How to say “afternoon” in 35 different languages
Every one of these is a word that turns up in ordinary speech, not a dictionary curiosity — the number beside it is where it ranks in that language.
- 下午/ɕi̯ä⁵¹ u²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/ Chinese
- απόγευμα/aˈpo.ʝev.ma/ Greek
- বিকাল/bikal/ Bengali
- വൈകുന്നേരം/ʋɐi̯ɡun̪n̪eːɾɐm/ Malayalam
- عصر[ʔæsɹ] Persian
“afternoon” in French: après-midi · German: nachmittag · Italian: pomeriggio · Chinese: 下午 · Greek: απόγευμα
It is commonest in Chinese, where 下午 is the 387th most used word.
Afternoon in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans middag/ˈmə.daχ/ An afternoon #716
- Albanian pasdite/pasditɛ/ in the afternoon #1,268
- Basque arratsalde/aˈrats̺alˌðe/ afternoon, dusk #542
- Bengali বিকাল/bikal/ afternoon, evening #1,633
- Bosnian popodne/popǒːdne/ #1,333
- Bulgarian следобед[slɛˈdɔbɛt] in the afternoon #1,315
- Chinese 下午/ɕi̯ä⁵¹ u²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/ afternoon; p.m #387
- Croatian popodne/popǒːdne/ #1,373
- Czech odpoledne[ˈotpolɛdnɛ] during the afternoon #1,001
- Danish eftermiddag/ˈɛfdɐmeˌdaːˀ/ #1,709
- Dutch vanmiddag/vɑnˈmɪ.dɑx/ this afternoon, the afternoon of the current… #2,099
- Esperanto posttagmeze/posttaɡˈmeze/ post meridiem, in the afternoon, after noon #2,095
- French après-midi/a.pʁɛ.mi.di/ #1,392
- Galician tardes/ˈtaɾdes/ afternoon or early evening, period between… #2,081
- Georgian გამარჯობა[ɡ̊ämäɾd͡ʒo̞bä] hello, how do you do, good afternoon #180
- German nachmittag/ˈnaːx.mɪˌtaːk/ #1,670
- Greek απόγευμα/aˈpo.ʝev.ma/ #927
- Hindi दोपहर/d̪oː.pə.ɦəɾ/ in the afternoon #1,148
- Hungarian délután[ˈdeːlutaːn] in the afternoon #1,339
- Indonesian sore/ˈsore/ the second half of the afternoon; the time of… #1,119
- Italian pomeriggio/po.meˈrid.d͡ʒo/ #1,233
- Macedonian попладне[ˈpɔpɫadnɛ] in the afternoon #1,372
- Malay petang/pəˈtaŋ/ #859
- Malayalam വൈകുന്നേരം/ʋɐi̯ɡun̪n̪eːɾɐm/ #566
- Norwegian ettermiddag/ˈɛtərˌmɪdɑɡ/ #1,385
- Persian عصر[ʔæsɹ] #766
- Romanian după-amiază/ˈdupə aˈmjazə/ in the afternoon #2,200
- Serbian popodne/popǒːdne/ #1,263
- Slovak popoludnie/ˈpɔpɔɫudɲi̯ɛ/ #1,353
- Slovenian popoldan/pɔpɔ́ːʋdan/ #1,371
- Swedish eftermiddag/ˈɛftɛrˌmɪdaɡ/ #1,773
- Tagalog hapon/ˈhapon/ #1,258
- Tamil மதிய/mɐd̪ɪjɐ/ of or pertaining to afternoon #358
- Urdu دوپہر/d̪oː.pə.ɦəɾ/ afternoon, noon, midday #839
- Vietnamese chiều[t͡ɕiəw˨˩] late afternoon; early evening #1,027
The speaker reads the word in the voice the LangX app uses for that language — synthesised, not a recording of a native speaker, so treat it as a guide. A row without a button has no reading we are free to use, or none we trust, yet. Voices for Bengali (google (bn_BD), CC BY-SA 4.0), Slovenian (artur (sl_SI), CC BY 4.0) and Vietnamese (vais1000 (vi_VN), CC BY 4.0).
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.