Appendix:Esperanto Swadesh list

This is a Swadesh list of words in Esperanto, compared with definitions in English.

Presentation

For further information, including the full final version of the list, read the Wikipedia article: Swadesh list.

American linguist Morris Swadesh believed that languages changed at measurable rates and that these could be determined even for languages without written precursors. Using vocabulary lists, he sought to understand not only change over time but also the relationships of extant languages. To be able to compare languages from different cultures, he based his lists on meanings he presumed would be available in as many cultures as possible. He then used the fraction of agreeing cognates between any two related languages to compute their divergence time by some (still debated) algorithms. Starting in 1950 with 165 meanings, his list grew to 215 in 1952, which was so expansive that many languages lacked native vocabulary for some terms. Subsequently, it was reduced to 207, and reduced much further to 100 meanings in 1955. A reformulated list was published posthumously in 1971.

List

No.	English	Esperanto Esperanto	IPA pronunciation
1	I	mi	mi
2	you (singular)	vi	vi
3	he	li	li
4	we	ni	ni
5	you (plural)	vi	vi
6	they	ili	ˈi.li
7	this	ĉi tio	t͡ʃi ˈti.o
8	that	tio	ˈti.o
9	here	ĉi tie	t͡ʃi ˈti.e
10	there	tie	ˈti.e
11	who	kiu	ˈki.u
12	what	kio	ˈki.o
13	where	kie	ˈki.e
14	when	kiam	ˈki.am
15	how	kiel	ˈki.el
16	not	ne	ne
17	all	ĉiuj	ˈt͡ʃi.ui̯
18	many	multaj	ˈmul.tai̯
19	some	kelkaj	ˈkel.kai̯
20	few	malmultaj	mal.ˈmul.tai̯
21	other	alia	a.ˈli.a
22	one	unu	ˈu.nu
23	two	du	du
24	three	tri	tri
25	four	kvar	kvar
26	five	kvin	kvin
27	big	granda	ˈɡran.da
28	long	longa	ˈlon.ɡa
29	wide	larĝa	ˈlar.d͡ʒa
30	thick	dika	ˈdi.ka
31	heavy	peza	ˈpe.za
32	small	malgranda	mal.ˈɡran.da
33	short	mallonga	mal.ˈlon.ɡa
34	narrow	mallarĝa	mal.ˈlar.d͡ʒa
35	thin	maldika	mal.ˈdi.ka
36	woman	virino	vi.ˈri.no
37	man (male)	viro	ˈvi.ro
38	man (human)	homo	ˈho.mo
39	child	infano	in.ˈfa.no
40	wife	edzino	e.ˈdzi.no
41	husband	edzo	ˈe.dzo
42	mother	patrino	pa.ˈtr.ino
43	father	patro	ˈpa.tro
44	animal	besto	ˈbe.sto
45	fish	fiŝo	ˈfi.ʃo
46	bird	birdo	ˈbir.do
47	dog	hundo	ˈhun.do
48	louse	pediko	pe.ˈdi.ko
49	snake	serpento	ser.ˈpen.to
50	worm	vermo	ˈver.mo
51	tree	arbo	ˈar.bo
52	forest	arbaro	ar.ˈba.ro
53	stick	bastono	ba.ˈsto.no
54	fruit	frukto	ˈfruk.to
55	seed	semo	ˈse.mo
56	leaf	folio	fo.ˈli.o
57	root	radiko	ra.ˈdi.ko
58	bark (of a tree)	arboŝelo	ar.bo.ˈʃe.lo
59	flower	floro	ˈflo.ro
60	grass	herbo	ˈher.bo
61	rope	ŝnuro	ˈʃnu.ro
62	skin	haŭto	ˈhau̯.to
63	meat	viando	vi.ˈan.do
64	blood	sango	ˈsan.ɡo
65	bone	osto	ˈo.sto
66	fat (noun)	graso	ˈɡra.so
67	egg	ovo	ˈo.vo
68	horn	korno	ˈkor.no
69	tail	vosto	ˈvo.sto
70	feather	plumo	ˈplu.mo
71	hair	haro	ˈha.ro
72	head	kapo	ˈka.po
73	ear	orelo	o.ˈre.lo
74	eye	okulo	o.ˈku.lo
75	nose	nazo	ˈna.zo
76	mouth	buŝo	ˈbu.ʃo
77	tooth	dento	ˈden.to
78	tongue	lango	ˈlan.ɡo
79	fingernail	ungo	ˈun.ɡo
80	foot	piedo	pi.ˈe.do
81	leg	kruro	ˈkru.ro
82	knee	genuo	ɡe.ˈnu.o
83	hand	mano	ˈma.no
84	wing	flugilo	flu.ˈɡi.lo
85	belly	ventro	ˈven.tro
86	guts	intestaro	in.te.ˈsta.ro
87	neck	kolo	ˈko.lo
88	back	dorso	ˈdor.so
89	breast	brusto, mamoj	ˈbru.sto, ˈma.moi̯
90	heart	koro	ˈko.ro
91	liver	hepato	he.ˈpa.to
92	to drink	trinki	ˈtrin.ki
93	to eat	manĝi	ˈman.d͡ʒi
94	to bite	mordi	ˈmor.di
95	to suck	suĉi	ˈsu.t͡ʃi
96	to spit	kraĉi	ˈkra.t͡ʃi
97	to vomit	vomi	ˈvo.mi
98	to blow	blovi	ˈblo.vi
99	to breathe	spiri	ˈspi.ri
100	to laugh	ridi	ˈri.di
101	to see	vidi	ˈvi.di
102	to hear	aŭdi	ˈau̯.di
103	to know	scii	ˈst͡si.i
104	to think	pensi	ˈpen.si
105	to smell	flari	ˈfla.ri
106	to fear	timi	ˈti.mi
107	to sleep	dormi	ˈdor.mi
108	to live	vivi	ˈvi.vi
109	to die	morti	ˈmor.ti
110	to kill	mortigi	mor.ˈti.ɡi
111	to fight	batali	ba.ˈta.li
112	to hunt	ĉasi	ˈt͡ʃa.si
113	to hit	bati	ˈba.ti
114	to cut	tondi	ˈton.di
115	to split	dividi, fendi	di.ˈvi.di, ˈfen.di
116	to stab	mortpiki	mort.ˈpi.ki
117	to scratch	grati	ˈɡra.ti
118	to dig	fosi	ˈfo.si
119	to swim	naĝi	ˈna.d͡ʒi
120	to fly	flugi	ˈflu.ɡi
121	to walk	marŝi	ˈmar.ʃi
122	to come	veni	ˈve.ni
123	to lie (as in a bed)	kuŝi	ˈku.ʃi
124	to sit	sidi	ˈsi.di
125	to stand	stari	ˈsta.ri
126	to turn (intransitive)	turniĝi	ˈtur.ni
127	to fall	fali	ˈfa.li
128	to give	doni	ˈdo.ni
129	to hold	teni	ˈte.ni
130	to squeeze	premi	ˈpre.mi
131	to rub	froti	ˈfro.ti
132	to wash	lavi	ˈla.vi
133	to wipe	viŝi	ˈvi.ʃi
134	to pull	tiri	ˈti.ri
135	to push	puŝi	ˈpu.ʃi
136	to throw	ĵeti	ˈʒe.ti
137	to tie	ligi, nodi	ˈli.ɡi, ˈno.di
138	to sew	kudri	ˈku.dri
139	to count	kalkuli	kal.ˈku.li
140	to say	diri	ˈdi.ri
141	to sing	kanti	ˈkan.ti
142	to play	ludi	ˈlu.di
143	to float	flosi	ˈflo.si
144	to flow	flui	ˈflu.i
145	to freeze	frostigi, frostiĝi	fro.ˈsti.ɡi, fro.ˈsti.d͡ʒi
146	to swell	ŝveli	ˈʃve.li
147	sun	suno	ˈsu.no
148	moon	luno	ˈlu.no
149	star	stelo	ˈste.lo
150	water	akvo	ˈak.vo
151	rain	pluvo	ˈplu.vo
152	river	rivero	ri.ˈve.ro
153	lake	lago	ˈla.ɡo
154	sea	maro	ˈma.ro
155	salt	salo	ˈsa.lo
156	stone	ŝtono	ˈʃto.no
157	sand	sablo	ˈsa.blo
158	dust	polvo	ˈpol.vo
159	earth	tero	ˈte.ro
160	cloud	nubo	ˈnu.bo
161	fog	nebulo	ne.ˈbu.lo
162	sky	ĉielo	t͡ʃi.ˈe.lo
163	wind	vento	ˈven.to
164	snow	neĝo	ˈne.d͡ʒo
165	ice	glacio	ɡla.ˈt͡si.o
166	smoke	fumo	ˈfu.mo
167	fire	fajro	ˈfai̯.ro
168	ash	cindro	ˈt͡sin.dro
169	to burn	bruli	ˈbru.li
170	road	vojo, strato	ˈvo.jo, ˈstra.to
171	mountain	monto	ˈmon.to
172	red	ruĝa	ˈru.d͡ʒa
173	green	verda	ˈver.da
174	yellow	flava	ˈfla.va
175	white	blanka	ˈblan.ka
176	black	nigra	ˈni.ɡra
177	night	nokto	ˈnok.to
178	day	tago	ˈta.ɡo
179	year	jaro	ˈja.ro
180	warm	varma	ˈvar.ma
181	cold	malvarma	mal.ˈvar.ma
182	full	plena	ˈple.na
183	new	nova	ˈno.va
184	old	malnova	mal.ˈno.va
185	good	bona	ˈbo.na
186	bad	malbona	mal.ˈbo.na
187	rotten	putra	ˈpu.tra
188	dirty	malpura	mal.ˈpu.ra
189	straight	rekta	ˈrek.ta
190	round	ronda	ˈron.da
191	sharp (as a knife)	akra	ˈa.kra
192	dull (as a knife)	malakra	mal.ˈa.kra
193	smooth	glata	ˈɡla.ta
194	wet	malseka	mal.ˈse.ka
195	dry	seka	ˈse.ka
196	correct	ĝusta	ˈd͡ʒu.sta
197	near	proksima	prok.ˈsi.ma
198	far	malproksima	mal.prok.ˈsi.ma
199	right	dekstra	ˈdek.stra
200	left	maldekstra	mal.ˈdek.stra
201	at	ĉe	t͡ʃe
202	in	en	en
203	with	kun	kun
204	and	kaj	kai̯
205	if	se	se
206	because	ĉar	t͡ʃar
207	name	nomo	ˈno.mo

• Orthography:

When the words have various forms (verbs conjugation, gender and number agreement, declensions), the orthography is the following:

• verbs: infinitive
• other words: masculine or neutral, singular, nominative (subject)

For specific cases (no infinitive, feminine name, plural name for instance), the simplest form is used.

Swadesh lists
Individual languages
Abinomn Albanian Amdo Tibetan Amharic Armenian Aromanian Assamese Asturian Avar Azerbaijani Bangala Bashkir Basque Belarusian Bengali Berber Moroccan Amazigh Tashelhit Central Atlas Tamazight Kabyle Tarifit Tuareg Tachawit Big Nambas Bikol Central Bikol Iriga Bicolano Bisayan Cebuano Hiligaynon Kinaray-a Masbatenyo Tausug Waray-Waray Breton Bugis Bulgarian Burmese Burushaski Cape Verdean Carpathian Rusyn Catalan Chamorro Chavacano Chechen Chinese Mandarin Standard Mandarin Sichuanese Nanjingese Cantonese Gan Hakka Min Hokkien Eastern Min Wu Shanghainese Suzhounese Xiang Old Chinese Middle Chinese Cornish Creole Antillean Creole Guinea-Bissau Creole Jamaican Creole Haitian Creole Crimean Tatar Czech Old Czech Dalmatian Danish Dutch Afrikaans Limburgish Dutch Zealandic Dutch Egyptian English Old English Middle English Elamite Estonian Etruscan Fanagalo Faroese Fijian Finnish Fongbe French Old French Frisian Friulian Galician Garo Gelao Georgian German Gothic Greek Ancient Greek Guaraní Gujarati Hausa Hawaiian Hindustani Hindi Fiji Hindi Urdu Hittite Hmong Hungarian Hunsrik Icelandic Ilocano Ingush Irish Italian Japanese Old Japanese Classical Japanese Javanese Kangeanic Osing Sunda Sundanese Kannada Kapampangan Kashubian Kazakh Khmer Khoemana Komi-Zyrian Konkani Jizhao Koreanic Korean Middle Korean Jeju Kurmanji Kurukh Kyrgyz Latin Vulgar Latin Latvian Ligurian Lingala Linngithigh Lithuanian Lombard Low Saxon Sallaands Lower Sorbian Macedonian Maguindanao Makasar Malagasy Malay Betawi Indonesian Musi Malayalam Maltese Mandaic Mansi Northern Mansi Manx Māori Maranao Marathi Old Marathi Mauritian Creole Megleno-Romanian Meitei/Manipuri Mongolian Mokilese Murui Huitoto Navajo Neapolitan Nepali Norwegian Bokmål Nynorsk Occitan Ojibwe Okinawan Old Tupi Ossetian Papiamento Pashto Persian Old Persian Middle Persian Pirahã Polish Old Polish Portuguese Old Portuguese Punjabi Purepecha Quechua Romani Caló Romanian Russian Sambali Sangisari Sanskrit Saraiki Scottish Gaelic Semitic Arabic Standard Arabic Cypriot Arabic Egyptian Arabic Juba Arabic Moroccan Arabic South Levantine Arabic Tunisian Arabic Hebrew Biblical Hebrew Modern Hebrew Serbo-Croatian Siberian Tatar Sicilian Silesian Sinhala Slovak Slovene Somali Spanish Sranan Sumerian Swahili Swedish Tagalog Tahitian Tajik Tamil Tatar Telugu Temiar Tetum Tigrinya Thai Tocharian B Tok Pisin Tooro Tswana Turkic Turkish Turkmen Tuvaluan Ukrainian Upper Sorbian Uyghur Uzbek Vietnamese Walloon Welsh West Coast Bajau Wutunhua Wyandot Yiddish Zazaki Zulu ǃXóõ
Language families, family branches, and geographic groupings
Afroasiatic Algonquian and Iroquoian Arabic Austroasiatic Austronesian (Oceanic) Baltic Bantu Berber Celtic Chumashan and Hokan Dené–Yeniseian Dravidian Formosan Frisian Germanic Hmong-Mien Indo-Aryan Middle Early New Pahari Rajasthani Sindhic Indo-Iranian Italian Japonic Kra–Dai Mayan Muskogean Niger–Congo Northeast Caucasian Northwest Caucasian Oto-Manguean Paleosiberian Pama-Nyungan Penutian Romance Sino-Tibetan Sinitic Raji-Raute Tibeto-Burman Tibeto-Burman (Nepal) Kho-Bwa Kuki-Chin Slavic Siouan and Pawnee South American Tungusic Tupian Turkic Uralic Finnic Uto-Aztecan
Constructed languages
Esperanto Ido Interlingua Interlingue Klingon Láadan Lingua Franca Nova Lingwa de Planeta (Lidepla) Lojban Novial Toki Pona Volapük
Reconstructed proto-languages
Proto-Afroasiatic Proto-Austroasiatic Proto-Austronesian Proto-Balto-Slavic Proto-Bantu Proto-Basque Proto-Celtic Proto-Germanic Proto-Hellenic Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-Iranian Proto-Italic Proto-Japonic Proto-Mayan Proto-Slavic Proto-Turkic Proto-West Germanic Proto-Tai
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