Bangladesh in other languages: exonyms, Dhaka and the eight divisions
Bangladesh is বাংলাদেশ (Bāṃlādeš) in Bengali, officially গণ প্রজাতন্ত্রী বাংলাদেশ, the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, with the ISO codes BD, BGD and 050. Here the name is given in 171 languages and varieties, Dhaka in 79, and the eight divisions in Bengali script with their codes and headquarters.
Official languagesBengali (বাংলা, bāṃlā)
Checked
- alpha-2
- BD
- alpha-3
- BGD
- numeric
- 050
গণ প্রজাতন্ত্রী বাংলাদেশGôṇ Prôjātôntrī Bāṃlādeš
- English
- BangladeshPeople’s Republic of Bangladesh
- Capital
- ঢাকাḌʰākā · Dhaka
ISO 3166-1, checked 28 October 2026. Flag geometry and colours after the Wikimedia Commons drawing: a red disc set towards the hoist on a green field.
Bangladesh in other languages: list of exonyms
| Languages | ISO 639 | Name | Romanised |
|---|---|---|---|
| English, Aragonese, Asturian, Breton, Catalan, Cornish, Welsh, Danish, Estonian, Basque, Finnish, Kven, French, Interlingua, Indonesian, Italian, Javanese, Jersey Norman French, Dutch, Norwegian, Novial, Aromanian, Northern Sami, Spanish, Sardinian, Saterland Frisian, Swahili, Swedish, Võro, Walloon | eng / arg / ast / bre / cat / cor / cym / dan / est / eus / fin / fkv / fra / ina / ind / ita / jav / jnf / nld / nor / nov / rup / sme / spa / srd / stq / swa / swe / vor / wln | Bangladesh | same as written |
| Lower Sorbian, Croatian, Upper Sorbian, Slovenian, Silesian | dsb / hrv / hsb / slv / szl | Bangladeš | same as written |
| Afrikaans, Faroese, Limburgish | afr / fao / lim | Bangladesj | same as written |
| Crimean Tatar, Gagauz, Turkmen | crh / gag / tuk | Bangladeş / Бангладеш | Bangladeş |
| German, Luxembourgish, Low German | deu / ltz / nds | Bangladesch | same as written |
| Czech, Slovak | ces / slk | Bangladéš | same as written |
| Kashubian, Polish | csb / pol | Bangladesz | same as written |
| West Frisian, Hungarian | fry / hun | Banglades | same as written |
| Kinyarwanda, Rundi | kin / run | Bangladeshe | same as written |
| Azerbaijani | aze | Banqladeş / Бангладеш | Banqladeş |
| Bambara | bam | Bangiladɛsi | same as written |
| Bosnian | bos | Bangladeš / Бангладеш / بانغلادەش | Bangladeš |
| Esperanto | epo | Bangladeŝo | same as written |
| Franco-Provençal | frp | Banglladèch·e | same as written |
| Friulian | fur | Bangladesj | same as written |
| Scottish Gaelic | gla | Bangladais, Bangla Dais, Bangla-deis, Bangladeis | same as written |
| Irish | gle | An Bhanglaidéis / An Ḃanglaidéis, An Bhangladéis / An Ḃangladéis | same as written |
| Galician | glg | Bangladés, Bangladesh | same as written |
| Manx | glv | Yn Vangladesh | same as written |
| Haitian Creole | hat | Bangladèch | same as written |
| Igbo | ibo | Baṅladesh | same as written |
| Icelandic | isl | Bangladess | same as written |
| Karakalpak | kaa | Bangladesh / Бангладеш | Bangladesh |
| Kurmanji Kurdish | kur | Bengladeş, Bengladêş | same as written |
| Latin | lat | Bangladesa, Bangladesia | same as written |
| Latvian | lav | Bangladeša | same as written |
| Lingala | lin | Bángaladɛ́si | same as written |
| Lithuanian | lit | Bangladešas | same as written |
| Ladin | lld | Bangladesc | same as written |
| Malagasy | mlg | Bangladesha | same as written |
| Maltese | mlt | Bangladexx | same as written |
| Moldovan | mol | Bangladeș / Бангладеш | Bangladeș |
| Malay | msa | Bangladesh / بڠݢلاديش | Bangladesh |
| Nahuatl | nah | Bangladex | same as written |
| Norman French | nrm | Baunglladèche | same as written |
| Occitan | oci | Bangladèsh | same as written |
| Portuguese | por | Bangladesh, Bangladeche | same as written |
| Quechua | que | Banladish | same as written |
| Kalderash Romani | rmy | Bangladeš / बान्ग्लादेश | Bangladeš |
| Romansh | roh | Bangladesch | same as written |
| Romanian | ron | Bangladeș | same as written |
| Sicilian | scn | Bangladesci | same as written |
| Slovio | slo | Bangladesx / Бангладеш | Bangladesx |
| Samogitian | smg | Banglodešas | same as written |
| Samoan | smo | Panikalatesi | same as written |
| Somali | som | Bangaala-Dheesh | same as written |
| Albanian | sqi | Bangladeshi | same as written |
| Tetum | tet | Bangladexe | same as written |
| Tongan | ton | Pengikolotesi | same as written |
| Turkish | tur | Bangladeş | same as written |
| Uzbek | uzb | Bangladesh / Бангладеш / بەنگلەدېش | Bangladesh |
| Vietnamese | vie | Băng-la-đét | same as written |
| Volapük | vol | Bängalän | same as written |
| Wolof | wol | Banglaades | same as written |
| Zazaki | zza | Bengladeş | same as written |
| Abkhaz, Abaza, Altai, Avar, Bulgarian, Chuvash, Kabardian, Khakas, Komi, Karachay-Balkar, Kumyk, Lezgi, Meadow Mari, Macedonian, Mongolian, Ossetian, Russian, Tuvan, Udmurt, Kalmyk | abk / abq / alt / ava / bul / chv / kbd / kjh / kom / krc / kum / lez / mhr / mkd / mon / oss / rus / tyv / udm / xal | Бангладеш | Bangladeš |
| Bashkir, Chechen | bak / che | Бангладеш / Bangladeş | Bangladeş |
| Rusyn, Ukrainian | rue / ukr | Банґладеш | Bangladeš |
| Belarusian | bel | Бангладэш / Banhładeš | Banhładeš |
| Kazakh | kaz | Бангладеш / بانگلادەش / Bangladeş | Bangladeş |
| Kyrgyz | kir | Бангладеш / بانگلادەش / Bangladeş | Bangladeş |
| Kurdish (Caucasus, Cyrillic) | kmr | Бангладеш / Bangladêş | Bangladêş |
| Yakut | sah | Баҥладеш | Baŋladeš |
| Serbian | srp | Бангладеш / Bangladeš | Bangladeš |
| Tatar | tat | Бангладеш / Bangladeş / بانگلادېش | Bangladeş |
| Tajik | tgk | Бангладеш / بنگلدیش / Bangladeş | Bangladeş |
| Arabic | ara | بنغلادش, بنغلاديش, بنجلادش, بنجلاديش | Banġlādiš, Banġlādīš, Banglādiš, Banglādīš |
| South Azerbaijani | azb | بانقلادئش / Banqladeş | Banqladeş |
| Sorani Kurdish | ckb | بەنگلادش / Bengladiş, بەنگلادێش / Bengladêş | Bengladiş, Bengladêş |
| Persian | fas | بنگلادش / Banglâdeš | Banglâdeš |
| Western Punjabi | pnb | بنگلہدیش | Banglâdēš |
| Dari | prs | بنگلدیش | Bangladēš |
| Pashto | pus | بنګلدېش, بنګلادېش | Bangladeš, Banglādeš |
| Sindhi | snd | بنگلادیش | Banglādēša |
| Uyghur | uig | بانگلادېش / Ban’gladésh / Бангладеш | Ban’gladésh |
| Urdu | urd | بنگلادیش, بنگلہدیش | Banglādēš, Banglâdēš |
| Dhivehi | div | ބަނގްލަދޭށް, ބަންގާޅު | Baṅgladēŝ, Bangāḷu |
| Hebrew | heb | בנגלדש, באנגלאדש | Bangladeš, Bānglādeš |
| Ladino | lad | באנגלאדיש / Bangladesh | Bangladesh |
| Yiddish | yid | באַנגלאַדעש | Bangladeš |
| Berber (Tifinagh) | ber | ⴱⴻⵏⴳⵍⴰⴷⵉⵛ / Bengladic | Bengladic |
| Amharic | amh | ባንግላደሽ | Bangladäš |
| Greek | ell | Μπανγκλαντές, Μπαγκλαντές, Μπαγγλαντές, Μπάγκλα-Ντες | Mpangklantés, Mpagklantés, Mpagglantés, Mpágkla-Ntes |
| Armenian | hye | Բանգլադեշ | Bangladeš |
| Georgian, Mingrelian | kat / xmf | ბანგლადეში | Bangladeši |
| Laz | lzz | ბანგლადეში / Bangladeşi | Bangladeşi |
| Hindi, Nepali | hin / nep | बांग्लादेश | Bāṃglādeš |
| Marathi | mar | बांगलादेश | Bāṃglādeŝ |
| Bengali | ben | বাংলাদেশ | Bāṃlādeš |
| Gujarati | guj | બાંગ્લાદેશ | Bāṃglādeš |
| Oriya | ori | ବାଂଲାଦେଶ | Bāṃlādeš |
| Punjabi | pan | ਬੰਗਲਾਦੇਸ਼ | Bãglādeš |
| Sinhala | sin | බංග්ලාදේශය | Baṃglādēšaya |
| Kannada | kan | ಬಾಂಗ್ಲಾದೇಶ, ಬಾಂಗ್ಲದೇಶ | Bāṃglādēša, Bāṃgladēša |
| Malayalam | mal | ബംഗ്ലാദേശ് | Baṃglādēš |
| Tamil | tam | பங்களாதேஷ், வங்காளதேசம், வங்க தேசம் | Paṅkaḷātēš, Vaṅkāḷatēcam, Vaṅka Tēcam |
| Telugu | tel | బంగ్లాదేశ్ | Baṃglādēš |
| Chinese | zho | 孟加拉 | Mèngjiālā |
| Japanese | jpn | バングラデシュ | Banguradeshu |
| Korean | kor | 방글라데시 | Banggeulladesi |
| Tibetan | bod | བྷང་ལ་རྡེ་ཤུ། | Bāṅ.la.rde.šu |
| Dzongkha | dzo | བངྒ་ལ་དེཤ། | Baṅg.la.deṣ |
| Burmese | mya | ဘင်္ဂလားဒေ့ရှ် | Bʰĩgálàdéš |
| Thai | tha | บังคลาเทศ | Bâṅkʰlātʰēt |
| Lao | lao | ບັງກະລາແດັດ, ບັງກາລະເທດ | Bâṅkalādæt, Bâṅkālatʰēt |
| Khmer | khm | បង់ក្លាដេស | Băṅklādes |
Tamil and Dhivehi use both a borrowed and a native form; Vietnamese spells the name by syllables.
Bāṃlādeš, the country of Bengal
বাংলাদেশ (Bāṃlādeš) puts দেশ, country, after বাংলা, which names both the region of Bengal and the Bengali language. The compound was in use in Bengali patriotic songs of 1905 and 1932 before it became the name of the state.
Most languages keep the two halves together and only adapt the sound sh: Bangladesch in German, Bangladéš in Czech, Bangladesz in Polish, Bangladeş in Turkish, Bangladexx in Maltese and Bangladex in Nahuatl. A few go their own way. Tamil lists three forms, the loan பங்களாதேஷ் beside வங்காளதேசம் and வங்க தேசம், and Dhivehi has ބަންގާޅު, Bangāḷu, next to ބަނގްލަދޭށް. Chinese writes 孟加拉 (Mèngjiālā) without a word for country, and Volapük shortens the name to Bängalän.
The capital has a parallel story. ঢাকা (Ḍʰākā) was long written Dacca in English, and that spelling survives in Romanian, Galician, Friulian and Moldovan. Portuguese writes Daca, Esperanto Dako, and the aspirated Dh is lost in Basque, Icelandic and Latin Daka.
Dhaka in other languages
| Languages | ISO 639 | Name | Romanised |
|---|---|---|---|
| English, French | eng / fra | Dhaka | same as written |
| Basque, Icelandic, Kurmanji Kurdish, Latvian, Lithuanian, Slovenian, Samogitian, Albanian, Tetum | eus / isl / kur / lav / lit / slv / smg / sqi / tet | Daka | same as written |
| Friulian, Galician, Limburgish, Romanian, Sicilian | fur / glg / lim / ron / scn | Dacca | same as written |
| German, Luxembourgish, Low German | deu / ltz / nds | Dakka, Dhaka | same as written |
| Hungarian, Polish, Turkish | hun / pol / tur | Dakka | same as written |
| Azerbaijani, Turkmen | aze / tuk | Dakka / Дакка | Dakka |
| Czech, Slovak | ces / slk | Dháka | same as written |
| Bosnian | bos | Dhaka / Дака / داقا | Dhaka |
| Esperanto | epo | Dako | same as written |
| Irish | gle | Dhaka / Ḋaka | same as written |
| Moldovan | mol | Dacca / Дакка | Dacca |
| Malay | msa | Dhaka / ضاكا | Dhaka |
| Portuguese | por | Daca | same as written |
| Uzbek | uzb | Dakka / Дакка / دەككە | Dakka |
| Vietnamese | vie | Đác-ca | same as written |
| Mongolian, Russian, Ukrainian | mon / rus / ukr | Дакка | Dakka |
| Belarusian, Serbian | bel / srp | Дака / Daka | Daka |
| Bashkir | bak | Дакка / Dakka | Dakka |
| Bulgarian | bul | Дака | Daka |
| Chuvash | chv | Даккӑ | Dakkă |
| Kazakh | kaz | Дакка / داككا / Dakka | Dakka |
| Kabardian | kbd | Даккэ | Dakkă |
| Kyrgyz | kir | Дакка / داككا / Dakka | Dakka |
| Ossetian | oss | Даккӕ | Dakkä |
| Tatar | tat | Дакка / Dakka / داككا | Dakka |
| Tajik | tgk | Дакка / دکه / Dakka | Dakka |
| Arabic | ara | داكا, دكا | Dākā, Dakā |
| South Azerbaijani | azb | داککا / Dakka | Dakka |
| Persian | fas | داکا / Dâkâ | Dâkâ |
| Western Punjabi | pnb | ڈھاکہ | Ḋʰākâ |
| Pashto | pus | ډهاکه, داکا | Ḋhākâ, Dākā |
| Sindhi | snd | ڍاڪا | Ḍʰākā |
| Uyghur | uig | داككا / Dakka / Дакка | Dakka |
| Urdu | urd | ڈھاکہ, ڈھاکا | Ḋʰākâ, Ḋʰākā |
| Dhivehi | div | ޑާކާ | Ḋākā |
| Hebrew | heb | דקה, דאקה | Daqah, Dāqah |
| Yiddish | yid | דאַקאַ | Daka |
| Amharic | amh | ዳካ | Daka |
| Greek | ell | Ντάκα | Ntáka |
| Armenian | hye | Դակա | Daka |
| Georgian | kat | დაკა | Daka |
| Hindi, Marathi, Nepali | hin / mar / nep | ढाका | Ḍʰākā |
| Bengali | ben | ঢাকা | Ḍʰākā |
| Gujarati | guj | ઢાકા | Ḍʰākā |
| Punjabi | pan | ਢਾਕਾ | Ḍʰākā |
| Sinhala | sin | ඩැකා | Ḍækā |
| Kannada | kan | ಢಾಕಾ, ಢಾಕ | Ḍʰākā, Ḍʰāka |
| Malayalam | mal | ധാക്ക | Dʰākka |
| Tamil | tam | டாக்கா, தாகா | Ṭākkā, Tākā |
| Telugu | tel | ఢాక్కా, ఢకా | Ḍʰākkā, Ḍʰakā |
| Chinese | zho | 達卡/达卡 | Dákǎ |
| Japanese | jpn | ダッカ | Dakka |
| Korean | kor | 다카 | Daka |
| Thai | tha | ดากา, ธากา | Dākā, Tʰākā |
| Khmer | khm | ដាកា | Dākā |
The eight divisions of Bangladesh (বিভাগ) with ISO 3166-2 codes
Bangladesh has eight divisions, each a বিভাগ (bibʰāg) named after its headquarters town. The first column gives the Bengali name with a letter-by-letter transliteration; the English column follows ISO 3166-2, which since 2020 writes Barishal and Chattogram.
| ISO 3166-2 | Bengali | English | Administrative centre | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Divisions বিভাগ bibʰāg8 | ||||
| BD-Awas BD-1 | বরিশাল বিভাগBôrišāl bibʰāg | Barishal | বরিশালBôrišāl | 2020 ISO spelling changed from Barisal to Barishal |
| BD-Bwas BD-2 | চট্টগ্রাম বিভাগČôṭṭôgrām bibʰāg | Chattogram | চট্টগ্রামČôṭṭôgrām | 2020 ISO spelling changed from Chittagong to Chattogram; Chittagong kept as a local variant |
| BD-Cwas BD-3 | ঢাকা বিভাগḌʰākā bibʰāg | Dhaka | ঢাকাḌʰākā | |
| BD-Dwas BD-4 | খুলনা বিভাগKʰulnā bibʰāg | Khulna | খুলনাKʰulnā | |
| BD-Ewas BD-5 | রাজশাহী বিভাগRājšāhī bibʰāg | Rajshahi | রাজশাহীRājšāhī | |
| BD-F | রংপুর বিভাগRôṃpur bibʰāg | Rangpur | রংপুরRôṃpur | 2010 Split from Rajshahi on 25 January 2010; added to ISO 3166-2 in 2011 |
| BD-Gwas BD-6 | সিলেট বিভাগSileṭ bibʰāg | Sylhet | সিলেটSileṭ | |
| BD-H | ময়মনসিংহ বিভাগ | Mymensingh | ময়মনসিংহMymensingh | 2015 Formed from Dhaka Division on 14 September 2015; added to ISO 3166-2 in 2016 |
Codes: ISO 3166-2:BD on the ISO Online Browsing Platform, read from its English Wikipedia mirror on 28 October 2026. Newsletter II-3 of 13 December 2011 replaced the numeric division codes BD-1 to BD-6 with letters and added Rangpur; the OBP added Mymensingh (BD-H) on 15 November 2016 and changed the spelling of Barishal and Chattogram on 24 November 2020. The dates of the Rangpur and Mymensingh divisions follow Wikipedia, Divisions of Bangladesh. Mymensingh is given without a transliteration.
Questions about the names and divisions of Bangladesh
How is Bangladesh written in Bengali?
বাংলাদেশ, transliterated Bāṃlādeš. The official name is গণ প্রজাতন্ত্রী বাংলাদেশ.
How many divisions does Bangladesh have?
Eight. Rangpur was added in 2010 and Mymensingh in 2015; ISO 3166-2 codes them BD-A to BD-H.
Why is Dhaka sometimes spelled Dacca?
Dacca is the older English spelling of ঢাকা. Several languages, among them Romanian and Galician, still use it.