Why do some words in different languages have the same multiple meanings?

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Take the English word “right”. It can mean “true, correct”, but it can also be used in something like “human rights”.

Now take the Arabic word حق. Again, it can mean “true, correct” and the “rights” in “human rights”.

It makes sense for a word to have the same single meaning across different languages. But what is the likeliness that two languages have a word that share the same multiple meanings?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

Those meanings are related, so it’s not hard to believe that multiple languages would use the same word for both.

If you win in court, you’re right (correct). You also have a right (legal claim).

Your right hand is the correct (typical) hand to use for most tasks.

Right whales were the correct (optimal) whales for whalers to target.

Any language that makes these connections might have related words for some of those concepts.

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