How to say “around” in 46 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.
- حول/ħawla/ Arabic
- γύρω/ˈjiro/ Greek
- סביב/saˈviv/ Hebrew
- გარშემო[ɡ̊äɾʃe̞mo̞] Georgian
- կողմ/koʁm/ Armenian
- சுற்றி/tʃʊrːiː/ Tamil
“around” in French: autour · Italian: intorno · Arabic: حول · Turkish: etrafında · Greek: γύρω
It is commonest in Norwegian, where om is the 28th most used word.
Around in other languages, A to Z
- Albanian gati/ɡati/ almost, around #135
- Arabic حول/ħawla/ #118
- Armenian կողմ/koʁm/ around, at about #439
- Basque alde/alde/ #92
- Bengali কাছে/kat͡ʃʰe/ near, around #54
- Bosnian oko/ôko/ around, about, roughly, approximately #207
- Bulgarian около[ˈɔkoɫo] round, around #282
- Chinese 左右/t͡su̯ɔ²¹⁴⁻²¹ joʊ̯⁵¹/ about; or so; or thereabouts; around;… #620
- Croatian oko/ôko/ around, about, roughly, approximately #211
- Czech kolem[ˈkolɛm] #443
- Danish rundt[ˈʁɔnˀd̥] round, around #351
- Dutch om/ɔm/ around, about #29
- English about/əˈbaʊ̯t/ In a circle around; all round; on every side… #51
- Esperanto ĉirkaŭ/ˈt͡ʃirkau̯/ #475
- Estonian ümber/ˈymb̥er/ #375
- Finnish ympäri/ˈympæri(ˣ)/ #869
- French autour/o.tuʁ/ #809
- Galician arredor[areˈdoɾ] #813
- Georgian გარშემო[ɡ̊äɾʃe̞mo̞] #1,121
- German darum/ˈdaːʁʊm/ around it, around that #423
- Greek γύρω/ˈjiro/ around, close by #495
- Hebrew סביב/saˈviv/ #770
- Hindi चारों/t͡ʃɑː.ɾõː/ all four, around #474
- Hungarian körül[ˈkøryl] around, near #741
- Icelandic kringum/ˈkʰriŋkʏm/ #663
- Indonesian sekitar[səˈkitar] #328
- Italian intorno/inˈtor.no/ around, round #960
- Latvian ap/ˈap/ round, around #648
- Lithuanian arti/ˈar.tʲɪ/ nearby, close, around #562
- Macedonian околу[ˈɔkɔɫu] #220
- Malayalam മോതിരം/moːd̪iɾɐm/ ring worn around finger #429
- Norwegian om/ɔm/ #28
- Polish obchodzi/ɔpˈxɔ.d͡ʑi/ to walk around, to go around #676
- Russian вокруг[vaˈkrux] round, around, about #705
- Serbian oko/ôko/ around, about, roughly, approximately #203
- Slovak okolo/ɔkɔlɔ/ #258
- Slovenian po/pɔ/ around, about #48
- Spanish cerca/ˈθeɾka/ close, near, around, about, nearly, nigh #380
- Swedish runt/ˈrɵnt/ around; aimlessly #334
- Tagalog mga/maˈŋa/ approximately; around; about #11
- Tamil சுற்றி/tʃʊrːiː/ #150
- Telugu చుట్టూ/ˈcuʈʈuː/ all around #91
- Turkish etrafında/etɾafɯnˈda/ #1,278
- Ukrainian навколо[nɐu̯ˈkɔɫɔ] around, about, round #753
- Urdu تقریبا/t̪əq.ɾiː.bən/ around, about, approximately, close to,… #402
- Vietnamese máy[maj˧˦] to move around #245
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), 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.