Are Any Words the Same in All Languages?

Re:Are Any Words the Same in All Languages? by jangliss on Thursday September 07, 2023 @11:23AM (#37420293)

A Dutch friend once said that the one word from his language that has had universal reach was "apartheid"... I'm sure that if there are any truly global words they are probably ones like that (initially) attached to a specific geographical context.

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Re:Are Any Words the Same in All Languages? by vidarh on Thursday September 07, 2023 @12:20PM (#37421320)

Apartheid translates to entirely different words in a number of languages it seems.

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Re:Are Any Words the Same in All Languages? by Tijdreiziger on Thursday September 07, 2023 @07:56PM (#37427363)

There is another Dutch word that must be pretty widespread in STEM circles: ‘eigenvector’.

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Re:Are Any Words the Same in All Languages? by eru on Thursday September 07, 2023 @10:01PM (#37428354)

I always thought Eigenvektor was borrowed from German, not Dutch?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eigenvalues_and_eigenvectors#H... seems to confirm the German origins, citing David Hilbert and Hermann von Helmholtz as originators of the word.

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Re:Are Any Words the Same in All Languages? by ernesth on Friday September 08, 2023 @04:42AM (#37431130)

In french, it is "vecteur propre" (which has the same meaning).

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Re:Are Any Words the Same in All Languages? by planede on Friday September 08, 2023 @04:54AM (#37431204)

You mean "sajátvektor"? (Hungarian)

https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saj%C3%A1tvektor_%C3%A9s_saj%C...

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Re:Are Any Words the Same in All Languages? by Ekaros on Friday September 08, 2023 @09:49AM (#37433463)

Now consider the SI units. Could those be some of the most common words between all languages?

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