Updated on March 6, 2024
The word 'yet' is a small but mighty part of the English language. It has the power to express continuation, doubt, or surprise, making it a versatile tool in our daily conversations. Yet's significance goes beyond English; it's a concept that transcends cultures and languages.
Throughout history, 'yet' has been used in various contexts, from literature to philosophy. In Shakespeare's works, 'yet' is often used to create suspense or emphasize a point. In philosophy, it's used to explore the concept of potentiality versus actuality.
Given its importance, you might be interested in knowing how 'yet' translates into different languages. After all, understanding how other cultures express continuation, doubt, or surprise can enrich our global communication.
Here are some translations of 'yet' in various languages: In Spanish, it's 'todavía'; in French, 'encore'; in German, 'noch'; in Mandarin, '还havé'.
Afrikaans | tog | ||
The Afrikaans word "tog" is derived from the Dutch word "toch", meaning "after all" or "nevertheless", and has the same meaning in Afrikaans. | |||
Amharic | ገና | ||
In Amharic, the word "ገና" ("yet") also means "still" or "until". | |||
Hausa | tukuna | ||
Hausa has the words 'dukana' ('to stay') and 'tukuna' which is a form of 'dukana'. | |||
Igbo | ma | ||
Igbo ma ('yet') comes from Proto-Benue-Congo *mà ('still, but'), but it can also be used to indicate an expected future result. | |||
Malagasy | nefa | ||
The Malagasy word "nefa" shares its etymology with the Malay word "nifa" meaning "still, still more, some more." | |||
Nyanja (Chichewa) | komabe | ||
Komabe is also used to mean "however" or "in spite of that" | |||
Shona | zvakadaro | ||
The word "zvakadaro" also means "nevertheless" and "in spite of that". | |||
Somali | weli | ||
The word 'weli' can also mean 'however' or 'but' in Somali. | |||
Sesotho | leha ho le joalo | ||
Swahili | bado | ||
The Swahili word "bado" can also mean "still" or "again". | |||
Xhosa | okwangoku | ||
"Okwangoku" is a compound word derived from "kwa" (to) and "ngoku" (now), reflecting its meaning of "up to now". | |||
Yoruba | sibẹsibẹ | ||
Zulu | okwamanje | ||
The word 'okwamanje' is a compound of 'kw' and 'manje' in which 'kw' is a relative pronoun meaning 'which' or 'what' and 'manje' means 'now', so 'okwamanje' can also mean 'what just now', 'what at present', or 'what of this time'. | |||
Bambara | fɔlɔ | ||
Ewe | haɖe o | ||
Kinyarwanda | nyamara | ||
Lingala | atako bongo | ||
Luganda | naye | ||
Sepedi | anthe | ||
Twi (Akan) | afei | ||
Arabic | بعد | ||
The word "بعد" in Arabic also means "distance" or "later on". | |||
Hebrew | עדיין | ||
The Hebrew word "עדיין" can also mean "still" or "even now." | |||
Pashto | تراوسه | ||
Arabic | بعد | ||
The word "بعد" in Arabic also means "distance" or "later on". |
Albanian | ende | ||
The etymology of "ende" is uncertain, but it may be related to the Latin "etenim", meaning "for indeed" | |||
Basque | oraindik | ||
The Basque word 'oraindik' also means 'now,' 'still,' and 'today' in addition to 'yet.' | |||
Catalan | encara | ||
The word "encara" in Catalan can be used as an adverb to express the same as "also" or "even" in English | |||
Croatian | još | ||
"Još" is derived from "jo" (already), which can also mean "still". | |||
Danish | endnu | ||
The word "endnu" can also mean "still" or "again" when used with certain verbs or adverbs. | |||
Dutch | nog | ||
The word "nog" in Dutch also has the alternate meaning of "only". | |||
English | yet | ||
The word 'yet' derives from the Middle English phrase 'at yete' meaning 'at the gate' or 'in a ready position'. | |||
French | encore | ||
In French, the word "encore" can also mean "again" or "one more (time)". | |||
Frisian | yet | ||
In Frisian, "yet" can also mean "still" as in "I'm still going to the store" ("Ik gean yet nei de winkel"). | |||
Galician | aínda | ||
The word "aínda" derives from the Latin "ad huc", meaning "up to here" in the literal sense, and "until now" in the temporal sense. | |||
German | noch | ||
"Noch" can also mean "another" (as in "one more time") or "still" (as in "still working"). | |||
Icelandic | strax | ||
In Icelandic, "strax" also means "right away" or "at once". | |||
Irish | go fóill | ||
‘Fóill’ is also the Irish for the ‘veil’ of the Catholic Mass, and ‘foillim’ means ‘to roll’, ‘go fóill’ literally means ‘to roll up to the veil’. | |||
Italian | ancora | ||
In Latin, «ancora» means «again» or «once more», which suggests the idea of continuing an action. | |||
Luxembourgish | nach | ||
Maltese | għadu | ||
The Maltese word | |||
Norwegian | ennå | ||
The word "ennå" is cognate with the German word "noch" and the Swedish word "ännu", all of which share a common origin in the Proto-Indo-European root "en" (one). | |||
Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | ainda | ||
The word "ainda" is derived from the Latin words "ante" (before) and "dies" (day), hence meaning "before the day ends." | |||
Scots Gaelic | fhathast | ||
The Scots Gaelic word "fhathast" is derived from the Old Irish "fadaste" meaning "at length," and is cognate with the Welsh "hyd" and Breton "hetre" with the same meaning. | |||
Spanish | todavía | ||
The word "todavía" derives from the Latin "ad huc" and was originally used to mean "until now" or "up to this point". | |||
Swedish | än | ||
It comes from the Old Swedish 'ænd' which means 'and, but' and is cognate to the English 'and'. | |||
Welsh | eto | ||
In addition to 'yet', 'eto' can mean 'too', 'also', 'moreover', 'anyway', or 'furthermore'. |
Belarusian | пакуль | ||
The word "пакуль" originates from the Old Belarusian "пока" ("until, in the meantime") | |||
Bosnian | još | ||
The word 'još' is also used in a negative context in Bosnian, to say 'still' or 'anymore', as in 'I still don't know' ('Ja još ne znam'). | |||
Bulgarian | още | ||
In Bulgarian, "още" can also mean "more" or "again," originating from the Old Church Slavonic "oštь," meaning "remaining." | |||
Czech | dosud | ||
The word "dosud" also has the alternate meaning of "until now" or "up to this point". | |||
Estonian | veel | ||
Estonian word "veel" derives from Proto-Uralic "*vele" or "*veleŋ", meaning "again" or "additionally". | |||
Finnish | vielä | ||
Vielä is also used to mean "much of, a great deal" or "by far". | |||
Hungarian | még | ||
In Hungarian, "még" is related to "mégis" (nonetheless) and "miért" (why), implying a sense of opposition or surprise. | |||
Latvian | vēl | ||
"Vēl" means "more" or "some" in the sense of "some more" or "some left" in Latvian, and corresponds to the Russian "ещё" (yeshchë) meaning "still" or "yet". | |||
Lithuanian | dar | ||
"Dar" is a contraction of the Lithuanian word "dabar", which means "now" or "at present". | |||
Macedonian | уште | ||
The word "уште" also means "more" or "again" in Macedonian. | |||
Polish | jeszcze | ||
The word 'jeszcze' has Slavic roots and is also present in Czech, Slovak, and Russian languages with similar meanings. | |||
Romanian | inca | ||
In Romanian, "încă" can also mean "again" or "still". | |||
Russian | еще | ||
The word "еще" can also mean "again" or "more". | |||
Serbian | ипак | ||
The Serbo-Croatian word "ipak" is a loan from Latin "si peccet" meaning "however"} | |||
Slovak | ešte | ||
The word "ešte" in Slovak can also mean "still" or "more". | |||
Slovenian | še | ||
The word "še" also means "more", "still" or "else" in Slovenian, depending on the context. | |||
Ukrainian | ще | ||
Ukrainian "ще" can also mean "still" or "even" and can be used in the context of "not yet". |
Bengali | এখনো | ||
"এখনো" is an archaic relative of "আরও" meaning "more" and "একখনো" meaning "yet". | |||
Gujarati | હજુ સુધી | ||
Hindi | अभी तक | ||
The Hindi word "अभी तक" has an additional meaning of "until now" or "up to the present time." | |||
Kannada | ಇನ್ನೂ | ||
The word | |||
Malayalam | എന്നിട്ടും | ||
Though the original meaning of 'എന്നിട്ടും' was 'thereupon', 'therefore', later it came to imply 'in spite of that', 'nonetheless', 'yet', 'however' etc.. | |||
Marathi | अद्याप | ||
The word "अद्याप" in Marathi means "still" or "up to now" and is derived from the Sanskrit word "अद्य" (today) and "अपि" (even). | |||
Nepali | अझै | ||
The word "अझै" also means "still" and "up to this time" in Nepali. | |||
Punjabi | ਫਿਰ ਵੀ | ||
Sinhala (Sinhalese) | තවම | ||
The Sinhala word "තවම" not only means "yet" but also implies a sense of surprise, disbelief, or doubt. | |||
Tamil | இன்னும் | ||
Telugu | ఇంకా | ||
Urdu | ابھی تک | ||
Chinese (Simplified) | 然而 | ||
然而 (rán'ér) means 'yet' (表示转折) or 'however' (表示转折或让步). | |||
Chinese (Traditional) | 然而 | ||
「然而」是中國傳統裡表示轉折意義的虛詞,在日本是「但是」的意思,但它也可能是「順承、如此」等意思。 | |||
Japanese | まだ | ||
"まだ" can mean "not yet" or "still", depending on the context. | |||
Korean | 아직 | ||
아직 is cognate with 아지 | |||
Mongolian | хараахан | ||
In Buryat, 'хараахан' also means 'after' while in Kalmyk, it further means 'still'. | |||
Myanmar (Burmese) | သေး | ||
"သေး" is also a classifier for small objects or quantities |
Indonesian | namun | ||
The word namum is derived from Proto-Austronesian *namun 'but'. | |||
Javanese | durung | ||
The word "durung" also means "not yet" in Javanese. | |||
Khmer | នៅឡើយទេ | ||
In Khmer, the word "នៅឡើយទេ" can alternately indicate doubt, disbelief, or a negative response to a question. | |||
Lao | ທັນ | ||
Malay | belum | ||
"Belum" also means "not yet" in Indonesian and "have not" in Tagalog. | |||
Thai | ยัง | ||
The Thai word "ยัง" ('yet') can also be used to indicate a negative, such as in the phrase "ยังไม่ได้ทำ" (I haven't done it yet). | |||
Vietnamese | chưa | ||
'Chưa' is also used in Vietnamese to mean 'unripe' or 'not cooked enough'. | |||
Filipino (Tagalog) | pa | ||
Azerbaijani | hələ | ||
The Azerbaijani word "hələ" can also refer to a pause or interval and is cognate with the Turkish word "hala" meaning "still". | |||
Kazakh | әлі | ||
The Kazakh word "әлі" can also be an expression of quantity, meaning "more" or "some." | |||
Kyrgyz | дагы | ||
The word "дагы" in Kyrgyz can also mean "again" or "in addition to". | |||
Tajik | ҳанӯз | ||
The word "ҳанӯз" also means "still" and "even" in Tajik. | |||
Turkmen | entek | ||
Uzbek | hali | ||
The word "hali" in Uzbek can also mean "still" or "as yet." | |||
Uyghur | تېخى | ||
Hawaiian | i kēia manawa | ||
"I kēia manawa" is the Hawaiian present progressive tense and roughly translates into "now that" or "while." | |||
Maori | ano | ||
The word "ano" in Māori can also mean "but" or "nevertheless". | |||
Samoan | ae | ||
Although 'ae' is most often translated 'yet' in Samoan, it can also mean 'but', 'however', 'although', 'because', 'and', or 'when'. | |||
Tagalog (Filipino) | pa | ||
The word "pa" in Tagalog has additional meanings including "future tense", "still", and "also". |
Aymara | janïra | ||
Guarani | gueteri | ||
Esperanto | tamen | ||
"Tamen" also means "too" in Esperanto. | |||
Latin | nondum | ||
The adverb "nondum" originally meant "not yet" but changed to "still not" and eventually "yet". |
Greek | ακόμη | ||
The word "Ακόμη" can also mean "even" or "still" in Greek. | |||
Hmong | tsis tau | ||
Tsis tau can also mean 'but' or 'however'. | |||
Kurdish | hîn | ||
The Kurdish word "hîn" has an additional meaning as "now". | |||
Turkish | hala | ||
Hala, a common Turkish word meaning "yet," also appears in various historical texts to mean "ever" or "always." | |||
Xhosa | okwangoku | ||
"Okwangoku" is a compound word derived from "kwa" (to) and "ngoku" (now), reflecting its meaning of "up to now". | |||
Yiddish | נאָך | ||
נאָך can also mean 'in addition', 'moreover', or 'besides' depending on context. | |||
Zulu | okwamanje | ||
The word 'okwamanje' is a compound of 'kw' and 'manje' in which 'kw' is a relative pronoun meaning 'which' or 'what' and 'manje' means 'now', so 'okwamanje' can also mean 'what just now', 'what at present', or 'what of this time'. | |||
Assamese | এতিয়ালৈকে | ||
Aymara | janïra | ||
Bhojpuri | अबही तक | ||
Dhivehi | އަދި | ||
Dogri | अजें | ||
Filipino (Tagalog) | pa | ||
Guarani | gueteri | ||
Ilocano | pay | ||
Krio | stil | ||
Kurdish (Sorani) | هێشتا | ||
Maithili | तहियो | ||
Meiteilon (Manipuri) | ꯍꯧꯖꯤꯛ ꯐꯥꯎꯕꯗ | ||
Mizo | thlengin | ||
Oromo | ammallee | ||
Odia (Oriya) | ତଥାପି | ||
Quechua | chaywanpas | ||
Sanskrit | तथापि | ||
Tatar | әле | ||
Tigrinya | እስካብ ዛሕዚ | ||
Tsonga | sweswi | ||