How to say “air” in 50 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.
- aire/ˈaiɾe/ Spanish
- воздух[ˈvozdʊx] Russian
- جو/d͡ʒaww/ Arabic
- हवा/ɦə.ʋɑː/ Hindi
- αέρα/aˈera/ Greek
- אוויר/ʔăˈviːr/ Hebrew
“air” in Spanish: aire · German: luft · Italian: aria · Portuguese: ar · Russian: воздух · Arabic: جو · Hindi: हवा · Greek: αέρα
It is commonest in Arabic, where جو is the 289th most used word.
Air in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans lug/lœχ/ #388
- Albanian ajër/ˈajər/ #856
- Arabic جو/d͡ʒaww/ #289
- Basque aire/ai̯ɾe/ #655
- Bengali বাতাস/bat̪aʃ/ air, wind #704
- Bosnian zrak/zrâːk/ #1,386
- Bulgarian въздух[ˈvɤzdox] #1,132
- Catalan aire[ˈaj.ɾə] #898
- Chinese 空中/kʰʊŋ⁵⁵ ʈ͡ʂʊŋ⁵⁵/ aerial; in the air; in the sky #948
- Croatian zrak/zrâːk/ #1,004
- Czech vzduchu[ˈvzduxu] #1,284
- Danish luften/ˈlɔfdən/ #928
- Dutch land/lɑnt/ to land from the air #434
- English blow/bloʊ/ To produce an air current #926
- Esperanto aero/aˈero/ #823
- Estonian õhku/ˈɤhku/ #635
- French volé/vɔ.le/ to fly through the air #837
- Galician aire/ˈajɾe/ #736
- German luft/lʊft/ air, atmosphere #695
- Greek αέρα/aˈera/ #815
- Hebrew אוויר/ʔăˈviːr/ #871
- Hindi हवा/ɦə.ʋɑː/ air, wind, breeze #502
- Hungarian levegőt[ˈlɛvɛɡøːt] #1,661
- Icelandic loft[ˈlɔft] #686
- Indonesian kapten/ˈkaptɛn/ an army or air force officer whose rank is… #436
- Italian aria/ˈa.rja/ #709
- Korean 바람[pa̠ɾa̠m] wind, air, draft #613
- Latvian gaisā/ˈɡaisaː/ #677
- Lithuanian oro[¹ˈoːroː] #367
- Macedonian воздух[ˈvɔzdux] #685
- Malay kapten/ˈkeptən/ An army or air force officer whose rank is… #361
- Malayalam വായു/ʋaːju/ #626
- Norwegian luft/ˈlʉft/ #1,515
- Persian هوا[hæ.vɒː] #511
- Polish powietrze/pɔˈvjɛ.tʂɛ/ #1,949
- Portuguese ar/ˈaʁ/ #593
- Romanian aer/ˈa.jer/ #713
- Russian воздух[ˈvozdʊx] #2,012
- Serbian vazduh/ʋâzduːx/ #1,125
- Slovak vzduchu/vzduxu/ #672
- Slovenian zrak/zrák/ #433
- Spanish aire/ˈaiɾe/ #732
- Swedish luften/ˈlɵftɛn/ #1,314
- Tagalog ere/ˈʔeɾe/ #2,001
- Tamil காற்று/kɑːrːɯ/ wind, air #249
- Telugu వాయువు/ʋaːjuʋu/ air, gas, wind #958
- Turkish uçan/uˈt͡ʃan/ to fly, to travel through the air, another… #2,340
- Ukrainian повітря[pɔˈʋʲitʲrʲɐ] #1,144
- Urdu ہواؤں/ɦʋɑː.õː/ #1,538
- Vietnamese phơi[fəːj˧˧] to air out #2,223
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), Catalan (upc_ona (ca_ES), CC BY-SA 4.0), Estonian (news (et_EE), CC BY 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.