Kuwait (al-Kuwayt) in other languages: exonyms, ISO codes and anthem
Kuwait is الكويت (al-Kuwayt) in Arabic, officially دولة الكويت, the State of Kuwait, and ISO 3166-1 codes it KW, KWT and 414. The name is listed below in 175 languages, followed by the six governorates in Arabic and the anthem, وطني الكويت سلمت للمجد, with a transliteration.
Official languagesArabic (al-ʿarabīyâ)
Checked
- alpha-2
- KW
- alpha-3
- KWT
- numeric
- 414
دولة الكويتDawlâẗu l-Kuwayt
- English
- KuwaitState of Kuwait
- Capital
- الكويتal-Kuwayt · Kuwait City
ISO 3166-1, checked 28 October 2026. Flag after the Wikimedia Commons drawing.
Kuwait in other languages: list of exonyms
| Languages | ISO 639 | Name | Romanised |
|---|---|---|---|
| English, Aragonese, Asturian, Catalan, Danish, Lower Sorbian, Basque, Finnish, Kven, Friulian, Galician, Hausa, Upper Sorbian, Interlingua, Indonesian, Italian, Javanese, Jersey Norman French, Ladin, Norwegian, Quechua, Aromanian, Northern Sami, Spanish, Sardinian, Swahili, Swedish, Tetum | eng / arg / ast / cat / dan / dsb / eus / fin / fkv / fur / glg / hau / hsb / ina / ind / ita / jav / jnf / lld / nor / que / rup / sme / spa / srd / swa / swe / tet | Kuwait | same as written |
| Afrikaans, West Frisian, Limburgish, Dutch | afr / fry / lim / nld | Koeweit | same as written |
| Czech, Croatian, Slovak, Slovenian | ces / hrv / slk / slv | Kuvajt | same as written |
| Breton, Lingala, Occitan | bre / lin / oci | Koweit | same as written |
| German, Luxembourgish, Low German | deu / ltz / nds | Kuweit, Kuwait | same as written |
| Romansh, Romanian, Saterland Frisian | roh / ron / stq | Kuweit | same as written |
| Estonian, Võro | est / vor | Kuveit | same as written |
| Faroese, Hungarian | fao / hun | Kuvait | same as written |
| Gagauz, Karakalpak | gag / kaa | Kuveyt / Кувейт | Kuveyt |
| Kinyarwanda, Rundi | kin / run | Koweti | same as written |
| Polish, Silesian | pol / szl | Kuwejt | same as written |
| Walloon, Zazaki | wln / zza | Kuweyt | same as written |
| Azerbaijani | aze | Küveyt / Күвејт | Küveyt |
| Bambara | bam | Kɔwɛyiti | same as written |
| Bosnian | bos | Kuvajt / Кувајт / قۆوايت | Kuvajt |
| Cornish | cor | Koweyt | same as written |
| Crimean Tatar | crh | Küveyt / Кувейт | Küveyt |
| Kashubian | csb | Kùwejt | same as written |
| Welsh | cym | Coweit | same as written |
| Esperanto | epo | Kuvajto | same as written |
| French | fra | Koweït | same as written |
| Franco-Provençal | frp | Koveyit | same as written |
| Scottish Gaelic | gla | Cubhait, Cuait, Kubhait | same as written |
| Irish | gle | Cuáit | same as written |
| Manx | glv | Yn Choowait | same as written |
| Haitian Creole | hat | Kowet | same as written |
| Hawaiian | haw | Kuete | same as written |
| Igbo | ibo | Kuwet | same as written |
| Icelandic | isl | Kúveit | same as written |
| Kurmanji Kurdish | kur | Kuweyt, Kûweyt | same as written |
| Latin | lat | Cuvaitum, Kuvaitum, Quatum | same as written |
| Latvian | lav | Kuveita | same as written |
| Lithuanian | lit | Kuveitas | same as written |
| Malagasy | mlg | Kowaita | same as written |
| Maltese | mlt | Kuwajt | same as written |
| Moldovan | mol | Kuweit / Кувейт | Kuweit |
| Malay | msa | Kuwait / كويت | Kuwait |
| Nahuatl | nah | Cuhuait | same as written |
| Novial | nov | Kuwayt | same as written |
| Norman French | nrm | Cohouête | same as written |
| Portuguese | por | Koweit, Quaite, Kuwait, Couaite, Kuait, Coveite | same as written |
| Kalderash Romani | rmy | Kuweit / कुवेइत | Kuweit |
| Sicilian | scn | Cuvait | same as written |
| Slovio | slo | Kuveit / Кувеит | Kuveit |
| Samogitian | smg | Kovėits | same as written |
| Samoan | smo | Kuati | same as written |
| Somali | som | Kuwayt, Kuweyt | same as written |
| Albanian | sqi | Kuvajti | same as written |
| Tongan | ton | Kiueiti | same as written |
| Turkmen | tuk | Kuweýt / Кувейт | Kuweýt |
| Turkish | tur | Kuveyt, Küveyt | same as written |
| Uzbek | uzb | Kuvayt / Кувайт / كۇۋەيت | Kuvayt |
| Vietnamese | vie | Cô-oét | same as written |
| Volapük | vol | Kuväytän | same as written |
| Wolof | wol | Kuwet, Kowet | same as written |
| Abaza, Altai, Bulgarian, Chuvash, Kabardian, Khakas, Komi, Karachay-Balkar, Kumyk, Lezgi, Meadow Mari, Mongolian, Ossetian, Russian, Yakut, Tuvan, Udmurt, Ukrainian, Kalmyk | abq / alt / bul / chv / kbd / kjh / kom / krc / kum / lez / mhr / mon / oss / rus / sah / tyv / udm / ukr / xal | Кувейт | Kuvejt |
| Abkhaz | abk | Кувеит | Kuveit |
| Avar | ava | Кувайт | Kuwajt |
| Bashkir | bak | Күвейт / Küveyt | Küveyt |
| Belarusian | bel | Кувейт / Kuviejt, Кувэйт / Kuvejt | Kuviejt, Kuvejt |
| Chechen | che | Кувейт / Kuveyt | Kuveyt |
| Kazakh | kaz | Куейт / كۋەيت / Kweyt | Kweyt |
| Kyrgyz | kir | Кувейт / كۇۋەيت / Kuveyt | Kuveyt |
| Kurdish (Caucasus, Cyrillic) | kmr | Кувейт / Kûvêyt, Ԛувейт / Qûvêyt | Kûvêyt, Qûvêyt |
| Lak | lbe | Кувайт | Kuwajt |
| Macedonian | mkd | Кувајт | Kuvajt |
| Rusyn | rue | Кувайт | Kuvajt |
| Serbian | srp | Кувајт / Kuvajt | Kuvajt |
| Tatar | tat | Күвәйт / Küväyt / كۈۋەيت | Küväyt |
| Tajik | tgk | Кувайт / کویت / Kuvajt | Kuvajt |
| Arabic | ara | الكويت | al-Kuwayt |
| South Azerbaijani | azb | کووئیت / Küveyt | Küveyt |
| Sorani Kurdish | ckb | کوێت / Kiwêt, کووەیت / Kuweyt | Kiwêt, Kuweyt |
| Persian | fas | کویت / Koveyt | Koveyt |
| Western Punjabi | pnb | کویت | Kuvayt |
| Dari | prs | کویت | Kovayt |
| Pashto | pus | کويټ, کويت | Kuwayṫ, Kuwayt |
| Uyghur | uig | كۇۋەيت / Kuweyt / Кувейт | Kuweyt |
| Urdu | urd | کویت | Kuvayt |
| Dhivehi | div | ކުވެއިތް, ކުވެއިތު | Kuveit, Kuveitu |
| Syriac | syr | ܟܘܘܝܬ | Kūwayt |
| Hebrew | heb | כוית / כווית | Kuvayt |
| Ladino | lad | קובﬞאייט / Kuvayt | Kuvayt |
| Yiddish | yid | קוּװײַט | Kuvayt |
| Berber (Tifinagh) | ber | ⵍⴽⵡⵉⵜ / Lkwit | Lkwit |
| Kabyle | kab | ⴽⵓⵡⴻⵢⵜ / Kuweyt | Kuweyt |
| Amharic | amh | ኩዌት | Kuwet |
| Greek (Demotic) | ell-dhi | Κουβέιτ | Koyvéit |
| Greek (Katharevousa) | ell-kat | Κοβέϊτ, Κουβέϊτ, Κουέτ | Kovéït, Koyvéït, Koyét |
| Armenian | hye | Քուվեյթ | K̕ouveyt̕ |
| Georgian | kat | ქუვეითი, კუვეიტი | Ḳuveiṭi, Kuveiti |
| Laz | lzz | კუვეითი / K’uveiti | K’uveiti |
| Mingrelian | xmf | ქუვეითი | Ḳuveiṭi |
| Hindi | hin | कुवैत | Kuvæt |
| Nepali | nep | कुवेत | Kuvet |
| Bengali | ben | কুয়েত | Kuyet |
| Gujarati | guj | કુવૈત | Kuvait |
| Oriya | ori | କୁଓ୍ବେତ୍ | Kuobet |
| Punjabi | pan | ਕੁਵੈਤ | Kuvæt |
| Sinhala | sin | කුවේටය | Kuvēṭaya |
| Kannada | kan | ಕುವೈತ್ | Kuvait |
| Malayalam | mal | കുവൈറ്റ്, കുവൈത്ത് | Kuvaiṟṟ, Kuvaitt |
| Tamil | tam | குவெய்த், குவைத் | Kuveyt, Kuvait |
| Telugu | tel | కువైట్ | Kuvaiṭ |
| Chinese | zho | 科威特 | Kēwēitè |
| Japanese | jpn | クウェイト, クェート | Kuweito, Kuwēto |
| Korean | kor | 쿠웨이트 | Kuweiteu |
| Tibetan | bod | ཁུ་ཝི་ཐི། | Kʰu.wi.tʰi |
| Dzongkha | dzo | ཀུ་ཝེཊ། | Ku.weṭ |
| Burmese | mya | ကူဝိတ် | Kuweiʿ |
| Thai | tha | คูเวต | Kʰūwēt |
| Khmer | khm | គុយវ៉ែត, គុយវែត | Kuyvæt, Kuyvæt |
The capital has the same name as the country in almost every language, so this table serves for both. Portuguese and Latin keep several older spellings beside the current one.
Al-Kuwayt, Koweït, Kuveyt: one name, many routes
Arabic writes the country with the article, الكويت, al-Kuwayt, and the official name is دولة الكويت, Dawlâẗu l-Kuwayt, the State of Kuwait. Almost every other language drops the article: Persian and Urdu write کویت, Hebrew כוית or כווית, Russian Кувейт and Turkish Kuveyt. Berber in Tifinagh, ⵍⴽⵡⵉⵜ (Lkwit), is one of the few forms that keeps the l.
Western spellings record the routes by which the name travelled. French has Koweït, with a diaeresis to keep the e and i apart, and Breton, Lingala and Occitan copy the French oe. Dutch, Afrikaans and Limburgish write Koeweit, German Kuweit beside the English Kuwait. Portuguese lists six forms, Koweit, Quaite, Kuwait, Couaite, Kuait and Coveite, and Latin three: Cuvaitum, Kuvaitum and Quatum.
In Asia the name is copied sound by sound. Japanese has two spellings, クウェイト (Kuweito) and the shorter クェート (Kuwēto), Chinese 科威特 (Kēwēitè), Korean 쿠웨이트 and Thai คูเวต. The Indic scripts split between a vowel ai and e: कुवैत in Hindi, कुवेत in Nepali, কুয়েত in Bengali.
The six governorates of Kuwait in Arabic
Kuwait is divided into six governorates (محافظات, muḥāfaẓāt), each with an ISO 3166-2 code of two letters. The Arabic name puts محافظة, governorate, before the name of its centre; the English names are the ones ISO lists beside its romanised forms.
| ISO 3166-2 | Arabic | English | Administrative centre | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Governorates محافظات muḥāfaẓāt6 | ||||
| KW-AH | محافظة الأحمديMuḥāfaẓâẗu l-Aḥmadī | Ahmadi | الأحمديal-Aḥmadī | |
| KW-FA | محافظة الفروانيةMuḥāfaẓâẗu l-Farwānīyâ | Farwaniya | الفروانيةal-Farwānīyâ | |
| KW-HA | محافظة حوليMuḥāfaẓâẗu Ḥawallī | Hawalli | حوليḤawallī | |
| KW-JA | محافظة الجهرةMuḥāfaẓâẗu l-Ǧahrâ | Jahra | الجهرةal-Ǧahrâ | |
| KW-KU | محافظة العاصمةMuḥāfaẓâẗu l-ʿĀṣimâ | Capital | العاصمةal-ʿĀṣimâ, Kuwait City | |
| KW-MU | محافظة مبارك الكبيرMuḥāfaẓâẗu Mubāraki l-Kabīr | Mubarak Al-Kabeer | مبارك الكبيرMubāraku l-Kabīr | 2007 Added in the second edition of ISO 3166-2 |
Codes: ISO 3166-2:KW on the ISO Online Browsing Platform, as tabulated in Wikipedia's ISO 3166-2:KW, checked 28 October 2026. ISO romanises the names as Al Aḩmadī, Al Farwānīyah, Ḩawallī, Al Jahrā’, Al ‘Āşimah and Mubārak al Kabīr, and spells Jahra with a final hamza. The list has not changed since the source update of 13 December 2011.
Waṭanī l-Kuwayt: reading the first line
The first line of the anthem, وطني الكويت سلمت للمجد (waṭanī l-Kuwayt salimta li-l-maǧdi), is also how most people search for it. Word by word it reads my homeland (waṭanī), Kuwait, may you be safe (salimta), for glory (li-l-maǧdi). The four lines of this refrain open the anthem and close each of its three verses.
Waṭanī l-Kuwayt salimta li-l-maǧdi: the national anthem
An-Našīd al-Waṭanī has been the national anthem of Kuwait since 1978. The Arabic words are by the poet Ahmad Meshari al-Adwani.
Questions about Kuwait's name and anthem
What does وطني الكويت سلمت للمجد mean?
My homeland Kuwait, may you be safe for glory. It is the opening line and refrain of the national anthem, An-Našīd al-Waṭanī.
How is Kuwait written in Turkish?
Kuveyt, also spelt Küveyt. Azerbaijani and Gagauz use the same form, Kuveyt.
What are the ISO codes of Kuwait?
KW (alpha-2), KWT (alpha-3) and 414 (numeric). The governorates run from KW-AH, Ahmadi, to KW-MU, Mubarak Al-Kabeer.