Writing in Different Languages
Discover 'Writing' in 134 Languages: Dive into Translations, Hear Pronunciations, and Uncover Cultural Insights.
Writing
Afrikaans skryfwerk | ||
Albanian duke shkruar | ||
Amharic መጻፍ | ||
Arabic جاري الكتابة | ||
Armenian գրելը | ||
Assamese লিখনি | ||
Aymara qillqa | ||
Azerbaijani yazı | ||
Bambara sɛbɛnni | ||
Basque idazten | ||
Belarusian пісьмова | ||
Bengali লেখা | ||
Bhojpuri लिखल | ||
Bosnian pisanje | ||
Bulgarian писане | ||
Catalan escriure | ||
Cebuano pagsulat | ||
Chinese (Simplified) 写作 | ||
Chinese (Traditional) 寫作 | ||
Corsican scrittura | ||
Croatian pisanje | ||
Czech psaní | ||
Danish skrivning | ||
Dhivehi ލިޔުން | ||
Dogri लिखना | ||
Dutch schrijven | ||
English writing | ||
Esperanto skribado | ||
Estonian kirjutamine | ||
Ewe nuŋɔŋlɔ | ||
Filipino (Tagalog) pagsusulat | ||
Finnish kirjoittaminen | ||
French l'écriture | ||
Frisian skriuwerij | ||
Galician escribindo | ||
Georgian წერა | ||
German schreiben | ||
Greek γραφή | ||
Guarani ohaihína | ||
Gujarati લેખન | ||
Haitian Creole ekri | ||
Hausa rubutu | ||
Hawaiian kākau | ||
Hebrew כְּתִיבָה | ||
Hindi लिख रहे हैं | ||
Hmong sau ntawv | ||
Hungarian írás | ||
Icelandic skrifa | ||
Igbo ederede | ||
Ilocano panagsurat | ||
Indonesian penulisan | ||
Irish ag scríobh | ||
Italian la scrittura | ||
Japanese 書き込み | ||
Javanese nulis | ||
Kannada ಬರವಣಿಗೆ | ||
Kazakh жазу | ||
Khmer ការសរសេរ | ||
Kinyarwanda kwandika | ||
Konkani लिखाण | ||
Korean 쓰기 | ||
Krio raytin | ||
Kurdish nivîs | ||
Kurdish (Sorani) نووسین | ||
Kyrgyz жазуу | ||
Lao ການຂຽນ | ||
Latin scripturam | ||
Latvian rakstīšana | ||
Lingala kokoma | ||
Lithuanian rašymas | ||
Luganda okuwandiika | ||
Luxembourgish schreiwen | ||
Macedonian пишување | ||
Maithili लिखावट | ||
Malagasy soratra | ||
Malay penulisan | ||
Malayalam എഴുത്തു | ||
Maltese kitba | ||
Maori tuhituhi | ||
Marathi लेखन | ||
Meiteilon (Manipuri) ꯏꯔꯝꯕ | ||
Mizo ziak | ||
Mongolian бичих | ||
Myanmar (Burmese) အရေးအသား | ||
Nepali लेख्न | ||
Norwegian skriving | ||
Nyanja (Chichewa) kulemba | ||
Odia (Oriya) ଲେଖିବା | ||
Oromo barreessuu | ||
Pashto لیکنه | ||
Persian نوشتن | ||
Polish pisanie | ||
Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) escrita | ||
Punjabi ਲਿਖਣਾ | ||
Quechua qillqay | ||
Romanian scris | ||
Russian письмо | ||
Samoan tusitusiga | ||
Sanskrit लेखन | ||
Scots Gaelic sgrìobhadh | ||
Sepedi go ngwala | ||
Serbian писање | ||
Sesotho ho ngola | ||
Shona kunyora | ||
Sindhi لکڻ | ||
Sinhala (Sinhalese) ලේඛන | ||
Slovak písanie | ||
Slovenian pisanje | ||
Somali qorista | ||
Spanish escritura | ||
Sundanese nyeratna | ||
Swahili kuandika | ||
Swedish skrift | ||
Tagalog (Filipino) pagsusulat | ||
Tajik навиштан | ||
Tamil எழுதுதல் | ||
Tatar язу | ||
Telugu రాయడం | ||
Thai การเขียน | ||
Tigrinya ምጽሓፍ | ||
Tsonga ku tsala | ||
Turkish yazı | ||
Turkmen ýazmak | ||
Twi (Akan) retwerɛ | ||
Ukrainian письмо | ||
Urdu لکھنا | ||
Uyghur يېزىش | ||
Uzbek yozish | ||
Vietnamese viết | ||
Welsh ysgrifennu | ||
Xhosa ukubhala | ||
Yiddish שרייבן | ||
Yoruba kikọ | ||
Zulu ukubhala |
Etymology & Notes
| Language | Etymology / Notes |
|---|---|
| Afrikaans | The Afrikaans word "skryfwerk" is derived from the Dutch word "schrift", which can also refer to scripture, handwriting, or a typeface. |
| Albanian | Derived from Middle Latin 'docuare', to teach. |
| Amharic | The word መጻፍ (mesat) can also refer to a specific type of writing, such as a letter or a document. |
| Arabic | The Arabic word "جاري الكتابة" can also mean "in progress" or "in the process of being written." |
| Armenian | The Armenian word գրելր “writing” originally meant “scratching”; the noun գռկը “scratches” and the verb խտորել “to scratch” come from that same root. |
| Azerbaijani | "Yazı" also refers to summer in Azerbaijani. |
| Basque | The Basque word "idazten" is etymologically related to the word "idatzi," meaning "written mark" or "inscription."} |
| Bengali | The word 'লেখা' can also refer to a handwritten or printed document, a composition, a literary work, or a script. |
| Bosnian | The word 'pisanje' is also used to refer to writing in a non-literal sense, such as when making an agreement or when describing someone's style of speech. |
| Bulgarian | "писане" (pisane) also means "act of writing" and "letter, handwriting" in Bulgarian. |
| Catalan | The word "escriure" in Catalan can also refer to the process of recording music or other sounds. |
| Cebuano | "Pagsulat" is commonly understood as writing, but it can also refer to the act of drawing, carving, or engraving. |
| Chinese (Simplified) | "写作" (writing) can also mean "authorship" or "composition", and is often used in the context of literary or artistic works. |
| Chinese (Traditional) | The character "寫" can also mean "to draw," with its original meaning being to carve or engrave onto an object. |
| Corsican | In Corsican, "scrittura" also refers to a specific type of traditional Corsican polyphonic singing. |
| Croatian | "Pisanje" in Croatian is derived from the Indo-European root *peis-, meaning "to decorate" or "to depict". |
| Czech | In Czech, "psaní" can also mean "epistolary literature" or "the act of writing a letter or document." |
| Danish | Danish "skrivning" also means "confession" and is derived from the verb "at skrive" (to write) and the noun "skrift" (writing, scripture). |
| Dutch | De uitdrukking 'tussen de regels door schrijven' heeft een dubbele betekenis: het gaat om een impliciete betekenis of om tekst die tussen de regels is geplaatst. |
| Esperanto | The Esperanto word "skribado" originates from the Latin word "scribere" (to write) and shares similarities in meaning with the English word "scribble". |
| Estonian | "Kirjutamine" can also mean correspondence; a letter; or a document. |
| Finnish | The word "kirjoittaminen" also means "typing" in Finnish, and derives from the word "kirjoittaa," which means "to write" or "to draw". |
| French | "L'écriture" in French can also refer to handwriting, penmanship, or a specific writing system, such as "l'écriture cursive" (cursive). |
| Galician | The verb 'escribindo' in Galician is derived from the Latin verb 'scribere', meaning 'to write'. |
| Georgian | The word წერა also means drawing, copying, tracing, carving, or engraving in Georgian. |
| German | In German, "Schreiben" comes from an Old High German word meaning "to scratch," so it can refer to both writing and scratching. |
| Greek | The word "Γραφή" derives from the verb "γράφω" (to write), from Proto-Indo-European *ghrebh- (to scratch). |
| Gujarati | The word "લેખન" also means "writing" or "account" in Sanskrit. |
| Haitian Creole | The word "ekri" in Haitian Creole can also refer to a document or a text. |
| Hausa | "Rubutu" also means to "to be written" in Hausa language. |
| Hawaiian | The word 'kākau' is also used for 'the marking on an animal's skin or a scar' or 'to make scratches' on a surface |
| Hebrew | The Hebrew word "כְּתִיבָה" (writing) can also refer to the act of recording a transaction in a formal document. |
| Hindi | The word "लिख रहे हैं" can also mean "composing" or "authoring" in Hindi. |
| Hmong | The Hmong word "sau ntawv" is also used to refer to a traditional form of poetry or chant. |
| Hungarian | The word "írás" can also mean "scripture" or "text" in Hungarian. |
| Icelandic | In Icelandic, "skrifa" not only means "writing" but also "to engrave" or "to draw". |
| Igbo | The word 'ederede' also means 'scribble' or 'write something quickly and carelessly'. |
| Indonesian | The Indonesian word "penulisan" originates from the Javanese word "pipun", meaning "to write on palm leaves". In the 16th century, the word was adopted into Indonesian and given the broader meaning of "writing" in general. |
| Irish | ag scríobh's root is 'scrib', from which 'scribe' also derives through Old French; other cognates include 'scribble' and 'script' |
| Italian | In addition to meaning "writing," "la scrittura" can also refer to handwriting or a specific style of writing. |
| Japanese | The word |
| Javanese | In Javanese 'nulis' is cognate with 'tulis' in Indonesian, both deriving from Proto-Austronesian *tuwis which means 'to mark' |
| Kannada | Although 'ಬರವಣಿಗೆ' primarily means 'writing', its etymological roots lie in the word 'ಬರವು', referring to both 'letter' and 'arrow'. |
| Kazakh | The word |
| Khmer | ការសរសេរ is used to refer to calligraphy and sometimes to writing in a literary style. |
| Korean | 쓰기 also means 'to press' or 'to push' in Korean and shares the same origin with the Japanese word 押す, which has the same meaning. |
| Kurdish | The word "nivîs" can also refer to drawings or symbols used in ancient writing systems, such as cuneiform or hieroglyphics. |
| Kyrgyz | The Kyrgyz word "жазуу" can also refer to "writing systems" and "calligraphy". |
| Latin | The Latin word "scripturam" is also a term in Jewish tradition for the Hebrew Bible, which is often written in a scroll format. |
| Latvian | The Latvian word for writing, "rakstīšana," is derived from the root "rakst," which means "to draw" or "to carve." |
| Lithuanian | The Lithuanian word "rašas" (ink) may be related to the Latin word "scribo" (to write). |
| Luxembourgish | Schreiwen is an archaic Luxembourgish term still used in a few villages, stemming from Old High Franconian "scrībēn" and meaning "to scratch". |
| Malagasy | The word 'soratra' is also used to refer to a book, a letter, a document or a manuscript in Malagasy. |
| Malay | The word "penulisan" can also refer to a "script" or "writing system". |
| Malayalam | The Malayalam word "എഴുത്തു" can also refer to a "letter of the alphabet" or a "written document". |
| Maltese | The word "kitba" also means "scripture" and "document" in Maltese. |
| Maori | The word 'tuhituhi' also refers to 'engraving'. |
| Marathi | लेखन in Marathi also means "a document" or "a letter" or "a written contract". |
| Mongolian | In Old Turkic, the word "*bičig" referred to a type of written record, often containing administrative or legal matters. |
| Nepali | Lekhn, meaning 'writing' in Nepali, is also the root word for the numeral 'lakh' (100,000) and for words denoting documents, scriptures, and marks. |
| Norwegian | In some Norwegian dialects, "skriving" can also refer to something written, a document or a letter. |
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | The word 'kulemba' in Nyanja is also used to refer to 'drawing' or 'painting'. |
| Pashto | The Pashto word 'leakna' or 'likna,' meaning 'writing,' is also derived from the Persian word 'navishtan,' further tracing back to the Proto-Indo-European root 'leikw-,' denoting 'to scratch' or 'to carve'. |
| Persian | The Persian word نوشتن ( |
| Polish | The word "pisanie" in Polish can also refer to a type of manuscript, scroll, or handwritten document. |
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | The word 'escrita' also means 'scripture' or 'writings' in Portuguese. |
| Punjabi | The word "ਲਿਖਣਾ" (likhna) in Punjabi can also mean "to compose" or "to draw". |
| Romanian | "Scris" comes from Old Slavic "čьrtati" and also means "drawing" and "paint" in Romanian. |
| Russian | Письмо can also mean a 'letter', in the sense of formal correspondence to someone. |
| Samoan | The word "tusitusiga" can also refer to "the act of writing" or "a written document" in Samoan. |
| Serbian | The Serbian word писање also refers to a type of embroidery from the Pirot region of Serbia, typically characterized by elaborate floral and geometric patterns. |
| Sesotho | The second definition of ho ngola is ‘to engrave' or ‘to draw' |
| Shona | The word 'kunyora' in Shona can also refer to drawing or sketching |
| Sindhi | 'لکڻ' is also used to refer to the act of reciting or reading aloud. |
| Sinhala (Sinhalese) | The word "ලේඛන" is derived from the Sanskrit word "लेखन", which means "writing, inscription, or document." |
| Slovak | The word "písanie" can also refer to a letter or a type of literary work, similar to the English word "script" |
| Slovenian | "Pisati" (to write) in Slovenian derives from the word for "picture". Similarly to "paint", it originally encompassed any form of visual expression. |
| Somali | The term "qorista" also denotes "script" and "calligraphy" in Somali. |
| Spanish | "Escritura" in Spanish can also mean a notary's document certifying a real estate transaction or an entry in a business ledger. |
| Sundanese | The word "nyeratna" is also used to refer to the writing of a law or other regulation. |
| Swahili | The verb 'kuandika' is related to the word 'kuana' (to carve, engrave), suggesting its original connection to the act of inscribing on materials. |
| Swedish | Skrift is cognate with English 'shrift', meaning 'a written confession of sins' |
| Tajik | The word "navištan" also means "to copy out, reproduce, rewrite, translate" in Tajik. |
| Tamil | எழுதுதல் also refers to the act of drawing or etching, and stems from the Tamil word 'எழு' (eḻu), which means 'to raise' or 'to create' |
| Thai | "การเขียน" also means a style of painting in Thai. |
| Turkish | In Ottoman Turkish, "yazı" also referred to "summer or spring". |
| Ukrainian | "Письмо" is a letter in Russian and Ukrainian, but also the art of writing, a document, and a message |
| Urdu | The Urdu word "likhna" originates in Sanskrit and also means "drawing". |
| Uzbek | In Uzbek, the word "yozish" also refers to "calligraphy" or the art of beautiful handwriting, reflecting the rich cultural tradition of the Uzbek people. |
| Vietnamese | The word "viết" in Vietnamese can also mean "to draw" or "to paint". |
| Welsh | The word 'ysgrifennu' is derived from the Proto-Celtic *is-krib-en-tu, meaning 'to scratch' or 'to cut', and is related to the English word 'scribe'. |
| Xhosa | Ukubhala derives from the root -bhala, meaning to mark or imprint. |
| Yiddish | In linguistics, 'schreiben' also refers to the act of scribing a language onto paper prior to printing. |
| Zulu | The word 'ukubhala' originates from the Proto-Bantu verb '-bala', meaning 'to scratch or draw'. |