Wire in Different Languages
Discover 'Wire' in 134 Languages: Dive into Translations, Hear Pronunciations, and Uncover Cultural Insights.
Wire
Afrikaans draad | ||
Albanian tela | ||
Amharic ሽቦ | ||
Arabic الأسلاك | ||
Armenian մետաղալարեր | ||
Assamese তাঁৰ | ||
Aymara kawli | ||
Azerbaijani tel | ||
Bambara filijuru | ||
Basque alanbrea | ||
Belarusian провад | ||
Bengali তার | ||
Bhojpuri तार | ||
Bosnian žica | ||
Bulgarian тел | ||
Catalan filferro | ||
Cebuano alambre | ||
Chinese (Simplified) 线 | ||
Chinese (Traditional) 線 | ||
Corsican filu | ||
Croatian žica | ||
Czech drát | ||
Danish tråd | ||
Dhivehi ވަޔަރު | ||
Dogri तार | ||
Dutch draad | ||
English wire | ||
Esperanto drato | ||
Estonian traat | ||
Ewe galɛ | ||
Filipino (Tagalog) alambre | ||
Finnish lanka | ||
French câble | ||
Frisian tried | ||
Galician arame | ||
Georgian მავთული | ||
German draht | ||
Greek σύρμα | ||
Guarani itaembo | ||
Gujarati વાયર | ||
Haitian Creole fil | ||
Hausa waya | ||
Hawaiian uea | ||
Hebrew חוּט | ||
Hindi वायर | ||
Hmong hlau | ||
Hungarian huzal | ||
Icelandic vír | ||
Igbo waya | ||
Ilocano banteng | ||
Indonesian kawat | ||
Irish sreang | ||
Italian filo | ||
Japanese ワイヤー | ||
Javanese kawat | ||
Kannada ತಂತಿ | ||
Kazakh сым | ||
Khmer លួស | ||
Kinyarwanda wire | ||
Konkani तार | ||
Korean 철사 | ||
Krio kebul | ||
Kurdish têlik | ||
Kurdish (Sorani) وایەر | ||
Kyrgyz зым | ||
Lao ສາຍ | ||
Latin filum | ||
Latvian vads | ||
Lingala nsinga ya courant | ||
Lithuanian viela | ||
Luganda waaya | ||
Luxembourgish drot | ||
Macedonian жица | ||
Maithili तार | ||
Malagasy tariby | ||
Malay wayar | ||
Malayalam വയർ | ||
Maltese wajer | ||
Maori waea | ||
Marathi वायर | ||
Meiteilon (Manipuri) ꯊꯔꯥ | ||
Mizo hrui | ||
Mongolian утас | ||
Myanmar (Burmese) ဝါယာကြိုး | ||
Nepali तार | ||
Norwegian metalltråd | ||
Nyanja (Chichewa) waya | ||
Odia (Oriya) ତାର | ||
Oromo shiboo | ||
Pashto تار | ||
Persian سیم | ||
Polish drut | ||
Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) fio | ||
Punjabi ਤਾਰ | ||
Quechua cable | ||
Romanian sârmă | ||
Russian провод | ||
Samoan uaea | ||
Sanskrit तन्तुः | ||
Scots Gaelic uèir | ||
Sepedi lethale | ||
Serbian жица | ||
Sesotho terata | ||
Shona waya | ||
Sindhi تار | ||
Sinhala (Sinhalese) වයර් | ||
Slovak drôt | ||
Slovenian žica | ||
Somali silig | ||
Spanish cable | ||
Sundanese kabel | ||
Swahili waya | ||
Swedish tråd | ||
Tagalog (Filipino) kawad | ||
Tajik сим | ||
Tamil கம்பி | ||
Tatar чыбык | ||
Telugu వైర్ | ||
Thai ลวด | ||
Tigrinya ገመድ | ||
Tsonga nsimbhi | ||
Turkish tel | ||
Turkmen sim | ||
Twi (Akan) wɔya | ||
Ukrainian дріт | ||
Urdu تار | ||
Uyghur سىم | ||
Uzbek sim | ||
Vietnamese dây điện | ||
Welsh weiren | ||
Xhosa ucingo | ||
Yiddish דראָט | ||
Yoruba waya | ||
Zulu ucingo |
Etymology & Notes
| Language | Etymology / Notes |
|---|---|
| Afrikaans | The Afrikaans word "draad" is cognate with the Dutch word "draad", which has the additional meaning of "thread". |
| Albanian | The word "tela" is of Slavic origin, meaning "thin metal plate" or "ribbon." |
| Armenian | From Middle Armenian, from Greek μετάλλον (métalllon, “metal”) + χαλᾶν (khalân, “to lower, to relax”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰʰel- (“to shine, to glitter”). |
| Azerbaijani | The word "tel", meaning "wire" in Azerbaijani, also has the alternate meaning of "thread" in some contexts. |
| Basque | In Basque, "alanbrea" comes from the Spanish "alambre". It is also used figuratively to describe the strings of a musical instrument. |
| Belarusian | The word "провад" is likely derived from the Proto-Slavic word "*provъdъ", meaning "guide" or "conductor", also related to the Latin word "prōdīcere" (to lead forth). |
| Bengali | In classical Sanskrit, 'tar' signifies 'to cross over', implying that 'tar' (wire) allows for a connection to be established across a distance |
| Bosnian | In Slavic, 'žica' meant 'sinew', and its modern meaning is thought to have originated from the use of sinews as strings. |
| Bulgarian | In Bulgarian, "тел" is also a unit of volume equal to 0.61 liters. |
| Catalan | In the Catalan dialect from Maó (Menorca), |
| Cebuano | The term "alambre" in Cebuano is believed to originate from the Spanish term "alambre" and refers to both "metal strands forming a fence" and "barbed wire". |
| Chinese (Simplified) | "线" also refers to a route, thread, or line in a diagram. |
| Chinese (Traditional) | "線" can mean 'thread', 'line', 'trace', 'clue', 'wire', 'cable', 'cord', 'vein (in the body)', 'lineage or ancestry' |
| Corsican | The word “filu” (wire) is also used in Corsican to mean “sharp” or “pointed”. |
| Croatian | "Žica" derives from the Proto-Slavic word "žica", meaning "thread" or "sinew", and ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European root "*gʷih₃-/", meaning "to bind, wind, or plait". |
| Czech | "Drát" also refers to a wire or rope used to pull a boat along a waterway. |
| Danish | "Tråd" is a cognate of "thread" and has the alternate meaning of "thread". |
| Dutch | In Dutch, 'draad' also means "thread" or "strand", and is related to the English word "thread". |
| Estonian | In Estonian, "traat" originally meant a thread and is related to the German "Draht" or Polish "drut." |
| Finnish | "Lanka" originally meant "thread," as in yarn for clothing or weaving. |
| French | "Câble" can also refer to a nautical rope used for mooring or towing. |
| Frisian | The word “tried” also means “rope” in Frisian. |
| Galician | Arame in Galician can also mean a metal chain or cord used for hanging something |
| German | The German word **Draht** (wire) originates from the Old High German verb **drahen** (to turn), referring to the twisting motion involved in wire drawing. |
| Greek | The word "σύρμα" originated from the word "συρώ", which means "to drag" or "to pull". It can also refer to a metallic thread used in embroidery or to a type of traditional Greek cheese. |
| Haitian Creole | The Haitian Creole word 'fil' can also refer to telephone lines, threads (as in sewing), and other extended, narrow objects. |
| Hausa | In Hausa, the word "waya" can also be used to describe a path or road. |
| Hawaiian | "Uea" also means "to twist" or "to plait" in Hawaiian. |
| Hebrew | The word "חוּט" can also mean "thread" or "string" in Hebrew. |
| Hindi | "वायर" (wire) is derived from the Middle English word "wiren," which means "to twist" or "to wind." |
| Hmong | "Hlau" is also the term for "lightning", which some scholars think refers to the shape and speed that wire appears to move. |
| Hungarian | The Hungarian word "huzal" is derived from the Slovak "húzol", meaning to pull or draw; it can also refer to a type of pastry or a type of dance. |
| Icelandic | The Icelandic word "vír" is cognate with the English word "wire", and both words derive from the Proto-Indo-European root *wiHro-,"to bind". |
| Igbo | "Waya" also refers to a form of traditional communication using drums. |
| Indonesian | "Kawat" is also a word from the Sanskrit language, which means "a string or thread". |
| Irish | In Old, Middle and Modern Irish the word "sreang" has been used to mean "thread, string, cord, filament, vein, lineage, stream, river". |
| Italian | The word "filo" in Italian, besides meaning "wire", is also the root of the word "filo-d'Arianna" (Ariadne's thread), an allegory for a path or clue that leads to a solution or a goal. |
| Japanese | The word "ワイヤー" in Japanese can refer to either a physical wire or to the act of wiring something. |
| Javanese | The Javanese word "kawat" can also refer to a type of traditional musical instrument, made of bamboo and played using a bow. |
| Kannada | The word "ತಂತಿ" (wire) in Kannada is derived from the Sanskrit word "तन्ति" (thread), indicating its flexibility and thinness. |
| Khmer | The word លួស also means “electric pole” in Khmer. |
| Korean | "철사" originally meant "a device for making a sound" or "an arrow tip". |
| Kurdish | The word "têlik" is derived from the Persian word "tār", meaning "string" or "thread". |
| Kyrgyz | The word «зым» can also mean a «ray» or a «thread» |
| Lao | The word "ສາຍ" can also refer to a line, a path, or a connection. |
| Latin | In anatomy, filum is the name of the nerve fibers of the spinal cord, from Latin filum "thread" |
| Latvian | In Latvian, "vads" also means "fishing line" or "thread", and is related to the German word "Wade" meaning "ford". |
| Lithuanian | "Viela" is derived from the Proto-Baltic stem *viel- meaning "to turn, spin, twist" and is related to the Latvian "viela" (string, cord, wire). |
| Luxembourgish | "Drot" can refer to wire used in fences or to the wire in an electrical cable. |
| Macedonian | The word "жица" can also refer to "sinew", "nerve" or "thread" in Macedonian. |
| Malagasy | The etymology of the Malagasy word 'tariby' remains uncertain; some theories suggest an origin in Arabic, while others propose a Bantu source. |
| Malay | Malay 'wayar' is derived from Tamil 'vāyar' or Sanskrit 'vīra' or Proto-Dravidian *var- 'to draw out'. In archaic Malay, 'wayar' was used to refer to a thread or string as well. |
| Malayalam | The word "വയർ" (wire) originates from the Proto-Dravidian word "*wār" and shares a common root with the words "thread" and "rope" in other Dravidian languages. |
| Maltese | The Maltese word "wajer" derives from the Arabic word "wajr" (pronounced similarly), which also means "wire" in modern Standard Arabic. |
| Maori | In Maori, the word "waea" was originally used to describe the threads of a woven flax garment, and later came to refer to metal wires. |
| Mongolian | The word "утас" can also mean "line" or "string" in Mongolian. |
| Nepali | The Nepali word "तार" is also used in the sense of "a telegram". |
| Norwegian | The word "metalltråd" in Norwegian comes from the Old Norse word "mǫtullr", a term for wire made of gold or silver. |
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | The word "waya" can also mean "path" or "road" in Nyanja. |
| Pashto | The Pashto word "تار" also means "string" when referring to a musical instrument's string. |
| Persian | The Persian word سیم (sim) can also refer to "silver" and is cognate with the Sanskrit term "semonia" meaning "cord". |
| Polish | In Polish, the word "drut" can also refer to a person who is quick-witted or resourceful. |
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | The term "fio" can also refer to a musical note or a type of thread used in embroidery or sewing. |
| Punjabi | "ਤਾਰ" can also mean "melody" or "tune" in Punjabi music. |
| Romanian | The word "sârmă" may also refer to a type of stuffed cabbage roll in Romanian cuisine. |
| Russian | The word "провод" (wire) in Russian comes from the Proto-Slavic word "provǫdъ", meaning "to lead, to conduct." |
| Samoan | In Hawaiian, “uaea” means “thread” or “string” but in Samoan, it means “wire,” and refers to the wire used for stringing fences. |
| Scots Gaelic | In Scots Gaelic, "uèir" can also refer to a rod or a stick, hinting at its original use for stringing fence lines. |
| Serbian | The word "жица" in Serbian can refer to "wire", or figuratively to "a string or line", or to "a source of information", or to "a source of energy or force". |
| Sesotho | The word "terata" can also refer to something that is long and slender, like a snake or a vine. |
| Shona | "Waya" can also refer to a message sent using traditional methods like a letter. |
| Sindhi | In Sindhi, 'تار' ('wire') also means 'star' in the context of astrology and astronomy. |
| Sinhala (Sinhalese) | The word "වයර්" can also refer to a telegraph or telephone line. |
| Slovak | The word "drôt" is a Germanism derived from the German word "Draht". |
| Slovenian | "Žica" also means "vein" or "nerve" in Slovenian. |
| Somali | The Somali word "silig" (wire) also refers to a type of thin, flexible metal rod used in jewelry making and other crafts. |
| Spanish | In Spanish, "cable" can also refer to a nautical rope or a steel hawser. |
| Swahili | This word may also refer to a type of musical instrument similar to a xylophone. |
| Swedish | "Tråd" can also mean "thread", "filament", or "strand". |
| Tagalog (Filipino) | In Filipino, "kawad" can also refer to a fence, lattice, or grating, and is derived from the Malay word "kawat" which holds the same meaning. |
| Tajik | The word "сим" also means "nerve" or "sinew" in Tajik. |
| Telugu | The Telugu word "వైర్" can also be used to refer to a telegraph pole. |
| Thai | "ลวด" is thought to have originated from "หลวด" (a type of vine used for tying), and can also refer to a snake's tongue. |
| Turkish | The word "tel" also refers to the thin string or cord used to weave or sew fabrics or to the metal or plastic tip on the end of a shoe lace. |
| Ukrainian | "Дріт" can also mean "wire rod" or "electric wire" in Ukrainian |
| Urdu | In Urdu, the word 'تار' (wire) also refers to a musical string, as in 'تار بجانا' (to play the sitar). |
| Uzbek | The word "sim" also means "copper" in Uzbek. |
| Vietnamese | While |
| Welsh | The word 'weiren' also has the alternate meanings 'shaft' and 'spear'. |
| Xhosa | In the Cape Flats dialect of Afrikaans, "ucingo" is used to refer to a person who is thin and tall. |
| Yiddish | "דראָט" (drot) is cognate with the German "Draht" and the English "thread". It can also refer to a long, thin object like a whip or a rod. |
| Yoruba | The Yoruba word 'waya' also means 'rope' or 'cord'. |
| Zulu | The word 'ucingo' also refers to the strings of a musical instrument, or to a string of beads or stones that are worn as jewelry. |
| English | The word "wire" can also refer to a tethered communication system, as in "telegraph wire" or "telephone wire". |