existence

English

Etymology

From Old French existence, from Late Latin existentia (“existence”).

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ɛɡ.ˈzɪ.stɛnts/, /ɪɡ.ˈzɪ.stɛnts/

• Audio (US, California)

  (file)

Noun

existence (countable and uncountable, plural existences)

1. The state of being, existing, or occurring; beinghood.
   • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 1, in The Celebrity:

     However, with the dainty volume my quondam friend sprang into fame. At the same time he cast off the chrysalis of a commonplace existence.

   • 2012 March-April, Jeremy Bernstein, “A Palette of Particles”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, page 146:

     The physics of elementary particles in the 20th century was distinguished by the observation of particles whose existence had been predicted by theorists sometimes decades earlier.

   Most people doubt the existence of the Loch Ness monster.

2. Empirical reality; the substance of the physical universe. (Dictionary of Philosophy; 1968)

Antonyms

• nonexistence
• nothing
• nothingness
• void

Derived terms

• nonexistence

Related terms

• exist
• aseity
• existential

Translations

the state of being, existing, or occurring

• Arabic: وُجُود‎ (ar) m (wujūd)
• Armenian: գոյություն (hy) (goyutʿyun)
• Asturian: esistencia f
• Belarusian: існава́нне n (isnavánnje), быццё n (byccjó)
• Bulgarian: съществу́ване n (sǎštestvúvane), битие (bg) n (bitie)
• Catalan: existència f
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 存在 (cyun⁴ zoi⁶)

  Mandarin: 存在 (zh) (cúnzài)

• Chuvash: ^{(please verify)} asd (asd)
• Czech: existence (cs) f, bytí (cs) n
• Danish: eksistens
• Dutch: bestaan (nl) n, voorkomen (nl) n
• Esperanto: ekzistado, ekzisto
• Estonian: olemasolu
• Finnish: olemassaolo
• French: existence (fr) f
• Galician: existencia (gl) f
• Georgian: არსებობა (arseboba)
• German: Existenz (de) f, Dasein (de) n, Sein (de) n
• Greek: ύπαρξη (el) (ýparxi)
• Gujarati: અસ્તિત્વ (astitva)
• Hebrew: קיום‎ (kiyum)
• Hindi: astitva n (astitva), sthiti n (sthiti), अस्तित्व (hi) (astitva)
• Hungarian: lét (hu), létezés (hu)
• Indonesian: eksistensi (id), adanya, keberadaan
• Interlingua: existentia
• Italian: esistenza (it) f
• Japanese: 存在 (ja) (そんざい, sonzaí)

• Khmer: ភាពគង់មាន (pʰiep kʊəŋ mien), អត្ថិភាព (km) (attʰe’pʰiep)
• Korean: 존재 (ko) (jonjae) (存在 (ko))
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: بوون‎ (ku)

• Latvian: eksistence f, pastāvēšana f, esamība (lv) f
• Lithuanian: egzistavimas, syn: buvimas, egzistencija f
• Macedonian: постоење n (postoenje), битие n (bitie)
• Maori: tauoranga
• Norman: beays m
• Norwegian: eksistens m, tilværelse m
• Persian: هستی‎ (fa) (hasti)
• Polish: egzystencja (pl) f, istnienie (pl) n
• Portuguese: existência (pt) f
• Romanian: existență (ro) f
• Russian: существова́ние (ru) n (suščestvovánije), бытие́ (ru) n (bytijé) (philosophical, poetical)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: постојање n, битисање n, егзистенција f

  Roman: postojanje (sh) n, bitisanje n, egzistencija (sh) f

• Slovak: existencia f, bytie n
• Slovene: obstoj m, bitje (sl) n
• Spanish: existencia (es) f
• Swedish: existens (sv) c
• Tagalog: kamayhan, kamayrunan
• Thai: ชีพ (chêep)
• Turkish: varlık (tr)
• Ukrainian: існува́ння (uk) n (isnuvánnja), буття́ (uk) n (buttjá)
• Vietnamese: sự tồn tại

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Czech

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

existence f

1. existence

Related terms

• existencialismus
• existenční
• existovat

Further reading

• existence in Příruční slovník jazyka českého, 1935–1957
• existence in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého, 1960–1971, 1989

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French

Etymology

From Old French existence, from Late Latin existentia (“existence”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛɡ.zis.tɑ̃s/

• Audio (France, Paris)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑ̃s
• Homophone: existences
• Hyphenation: eg‧zis‧tence

Noun

existence f (plural existences)

1. existence
2. life

Synonyms

• (life): vie

Derived terms

• existentiel

Further reading

• “existence” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).