“Beautiful” in every Philippine language
Beautiful across 9 languages, and what the differences tell you.
Last updated
Side by side
| Language | Beautiful |
|---|---|
| English | Beautiful |
| Tagalog | Maganda |
| Ilocano | Napintas |
| Cebuano | Gwapa |
| Hiligaynon | Matahum |
| Waray | Mahusay |
| Bikol | Magayon |
| Kapampangan | Malagu |
| Pangasinan | Marakep |
What the pattern shows
Bikol 'magayon' is the root behind Mayon, the volcano. Waray 'mahusay' means beautiful; in Tagalog the same word means skilled or well-arranged.
No two languages here use the same word. That is unusual even on this list, and it is the clearest possible answer to whether these are dialects of one another.
Watch out
mahusay does not mean the same thing everywhere:
- Skilful, well-arranged, orderly in Tagalog
- Beautiful in Waray
Complimenting someone in Waray and in Tagalog with the same word praises two different things.
More describing things
The whole category as a word list: Ilocano Adjectives and Describing Words · Tagalog Adjectives and Describing Words
Where this comes from
This row is one of 161 concept pages drawn from a parallel set of everyday vocabulary held across nine languages. You can browse all of them, download the whole set under CC BY-SA 4.0, or paste text to find out which language it is.
Compiled from published general reference and pending review by native speakers. If something here is wrong in a language you speak, please tell us.