library

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• UK: /ˈlaɪ.bɹi/
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• Received-Pronunciation: /ˈlaɪ.bɹə.ɹi/
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• General-American: /ˈlaɪˌbɹɛɹ.i/
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• General-American: /ˈlaɪ.bɹəɹ.i/
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• General-American: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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• US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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• /ˈlaɪˌbɛɹ.i/ nonstandard, often stigmatized, see below
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• /ˈlaɪ.bəɹi/ nonstandard, often stigmatized, see below
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• rhymes with -aɪbɹi
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• rhymes with -aɪbɹəɹi
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• rhymes with -aɪbɛɹi
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• CMU ARPABET: L AY1 B R EH0 R IY2 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
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From Middle English librarie, from Anglo-Norman librarie, from Old French librairie, from Latin librarium (“bookcase, chest for books”), from librarius (“concerning books”), from liber (“the inner bark of trees; paper, parchment, book”), probably derived from a Proto-Indo-European base *leub(h)- (“to strip, to peel”). Displaced native Middle English bochous, bokhus (literally “book house”), from Old English bōchūs (compare bookhouse). Romance cognates often mean “bookshop” instead: French librairie, Italian libreria, Spanish librería, Romanian librărie and Portuguese livraria. This is a relatively recent innovation (16th century in French), which ended up displacing the earlier sense.

341 source translations are retained for this English entry.

• Afrikaans: biblioteek — institution which holds books, etc.
• Afrikaans: boekery — institution which holds books, etc.
• Albanian: bibliotekë — institution which holds books, etc.
• Albanian: librari — institution which holds books, etc.
• Amharic: ቤተ መጻሕፍት (betä mäṣaḥfət) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Western Apache: naltsoos dahójiiyú — institution which holds books, etc.
• Arabic: مَكْتَبَة (maktaba) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Arabic: مكتبة (maktaba) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Arabic: مكتبة (máktaba, máktabe) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܒܹܝܬ ܐܲܪ̈ܟܹܐ (bēt ārke) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Armenian: գրադարան (gradaran) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Assamese: পুথিভঁৰাল (puthibhõral) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Asturian: biblioteca — institution which holds books, etc.
• Avar: тӏахьалхана (tʼax̂alxana) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Azerbaijani: kitabxana — institution which holds books, etc.
• Baluchi: کتاب جاہ (kitáb jáh) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Bashkir: китапхана (kitapxana) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Basque: liburutegi — institution which holds books, etc.
• Belarusian: бібліятэ́ка (biblijatéka) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Bengali: গ্রন্থাগার (gronthagar) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Bengali: লাইব্রেরি (laibreri) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Bulgarian: библиоте́ка (bibliotéka) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Burmese: စာကြည့်တိုက် (ca-krany.tuik) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Carpathian Rusyn: книжніця (knyžnicja) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Catalan: biblioteca — institution which holds books, etc.
• Central Atlas Tamazight: ⵜⴰⵙⴷⵍⵉⵙⵜ (tasdlist) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Chechen: библиотека (biblioteka) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Chechen: жаргат (žargat) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Cherokee: ᎪᏪᎵ ᏕᎦᏅ ᏗᎪᎵᏰᏗ (goweli deganv digoliyedi) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Cherokee: ᏧᏂᎪᎵᏰᏗᎢ (tsunigoliyedii) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Chinese Cantonese: 圖書館 /图书馆 (tou4 syu1 gun2) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Chinese: фуфон (fufon) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Eastern Min Chinese: 圖書館 /图书馆 (dù-cṳ̆-guāng) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Hakka Chinese: 圖書館 /图书馆 (thù-sû-kón) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Chinese: 圖書館 /图书馆 (tô͘-su-koán) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Chinese Mandarin: 圖書館 /图书馆 — institution which holds books, etc.
• Chinese Mandarin: 圕 (tuān, túshūguǎn) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Wu Chinese: 圖書館 /图书馆 (6du-sy1-kuoe5) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Chuvash: вулавӑш (vulavăš) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Chuvash: библиотека (bibliot̬ek̬a) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Cornish: lyverva — institution which holds books, etc.
• Cornish: leverva — institution which holds books, etc.
• Czech: knihovna — institution which holds books, etc.
• Danish: bibliotek — institution which holds books, etc.
• Dhivehi: ކުތުބުޚާނާ (kutubuxānā) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Central Dusun: librari — institution which holds books, etc.
• Dutch: bibliotheek — institution which holds books, etc.
• Dutch: boekerij — institution which holds books, etc.
• Erzya: библиотека (biblioteka) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Erzya: ловномакудо (lovnomakudo) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Esperanto: biblioteko — institution which holds books, etc.
• Esperanto: libropruntejo — institution which holds books, etc.
• Esperanto: librejo — institution which holds books, etc.
• Estonian: raamatukogu — institution which holds books, etc.
• Fala: biblioteca — institution which holds books, etc.
• Faroese: bókasavn — institution which holds books, etc.
• Finnish: kirjasto — institution which holds books, etc.
• French: bibliothèque — institution which holds books, etc.
• West-Frisian: biblioteek — institution which holds books, etc.
• Galician: biblioteca — institution which holds books, etc.
• Georgian: ბიბლიოთეკა (biblioteḳa) — institution which holds books, etc.
• German: Bibliothek — institution which holds books, etc.
• German: Bücherei — institution which holds books, etc.
• Greek: βιβλιοθήκη (vivliothíki) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Ancient Greek: βιβλιοθήκη (bibliothḗkē) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Gujarati: પુસ્તકાલય (pustakālay) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Haitian Creole: bibliyotèk — institution which holds books, etc.
• Hausa: laburare — institution which holds books, etc.
• Hebrew: ספרייה \ סִפְרִיָּה (sifriyá) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Hindi: पुस्तकालय (pustakālay) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Hindi: लाइब्रेरी (lāibrerī) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Hungarian: könyvtár — institution which holds books, etc.
• Iban: librari — institution which holds books, etc.
• Icelandic: bókasafn — institution which holds books, etc.
• Icelandic: bókhlaða — institution which holds books, etc.
• Icelandic: bókahús — institution which holds books, etc.
• Ido: biblioteko — institution which holds books, etc.
• Indonesian: perpustakaan — institution which holds books, etc.
• Indonesian: bibliotek — institution which holds books, etc.
• Indonesian: taman pustaka — institution which holds books, etc.
• Indonesian: khizanatulkitab — institution which holds books, etc.
• Ingrian: bibliotekka — institution which holds books, etc.
• Ingrian: kirjasikko — institution which holds books, etc.
• Irish: leabharlann — institution which holds books, etc.
• Italian: biblioteca — institution which holds books, etc.
• Japanese: 図書館 (toshokan) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Japanese: 文庫 (bunko) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Japanese: 書庫 (shoko) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Javanese: pabukon — institution which holds books, etc.
• Javanese: bibliotik — institution which holds books, etc.
• Kannada: ಗ್ರಂಥಾಲಯ (granthālaya) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Kazakh: кітапхана (kıtapxana) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Khmer: បណ្ណាល័យ (pannaalay) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Komi-Zyrian: лыддьысянін (lydďyśanin) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Korean: 도서관 (doseogwan) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Northern Kurdish: pirtûkxane — institution which holds books, etc.
• Kyrgyz: китепкана (kitepkana) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Lao: ຫໍສະຫມຸດ (hǭ sa mut) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Lao: ຫ້ອງສະມຸດ (hǭng sa mut) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Latin: bibliothēca — institution which holds books, etc.
• Latin: librārium — institution which holds books, etc.
• Latvian: bibliotēka — institution which holds books, etc.
• Lithuanian: biblioteka — institution which holds books, etc.
• Luxembourgish: Bibliothéik — institution which holds books, etc.
• Macedonian: библио́тека (biblióteka) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Malay: perpustakaan — institution which holds books, etc.
• Malay: kutubkhanah — institution which holds books, etc.
• Malayalam: ഗ്രന്ഥശാല (granthaśāla) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Maltese: librerija — institution which holds books, etc.
• Manx: lioar-hasht — institution which holds books, etc.
• Manx: lioarlan — institution which holds books, etc.
• Manx: thie lioaragh — institution which holds books, etc.
• Māori: whare pukapuka — institution which holds books, etc.
• Marathi: ग्रंथालय (granthālay) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Moksha: библиотека (biblioteka) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Mongolian: номын сан (nomyn san) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Mongolian: ᠨᠣᠮ ᠤᠨ ᠰᠠᠩ — institution which holds books, etc.
• Nahuatl: āmoxcalli — institution which holds books, etc.
• Navajo: naaltsoos bá hooghan — institution which holds books, etc.
• Nepali: पुस्तकालय (pustakālaya) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Newar: सफूधुकू (saphūdhukū) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Norman: bibliothèque — institution which holds books, etc.
• Norwegian Bokmål: bibliotek — institution which holds books, etc.
• Norwegian Nynorsk: bibliotek — institution which holds books, etc.
• Occitan: bibliotèca — institution which holds books, etc.
• Odia: ପାଠାଗାର (pāṭhāgāra) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Odia: ଲାଇବ୍ରେରୀ (lāibreri) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Old English: bōchūs — institution which holds books, etc.
• Pannonian Rusyn: библиотека (biblioteka) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Pashto: کتابخانه (ketābxāna) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Pashto: کتابتون (ketābtun) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Pashto: کتابځی (ketãbjay) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Dari: کِتَابْخَانَه (kitābxāna) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Iranian Persian: کِتابْخانِه (ketâbxâne) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Polish: biblioteka — institution which holds books, etc.
• Polish: książnica — institution which holds books, etc.
• Portuguese: biblioteca — institution which holds books, etc.
• Punjabi: ਪੁਸਤਕਾਲਾ (pustakālā) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Punjabi: ਲਾਇਬ੍ਰੇਰੀ (lāibrerī) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Punjabi: ਕਿਤਾਬ-ਘਰ (kitāba-ghar) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Punjabi: پستکالا (pstkālā) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Quechua: ñawiriy wasi — institution which holds books, etc.
• Quechua: kamukuska — institution which holds books, etc.
• Romanian: bibliotecă — institution which holds books, etc.
• Romansh: biblioteca — institution which holds books, etc.
• Russian: библиоте́ка (bibliotéka) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Northern Sami: girjerádju — institution which holds books, etc.
• Skolt-Sami: ǩeʹrjjpõrtt — institution which holds books, etc.
• Sanskrit: पुस्तकालय (pustakālaya) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Scots: leebrary — institution which holds books, etc.
• Scottish Gaelic: leabharlann — institution which holds books, etc.
• Serbo-Croatian: библиоте́ка — institution which holds books, etc.
• Serbo-Croatian: књи́жница — institution which holds books, etc.
• Serbo-Croatian: bibliotéka — institution which holds books, etc.
• Serbo-Croatian: knjížnica — institution which holds books, etc.
• Shan: ႁူင်းလူလိၵ်ႈ (húung lǔu līk) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Sinhalese: පුස්තකාලය (pustakālaya) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Slovak: knižnica — institution which holds books, etc.
• Slovene: knjižnica — institution which holds books, etc.
• Somali: maktabad — institution which holds books, etc.
• Lower Sorbian: biblioteka — institution which holds books, etc.
• Lower Sorbian: knigłownja — institution which holds books, etc.
• Upper Sorbian: biblioteka — institution which holds books, etc.
• Upper Sorbian: knihownja — institution which holds books, etc.
• Southern Altai: библиотека (biblioteka) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Spanish: biblioteca — institution which holds books, etc.
• Sundanese: ᮕᮨᮁᮕᮥᮞ᮪ᮒᮊᮃᮔ᮪ (perpustakaan) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Swahili: maktaba — institution which holds books, etc.
• Swedish: bibliotek — institution which holds books, etc.
• Tagalog: aklatan — institution which holds books, etc.
• Tagalog: silid-aklatan — institution which holds books, etc.
• Tajik: китобхона (kitobxona) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Tamil: நூலகம் (nūlakam) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Tashelhit: tasarrat — institution which holds books, etc.
• Tatar: китапханә (kitapxanä) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Telugu: గ్రంథాలయము (granthālayamu) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Thai: ห้องสมุด (hɔ̂ng-sà-mùt) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Thai: หอสมุด (hɔ̌ɔ-sà-mùt) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Thai: คลังสมอง — institution which holds books, etc.
• Tibetan: དཔེ་མཛོད་ཁང (dpe mdzod khang) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Tibetan: དཔེ་མཛོད (dpe mdzod) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Tok Pisin: haus buk — institution which holds books, etc.
• Tongan: laipeli — institution which holds books, etc.
• Tswana: laeborari — institution which holds books, etc.
• Turkish: kütüphane — institution which holds books, etc.
• Ottoman Turkish: كتبخانه (kütübhâne) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Turkmen: kitaphana — institution which holds books, etc.
• Udmurt: лыдӟиськонни (lyddźiśkonńi) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Udmurt: библиотека (bibľioťeka) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Udmurt: книгакуа (kńigakua) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Udmurt: книгакорка (kńigakorka) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Ukrainian: бібліоте́ка (bibliotéka) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Ukrainian: книгозбі́рня (knyhozbírnja) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Ukrainian: книгозбі́р (knyhozbír) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Urdu: لائِبْریری (lāibrerī) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Urdu: کُتُب خانَہ (kutub xāna) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Uyghur: كۇتۇپخانا (kutupxana) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Uyghur: كۈتۈپخانا (kütüpxana) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Uzbek: kutubxona — institution which holds books, etc.
• Uzbek: biblioteka — institution which holds books, etc.
• Vietnamese: thư viện — institution which holds books, etc.
• Volapük: bukem — institution which holds books, etc.
• Walloon: bibioteke — institution which holds books, etc.
• Welsh: llyfrgell — institution which holds books, etc.
• Wolaytta: maxaafa keettaa — institution which holds books, etc.
• Yakut: бибилэтиэкэ (bibiletieke) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Yakut: библиотека (biblioteka) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Yiddish: ביבליאָטעק (biblyotek) — institution which holds books, etc.
• Yoruba: ilé-ìkàwé — institution which holds books, etc.
• Yoruba: láíbìrì — institution which holds books, etc.
• Zhuang: duzsuhgvanj — institution which holds books, etc.
• Albanian: bibliotekë — collection of books
• Armenian: գրադարան (gradaran) — collection of books
• Bulgarian: библиотека (biblioteka) — collection of books
• Catalan: biblioteca — collection of books
• Chinese Mandarin: 藏書 /藏书 (cángshū) — collection of books
• Chinese Mandarin: 收藏 (shōucáng) — collection of books
• Czech: knihovna — collection of books
• Danish: bibliotek — collection of books
• Dutch: bibliotheek — collection of books
• Dutch: boekenkast — collection of books
• Esperanto: libraro — collection of books
• Esperanto: biblioteko — collection of books
• Faroese: bókasavn — collection of books
• Finnish: kirjasto — collection of books
• French: bibliothèque — collection of books
• West-Frisian: biblioteek — collection of books
• German: Bibliothek — collection of books
• Greek: βιβλιοθήκη (vivliothíki) — collection of books
• Ancient Greek: βιβλιοθήκη (bibliothḗkē) — collection of books
• Hebrew: ספרייה \ סִפְרִיָּה (sifriyá) — collection of books
• Hungarian: könyvtár — collection of books
• Indonesian: perpustakaan — collection of books
• Irish: leabharlann — collection of books
• Italian: libreria — collection of books
• Japanese: 双書 (sōsho) — collection of books
• Japanese: 叢書 (sōsho) — collection of books
• Javanese: kapustakan — collection of books
• Korean: 장서 (jangseo) — collection of books
• Latin: librārium — collection of books
• Latvian: bibliotēka — collection of books
• Lithuanian: biblioteka — collection of books
• Macedonian: библио́тека (biblióteka) — collection of books
• Malay: perpustakaan — collection of books
• Norman: bibliothèque — collection of books
• Old English: bōchord — collection of books
• Polish: księgozbiór — collection of books
• Polish: biblioteka — collection of books
• Polish: biblioteczka — collection of books
• Portuguese: biblioteca — collection of books
• Romanian: bibliotecă — collection of books
• Russian: библиоте́ка (bibliotéka) — collection of books
• Northern Sami: girjerádju — collection of books
• Scots: leebrary — collection of books
• Scottish Gaelic: leabharlann — collection of books
• Serbo-Croatian: библиоте́ка — collection of books
• Serbo-Croatian: књи́жница — collection of books
• Serbo-Croatian: bibliotéka — collection of books
• Serbo-Croatian: knjížnica — collection of books
• Spanish: biblioteca — collection of books
• Spanish: librería — collection of books
• Swahili: maktaba — collection of books
• Swedish: bibliotek — collection of books
• Tagalog: aklatan — collection of books
• Ukrainian: бібліоте́ка (bibliotéka) — collection of books
• Ukrainian: книгозбі́р (knyhozbír) — collection of books
• Volapük: bukem — collection of books
• Welsh: llyfrgell — collection of books
• Armenian: գրադարան (gradaran) — collection of other materials
• Bulgarian: архив (arhiv) — collection of other materials
• Czech: fonotéka — collection of other materials
• Dutch: archief — collection of other materials
• Esperanto: arkivo — collection of other materials
• Esperanto: arĥivo — collection of other materials
• Finnish: äänilevystö — collection of other materials
• Finnish: levystö — collection of other materials
• German: Archiv — collection of other materials
• Greek: δισκοθήκη (diskothíki) — collection of other materials
• Hebrew: ספרייה \ סִפְרִיָּה (sifriyá) — collection of other materials
• Italian: archivio — collection of other materials
• Italian: banca dati — collection of other materials
• Kazakh: дерекхана (derekxana) — collection of other materials
• Malay: koleksi — collection of other materials
• Portuguese: arquivo — collection of other materials
• Scots: leebrary — collection of other materials
• Swahili: maktaba — collection of other materials
• Swedish: arkiv — collection of other materials
• Ukrainian: бібліоте́ка (bibliotéka) — collection of other materials
• Bulgarian: библиотека (biblioteka) — collection of subprograms
• Catalan: biblioteca — collection of subprograms
• Catalan: programoteca — collection of subprograms
• Catalan: llibreria — collection of subprograms
• Chinese Mandarin: 文庫 /文库 (wénkù) — collection of subprograms
• Chinese Mandarin: 庫 /库 (kù) — collection of subprograms
• Czech: knihovna — collection of subprograms
• Danish: bibliotek — collection of subprograms
• Faroese: bókasavn — collection of subprograms
• Finnish: ohjelmakirjasto — collection of subprograms
• French: bibliothèque — collection of subprograms
• French: librairie — collection of subprograms
• German: Bibliothek — collection of subprograms
• German: Programmbibliothek — collection of subprograms
• Greek: βιβλιοθήκη (vivliothíki) — collection of subprograms
• Hebrew: ספרייה \ סִפְרִיָּה (sifriyá) — collection of subprograms
• Hungarian: programkönyvtár — collection of subprograms
• Icelandic: forritasafn — collection of subprograms
• Indonesian: pustaka — collection of subprograms
• Irish: leabharlann — collection of subprograms
• Italian: libreria — collection of subprograms
• Japanese: ライブラリー (raiburarī) — collection of subprograms
• Korean: 라이브러리 (raibeureori) — collection of subprograms
• Macedonian: библио́тека (biblióteka) — collection of subprograms
• Malay: siri — collection of subprograms
• Pa'o Karen: ထွားလိတ်လမ်း — collection of subprograms
• Polish: biblioteka — collection of subprograms
• Portuguese: biblioteca — collection of subprograms
• Russian: библиоте́ка (bibliotéka) — collection of subprograms
• Scots: leebrary — collection of subprograms
• Spanish: biblioteca — collection of subprograms
• Swahili: maktaba — collection of subprograms
• Swedish: bibliotek — collection of subprograms
• Ukrainian: бібліоте́ка (bibliotéka) — collection of subprograms
• Vietnamese: thư viện — collection of subprograms
• Finnish: kirjasto — collection of DNA material
• French: bibliothèque — collection of DNA material
• Indonesian: pustaka — collection of DNA material
• Italian: biblioteca — collection of DNA material
• Italian: libreria — collection of DNA material
• Portuguese: biblioteca — collection of DNA material
• Spanish: biblioteca — collection of DNA material
• Bulgarian: тесте (teste) — deck or draw pile
• Chinese Mandarin: 牌庫 /牌库 (páikù) — deck or draw pile
• Finnish: kirjasto — deck or draw pile
• French: bibliothèque — deck or draw pile
• German: Bibliothek — deck or draw pile
• Italian: grimorio — deck or draw pile
• Japanese: ライブラリー (raiburarī) — deck or draw pile
• Korean: 서고 (seogo) — deck or draw pile
• Portuguese: grimório — deck or draw pile
• Russian: библиоте́ка (bibliotéka) — deck or draw pile
• Spanish: biblioteca — deck or draw pile