How to say “alcohol” in 31 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.
- शराब/ʃə.ɾɑːb/ Hindi
- αλκοόλ/al.koˈol/ Greek
- אלכוהול/alkohol/ Hebrew
- মদ/mɔd̪/ Bengali
- மது/mɐd̪ɯ/ Tamil
- മദ്യം/mɐd̪jɐm/ Malayalam
“alcohol” in French: alcool · German: alkohol · Hindi: शराब · Turkish: alkol · Greek: αλκοόλ
It is commonest in Bengali, where মদ is the 642nd most used word.
Alcohol in other languages, A to Z
- Albanian alkool/alkɔɔl/ #2,008
- Basque alkohola/alkohola/ #1,065
- Bengali মদ/mɔd̪/ alcohol, wine, spirits, liquor #642
- Bosnian alkohol/ǎlkoxol/ #2,205
- Bulgarian алкохол[ɐɫkoˈxɔɫ] alcohol containing a hydroxyl functional group #1,541
- Catalan alcohol[əl.kuˈɔl] #2,127
- Chinese 喝酒/xɤ⁵⁵ t͡ɕi̯oʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/ to drink alcohol #343
- Croatian alkohol/ǎlkoxol/ #2,225
- Czech alkohol[ˈalkoɦol] alcohol containing a hydroxyl functional group #2,375
- Danish alkohol/ˈalɡohʌl/ #2,470
- Estonian alkoholi/ˈɑlkoholi/ #1,691
- French alcool/al.kɔl/ alcohol, especially domestic, medical,… #1,444
- German alkohol/ˈal.koˌhoːl/ alcohol, ethanol #2,063
- Greek αλκοόλ/al.koˈol/ #1,926
- Hebrew אלכוהול/alkohol/ #1,326
- Hindi शराब/ʃə.ɾɑːb/ #891
- Icelandic áfengi[ˈauː.feiɲcɪ] #1,345
- Macedonian алкохол[ˈaɫkɔxɔɫ] #1,378
- Malay alkohol/alˈkohol/ #1,595
- Malayalam മദ്യം/mɐd̪jɐm/ #780
- Norwegian alkohol/ɑlkʊˈhuːl/ #2,364
- Persian الکل[ʔæl.kʰól̥] #1,597
- Portuguese bêbado/ˈbe.ba.du/ drunk; under the influence of alcohol #2,047
- Romanian alcool[al.koˈol] #2,056
- Serbian alkohol/ǎlkoxol/ #2,141
- Slovak alkohol/alkɔɦɔl/ #1,066
- Slovenian alkohol/alkɔxóːl/ #978
- Tagalog alkohol/ʔalkoˈhol/ #1,910
- Tamil மது/mɐd̪ɯ/ #720
- Turkish alkol/al.kol/ #1,849
- Urdu شراب/ʃə.ɾɑːb/ alcohol; alcoholic drink; wine #904
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) and Slovenian (artur (sl_SI), CC BY 4.0).
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.