Rwanda in other languages: Urwanda, Kigali, flag and the provinces
Rwanda is Urwanda in Kinyarwanda, officially Repubulika y’u Rwanda, and carries the ISO 3166-1 codes RW, RWA and 646. Below are the country in 163 languages, the capital Kigali in 56 and the four provinces with the City of Kigali in Kinyarwanda, French and English.
Official languagesKinyarwanda (Ikinyarwanda), English, French, Swahili
Checked
- alpha-2
- RW
- alpha-3
- RWA
- numeric
- 646
Repubulika y’u Rwanda
République du Rwanda
Jamhuri ya Rwanda
- English
- RwandaRepublic of Rwanda
- Capital
- KigaliKigali
ISO 3166-1, checked 28 October 2026. Official names and languages: Wikipedia’s Rwanda article, citing the constitution of 2015 and the language law of 2017, checked 28 October 2026. Flag after the Wikimedia Commons drawing.
Rwanda (Urwanda) in other languages: list of exonyms
| Languages | ISO 639-3 | Name | Romanised |
|---|---|---|---|
| English, Afrikaans, Breton, Catalan, Czech, Cornish, Welsh, Danish, French, Haitian Creole, Javanese, Jersey Norman French, Lingala, Maltese, Dutch, Norwegian, Novial, Occitan, Polish, Quechua, Aromanian, Slovak, Northern Sami, Swahili, Swedish, Walloon, Zazaki | eng / afr / bre / cat / ces / cor / cym / dan / fra / hat / jav / jnf / lin / mlt / nld / nor / nov / oci / pol / que / rup / slk / sme / swa / swe / wln / zza | Rwanda | same as written |
| Asturian, Lower Sorbian, Basque, Faroese, Finnish, Kven, Scottish Gaelic, Galician, Croatian, Upper Sorbian, Hungarian, Interlingua, Italian, Latin, Latvian, Lithuanian, Ladin, Latgalian, Nahuatl, Romansh, Romanian, Sicilian, Slovenian, Samogitian, Spanish, Albanian, Sardinian, Saterland Frisian, Tetum, Turkish, German, Luxembourgish, Low German, Irish | ast / dsb / eus / fao / fin / fkv / gla / glg / hrv / hsb / hun / ina / ita / lat / lav / lit / lld / ltg / nah / roh / ron / scn / slv / smg / spa / sqi / srd / stq / tet / tur / deu / ltz / nds / gle | Ruanda | same as written |
| Azerbaijani, Crimean Tatar, Gagauz, Karakalpak, Moldovan, Slovio, Turkmen | aze / crh / gag / kaa / mol / slo / tuk | Ruanda / Руанда | Ruanda |
| Aragonese, Estonian, Portuguese, Võro | arg / est / por / vor | Ruanda, Rwanda | same as written |
| Franco-Provençal, Norman French | frp / nrm | Rouanda | same as written |
| Hausa, Indonesian | hau / ind | Ruwanda | same as written |
| Kinyarwanda, Kirundi | kin / run | Urwanda | same as written |
| Bambara | bam | Uruwanda | same as written |
| Bosnian | bos | Ruanda / Руанда / رۆآندا | Ruanda |
| Esperanto | epo | Ruando | same as written |
| West Frisian, Kurmanji Kurdish | fry / kur | Rûanda | same as written |
| Friulian | fur | Ruande | same as written |
| Manx | glv | Rooandey | same as written |
| Icelandic | isl | Rúanda | same as written |
| Malagasy | mlg | Roanda | same as written |
| Malay | msa | Rwanda / رواندا | Rwanda |
| Kalderash Romani | rmy | Rwanda / र्वान्दा | Rwanda |
| Samoan | smo | Ruanata | same as written |
| Somali | som | Ruwaanda, Ruwaandha | same as written |
| Uzbek | uzb | Ruanda / Руанда / رۇئەندە | Ruanda |
| Vietnamese | vie | Ru-an-đa | same as written |
| Volapük | vol | Ruandän | same as written |
| Wolof | wol | Ruwandaa, Ruwaanda | same as written |
| Abkhaz, Abaza, Altai, Avar, Bulgarian, Khakas, Komi, Karachay-Balkar, Kumyk, Lezgi, Meadow Mari, Macedonian, Mongolian, Rusyn, Russian, Yakut, Tuvan, Udmurt, Ukrainian, Kalmyk | abk / abq / alt / ava / bul / kjh / kom / krc / kum / lez / mhr / mkd / mon / rue / rus / sah / tyv / udm / ukr / xal | Руанда | Ruanda |
| Bashkir, Belarusian, Chechen, Serbian | bak / bel / che / srp | Руанда / Ruanda | Ruanda |
| Chuvash | chv | Руандӑ | Ruandă |
| Kazakh | kaz | Руанда / رۋاندا / Rwanda | Rwanda |
| Kabardian | kbd | Руандэ | Ruandă |
| Kyrgyz | kir | Руанда / رۇاندا / Ruanda | Ruanda |
| Kurdish (Caucasus) | kmr | Р’уанда / Ṟûanda | Ṟûanda |
| Ossetian | oss | Руандӕ | Ruandä |
| Tatar | tat | Руанда / Ruanda / رۇئاندا | Ruanda |
| Tajik | tgk | Руанда / روؤنده / Ruanda | Ruanda |
| Arabic | ara | رواندا | Ruwāndā |
| South Azerbaijani | azb | رواندا / Ruanda | Ruanda |
| Sorani Kurdish | ckb | ڕوواندا / Ṟuwanda | Ṟuwanda |
| Persian | fas | روآندا / Ruândâ, رواندا / Ruvândâ | Ruândâ, Ruvândâ |
| Western Punjabi, Urdu | pnb / urd | روانڈا | Rūʾanḋā |
| Dari | prs | رواندا | Rūʾandā |
| Pashto | pus | رواندا, روندا | Rūʾandā, Ruwandā |
| Uyghur | uig | رۇئاندا / Ruanda / Руанда | Ruanda |
| Dhivehi | div | ރުވާންޑާ | Ruvānḋā |
| Hebrew | heb | רואנדה | Rūʾandah |
| Ladino | lad | רואנדה / Ruanda | Ruanda |
| Yiddish | yid | רװאַנדע | Rvande |
| Amharic | amh | ሩዋንዳ | Ruwanda |
| Greek | ell | Ρουάντα | Royánta |
| Armenian | hye | Ռուանդա | Ṙouanda |
| Georgian, Mingrelian | kat / xmf | რუანდა | Ruanda |
| Laz | lzz | რუანდა / Ruanda | Ruanda |
| Hindi | hin | रवांडा, रूआण्डा | Ravāṃḍā, Rūāṇḍā |
| Bengali | ben | রুয়ান্ডা | Ruyānḍā |
| Gujarati | guj | રવાન્ડા | Ravānḍā |
| Odia | ori | ରଓ୍ବାଣ୍ଡା | Robāṇḍā |
| Punjabi | pan | ਰਵਾਂਡਾ | Rvāṃḍā |
| Sinhala | sin | රුවන්ඩාව | Ruvanḍāva |
| Kannada | kan | ರ್ವಾಂಡ | Rvāṃḍa |
| Malayalam | mal | റുവാണ്ട | Ṟuvāṇṭa |
| Tamil | tam | ருவாண்டா | Ruvāṇṭā |
| Telugu | tel | రవాండా | Ravāṃḍā |
| Chinese | zho | 盧安達/卢旺达 | Lúwàngdá |
| Japanese | jpn | ルワンダ | Ruwanda |
| Korean | kor | 르완다 | Reuwanda |
| Tibetan | bod | རུ་ཝན་ཌ། | Ru.wan.ḍa |
| Burmese | mya | ရဝမ်ဒာ | Ẏáwãda |
| Thai | tha | รวันดา | Rawândā |
| Khmer | khm | រវ៉ាន់ដា, រ្វ៉ាន់ដា | Rovandā, Rvandā |
Urwanda, Ruanda, Ruwanda: the name with and without its prefix
Rwanda is Urwanda in Kinyarwanda and in Kirundi, and officially Repubulika y’u Rwanda. French writes République du Rwanda and Swahili, official since 2017, Jamhuri ya Rwanda. Older lists give République rwandaise and, in English, Rwandese Republic; the adjective is urwanda in Kinyarwanda, rwandais in French and Rwandese in English.
Most languages keep the w. Asturian, Basque, Lower Sorbian and Faroese write Ruanda, and so do the Turkic languages in both alphabets, Руанда in Cyrillic; Hausa and Indonesian have Ruwanda, Somali and Wolof stretch it to Ruwaanda, and Bambara writes Uruwanda. Vietnamese splits the name into syllables, Ru-an-đa.
Kigali barely changes: Kigalis in Lithuanian, Kigalo in Esperanto, Quigali in Portuguese and Кіґалі with the hard ґ in Ukrainian.
Kigali in other languages
| Languages | ISO 639-3 | Name | Romanised |
|---|---|---|---|
| English, French, Latvian, German, Luxembourgish, Low German, Irish | eng / fra / lav / deu / ltz / nds / gle | Kigali | same as written |
| Lithuanian, Samogitian | lit / smg | Kigalis | same as written |
| Moldovan, Turkmen | mol / tuk | Kigali / Кигали | Kigali |
| Azerbaijani | aze | Kiqali / Кигали | Kiqali |
| Bosnian | bos | Kigali / Кигали / قٖىغالٖى | Kigali |
| Esperanto | epo | Kigalo | same as written |
| Icelandic | isl | Kígalí | same as written |
| Kurmanji Kurdish | kur | Kîgalî | same as written |
| Malay | msa | Kigali / كيݢالي | Kigali |
| Portuguese | por | Quigali | same as written |
| Uzbek | uzb | Kigali / Кигали / كىگەلى | Kigali |
| Bulgarian, Mongolian, Russian | bul / mon / rus | Кигали | Kigali |
| Bashkir, Serbian | bak / srp | Кигали / Kigali | Kigali |
| Belarusian | bel | Кігалі / Kihali | Kihali |
| Kazakh | kaz | Кигали / كيگالي / Kïgalï | Kïgalï |
| Kyrgyz | kir | Кигали / كىگالى / Kigali | Kigali |
| Tatar | tat | Кигали / Kigali / كىگالى | Kigali |
| Tajik | tgk | Кигали / کیگلی / Kigali | Kigali |
| Ukrainian | ukr | Кіґалі | Kigali |
| Arabic | ara | كيغالي, كيجالى | Kīġālī, Kīgālī |
| South Azerbaijani | azb | کیقالی / Kiqali | Kiqali |
| Persian | fas | کیگالی / Kigâli | Kigâli |
| Western Punjabi, Urdu | pnb / urd | کیگالی | Kīgālī |
| Pashto | pus | کيګالي | Kīgālī |
| Uyghur | uig | كىگالى / Kigali / Кигали | Kigali |
| Hebrew | heb | קיגלי, קיגאלי | Qīgalī, Qīgālī |
| Yiddish | yid | קיגאַלי | Kigali |
| Amharic | amh | ኪጋሊ | Kigali |
| Greek | ell | Κιγκάλι | Kigkáli |
| Armenian | hye | Կիգալի | Kigali |
| Georgian | kat | კიგალი | Kigali |
| Hindi | hin | किगाली | Kigālī |
| Nepali | nep | किगालि | Kigāli |
| Bengali | ben | কিগালি | Kigāli |
| Punjabi | pan | ਕਿਗਲੀ, ਕਿਗਾਲੀ | Kigalī, Kigālī |
| Kannada | kan | ಕಿಗಾಲಿ | Kigāli |
| Malayalam | mal | കിഗലി | Kigali |
| Tamil | tam | கிகாலி | Kikāli |
| Telugu | tel | కిగాలి | Kigāli |
| Chinese | zho | 基加利 | Jījiālì |
| Japanese | jpn | キガリ | Kigari |
| Korean | kor | 키갈리 | Kigalli |
| Thai | tha | คิกาลี | Kʰikālī |
| Khmer | khm | កីហ្គាលី, គីកាលី | Kīhkālī, Kīkālī |
The provinces of Rwanda (intara) in Kinyarwanda and French
Rwanda has four provinces and the City of Kigali, which ISO 3166-2 counts at the same level. Each row gives the Kinyarwanda name, the French and English forms and the seat.
| ISO 3166-2 | Kinyarwanda | French | English | Administrative centre | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Provinces and city intara5 | |||||
| RW-01 | Intara y’Umujyi wa Kigali | Province de la Ville de Kigali | City of Kigali | KigaliKigali | |
| RW-02 | Intara y’Iburasirazuba | Province de l’Est | Eastern Province | RwamaganaRwamagana | |
| RW-03 | Intara y’Amajyaruguru | Province du Nord | Northern Province | ByumbaByumba | |
| RW-04 | Intara y’Iburengerazuba | Province de l’Ouest | Western Province | KibuyeKibuye | |
| RW-05 | Intara y’Amajyepfo | Province du Sud | Southern Province | NyanzaNyanza | |
Codes: ISO 3166-2:RW, as tabulated in Wikipedia’s ISO 3166-2:RW, checked 28 October 2026; ISO lists the short forms Umujyi wa Kigali, Iburasirazuba, Amajyaruguru, Iburengerazuba and Amajyepfo. Long names and seats: the 2016 edition of this list.
North, south, east, west: the provinces of Rwanda
Rwanda replaced its twelve prefectures with four provinces and the city of Kigali, and ISO 3166-2 followed in April 2007 with the codes RW-01 to RW-05 and removed the prefecture codes, such as RW-C for Butare.
The Kinyarwanda names are directions. Iburasirazuba is the east, Iburengerazuba the west, Amajyaruguru the north and Amajyepfo the south, each preceded by intara, province, so that Intara y’Amajyepfo is the Southern Province.
Questions about the names of Rwanda
What is Rwanda called in Kinyarwanda?
Urwanda; the official name is Repubulika y’u Rwanda.
What are the official languages of Rwanda?
Kinyarwanda, English, French and, since 2017, Swahili.
What do the province names mean?
They are the four directions: Amajyaruguru north, Amajyepfo south, Iburasirazuba east and Iburengerazuba west.