How to say “merely” in 32 languages
Every one of these is a word that turns up in ordinary speech, not a dictionary curiosity — the number beside it is where it ranks in that language.
It is commonest in Chinese, where 只是 is the 10th most used word.
- Basque hutsik emptily, merely #500
- Bengali শুধু simply, merely, just, only #55
- Bosnian samo just, only, only just, merely, solely #23
- Chinese 只是 only; merely; just #10
- Croatian samo just, only, only just, merely, solely #21
- Danish blot only, merely #672
- English just Only, simply, merely #39
- Estonian vaid only, just, merely, solely #121
- Finnish vain only, merely, exclusively, solely, just #15
- Galician só no more than; merely #41
- Georgian უბრალოდ merely, simply #90
- German nur only, just, merely, simply #43
- Hindi बस merely, only #87
- Hungarian csupán merely, only #1,085
- Icelandic einungis merely, only #1,223
- Indonesian cuma only, merely #289
- Italian solo only, just, but, alone, merely #39
- Malay cuma only, merely #123
- Norwegian bare only, merely, just #36
- Persian صرف only, merely #1,070
- Polish jedynie only, merely #853
- Portuguese apenas only; just; merely #157
- Romanian doar just, only, merely #47
- Russian лишь only, merely, just #239
- Serbian samo just, only, only just, merely, solely #23
- Slovenian le only, merely, just #80
- Spanish solamente only, alone, merely #1,456
- Tagalog sukat just; merely; simply #765
- Turkish yalnızca only, just, merely #520
- Ukrainian просто just, simply, merely #26
- Urdu بس merely, only #110
- Vietnamese thôi that's all; merely; only; just #60
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.