ad infinitum

English

WOTD – 14 March 2016

The infinity symbol

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Latin ad īnfīnītum (“to infinity”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: ăd ĭn′fə-nī′təm
• (Received Pronunciation, General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /æd ˌɪn.fəˈnaɪ.təm/
• (Received Pronunciation, Scotland) IPA^(key): /ad ˌɪn.fəˈnaɪ.təm/
• (Canada) IPA^(key): /æd ˌɪn.fəˈnʌɪ.təm/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /æd ˌɪn.fəˈnɑɪ.təm/
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ɛd ˌən.fəˈnaɪ.təm/
• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /ad ˌɪn.fəˈnʌi.təm/, /ad ˌɪn.fəˈnəi.təm/
• (India) IPA^(key): /æɖ ˌin.fiˈnaj.ʈəm/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌæd ɪnfɪˈnaɪtəm/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪtəm
• Hyphenation: ad in‧fi‧ni‧tum

Adverb

ad infinitum (not comparable)

1. Endlessly; for ever; neverendingly.
   • 1984, Milan Kundera, part I (Lightness and Weight), chapter I, in Michael Henry Heim, transl., The Unbearable Lightness of Being, London: Faber and Faber, translation of Nesnesitelná lehkost bytí, published 1985, →ISBN, page 3:

     The idea of eternal return is a mysterious one, and Nietzsche has often perplexed other philosophers with it: to think that everything recurs as we once experienced it, and that the recurrence itself recurs ad infinitum!

Translations

endlessly

• Bulgarian: до безкра́йност (bg) (do bezkrájnost), безкра́йно (bg) (bezkrájno)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 無限制 / 无限制 (zh) (wú xiànzhì), 無休止地 / 无休止地 (wú xiūzhǐ de), 不休 (zh) (bùxiū), 不斷地 / 不断地 (zh) (bùduàn de), 不已 (zh) (bùyǐ)

• Czech: do nekonečna
• Dutch: in oneindigheid, voor altijd
• Finnish: ikuisesti (fi), loputtomasti, loputtomiin
• French: à l'infini (fr)
• German: endlos (de), ad infinitum (de)
• Greek: επ’ άπειρον (el) (ep’ ápeiron)
• Hindi: निरवधि (hi) (niravdhi)
• Hungarian: végtelenségig, vég nélkül
• Japanese: 無限に (ja) (むげんに, mugen ni), 際限なく (ja) (さいげんなく, saigen naku)
• Korean: 영구히 (yeongguhi)
• Latin: ad īnfīnītum
• Norwegian: i all uendelighet, uten slutt
• Polish: nieskończenie (pl), do nieskończoności, ad infinitum (pl)
• Portuguese: ad infinitum (pt), infinitamente (pt)
• Russian: бесконе́чно (ru) (beskonéčno), до бесконе́чности (ru) (do beskonéčnosti)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: бесконачно, инфинитивно, бескрајност, до бескрајности, безгранично, неодређено

  Roman: beskonačno (sh), infinitivno, beskrajno (sh), do beskrajnosti, bezgranično (sh), neodređeno (sh)

• Spanish: al infinito, indefinidamente, sinfín (es), ad infinitum
• Swedish: i all oändlighet, utan slut
• Tagalog: walang hanggan, walang hangganan
• Vietnamese: vô cùng (vi)

German

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Latin ad īnfīnītum (“to infinity”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ad in.fi.ˈni.tum/, [at ɪn.fiːˈni.tuːm]

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ad in‧fi‧ni‧tum

Adverb

ad infinitum

1. ad infinitum (endlessly)

   Synonyms: in infinitum, endlos

References

• “ad infinitum” in Duden online

Latin

Alternative forms

• in īnfīnītō, in īnfīnītum

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈad ĩː.fiːˈniː.tũː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈad̪ iɱ.fiˈniː.t̪um]

Adverb

ad īnfīnītum (not comparable)

1. to or till infinity, to an unlimited extent, without restriction, everywhere, at pleasure

Descendants

• → German: ad infinitum (learned)
• → English: ad infinitum (learned)
• → Spanish: ad infinitum (learned)
• → Polish: ad infinitum (learned)
• → Portuguese: ad infinitum (learned)

References

• “in-fīnītus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “infīnītus ¶4”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette: “814/3”
• “infīnītus ¶2” on page 900/1 of the Oxford Latin Dictionary (1st ed., 1968–82)

Polish

Alternative forms

• (abbreviation) ad inf.

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Latin ad īnfīnītum (“to infinity”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /at ˌin.fiˈɲi.tum/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Syllabification: ad in‧fi‧ni‧tum

Adverb

ad infinitum (not comparable)

1. ad infinitum (endlessly)

Further reading

• ad infinitum in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Portuguese

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Latin ad īnfīnītum (“to infinity”).

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈad ĩˈfĩ.ni.tũ/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈad ĩˈfĩ.ni.tũ/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈad ĩˈfi.ni.tũ/

Adverb

ad infinitum (not comparable)

1. ad infinitum (endlessly)

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:sempre

Spanish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Latin ad īnfīnītum (“to infinity”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌad infiˈnitum/ [ˌað̞ ĩɱ.fiˈni.t̪ũm]

• Audio (El Salvador):

  (file)

• Syllabification: ad in‧fi‧ni‧tum

Adverb

ad infinitum

1. ad infinitum (endlessly)

   Synonym: indefinidamente

References

• “ad infinitum”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024