an interrogative pronoun meaning "what" or a conjunction meaning "because". |
| Russian | The word «зачем» also means “for what purpose?” |
| Samoan | In the Samoan language, 'aisea' can also mean 'reason' or 'cause'. |
| Scots Gaelic | The word "Carson" in Scots Gaelic has several other meanings, including a ridge, a bend, and a marsh. |
| Serbian | "Зашто" can also mean "what for" or "why bother" in Serbian. |
| Sesotho | In Sesotho, "hobaneng" can also mean "for what purpose" or "with what intention". |
| Shona | The word 'sei' in Shona also refers to the act of questioning and the reason or cause of something. |
| Sindhi | The Sindhi word ڇو (cho), meaning "why," is cognate with the Gujarati word શું (shu) and the Sanskrit word किम् (kim), also meaning "why." |
| Sinhala (Sinhalese) | The Sinhalese word "ඇයි" (äyi) is derived from the Proto-Indo-Iranian root "*ki-", also found in Sanskrit and Avestan. |
| Slovak | The word "prečo" is derived from the Proto-Slavic word *prьčь, meaning "cause" or "reason." |
| Slovenian | "Zakaj" means both "why" and "for what purpose" in Slovene, as well as "in order to" in certain contexts. |
| Somali | "Sababta" derives from the Arabic "sababa," meaning "cause" or "reason," and also refers to the "cause" or "reason" for something in Somali. |
| Spanish | In Spanish, "por qué" can mean "why" but also "for which" or "on account of which". |
| Sundanese | Kunaon is a contraction of the words 'ku' and 'naon', meaning 'to' and 'what' respectively, and is used to inquire about the reason for something. |
| Swahili | In many dialects of Swahili, "kwanini" can also mean "how come" or "for what reason". |
| Swedish | In some dialects, "varför" can also mean "because". |
| Tagalog (Filipino) | The Tagalog word "bakit" also literally means "because." |
| Tajik | The word "чаро" can also mean "the cause" or "the reason" in Tajik. |
| Tamil | "ஏன்" also means "why" in Sanskrit and has cognates in several other Indo-European languages. |
| Thai | The word "ทำไม" can also be used as an interjection to express incredulity or surprise. |
| Turkish | The word 'neden' in Turkish is derived from the Persian word 'niçün' meaning 'for what reason or purpose'. |
| Ukrainian | The word |
| Urdu | The word "کیوں" can also mean "how" or "in what way" in Urdu. |
| Uzbek | The Uzbek word "nima uchun" is thought to have originated from the Persian phrase "niye uchung" meaning "for what reason". |
| Vietnamese | "Tại sao" can be used as both a noun and an adverb. As a noun, it means "reason" or "cause". As an adverb, it means "because" or "for this reason." |
| Xhosa | The word 'ngoba' can also be used to mean 'because'. |
| Yoruba | In addition to meaning "why," "idi" can also mean "cause" or "reason" in Yoruba. |
| Zulu | Ngàni, an alternate form of ngàna, can also be used in place of 'ngakho-ke,' or 'therefore.' |
| English | The word "why" is derived from the Old English word "hwi", which means "in what way" or "for what reason". |