How to say “art” in 41 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.
- arte/ˈaɾte/ Spanish
- صناعة/sˤi.naː.ʕa/ Arabic
- 예술[ˈje̞(ː)sʰuɭ] Korean
- कला/kə.lɑː/ Hindi
- אמנות/omaˈnut/ Hebrew
- արվեստ/ɑɾˈvest/ Armenian
“art” in Spanish: arte · French: art · German: kunst · Italian: arte · Portuguese: arte · Korean: 예술 · Arabic: صناعة · Hindi: कला
It is commonest in Telugu, where కళ is the 398th most used word.
Art in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans kuns/ˈkœns/ #700
- Albanian art/aɾt/ #1,786
- Arabic صناعة/sˤi.naː.ʕa/ art, skill #1,854
- Armenian արվեստ/ɑɾˈvest/ #1,302
- Bengali শিল্প/ʃil.po/ art, craft #1,658
- Bulgarian изкуство[isˈkustvo] #2,019
- Croatian umjetnost/ˈumjetnost/ #2,129
- Czech um[ˈum] skill, art #1,026
- Danish kunst[ˈkʰɔnˀsd̥] #1,927
- Dutch kunst/kʏnst/ #1,732
- English artist/ˈɑɹ.tɪst/ A person who creates art #1,835
- Esperanto arto/ˈarto/ #1,638
- Estonian kunst/ˈkunʲst/ #1,988
- French art/aʁ/ #1,552
- Galician arte/ˈaɾte/ #817
- German kunst/kʊnst/ #1,958
- Greek μουσική[musiˈci] the subject and art of music #710
- Hebrew אמנות/omaˈnut/ #1,617
- Hindi कला/kə.lɑː/ #1,458
- Icelandic lista/ˈlɪsta/ #1,160
- Indonesian seni/səˈni/ #1,122
- Italian arte/ˈar.te/ #1,415
- Korean 예술[ˈje̞(ː)sʰuɭ] art; fine art #2,372
- Lithuanian menas[²ˈmʲæːnɐs] #1,668
- Macedonian уметност[ˈumɛtnɔst] #2,003
- Malay seni/səˈni/ #934
- Malayalam കല/kɐlɐ/ #1,470
- Norwegian kunst/ˈkʉnst/ #2,269
- Persian هنر[ho.nǽɹ] #1,307
- Polish sztuki/ˈʂtu.ki/ #2,211
- Portuguese arte/ˈaʁ.t͡ʃi/ #1,356
- Romanian artă/ˈar.tə/ #1,815
- Serbian umetnost/ˈumɛtnost/ #2,094
- Slovak umenie/ˈumɛɲi̯ɛ/ #1,048
- Spanish arte/ˈaɾte/ #1,191
- Swedish konst/kɔnːst/ an art #2,122
- Tamil ஓவியம்/oːʋɪjɐm/ the art of painting #335
- Telugu కళ/kaɭa/ #398
- Turkish sanat/sa.nat/ #1,249
- Urdu فن/fən/ art, craft, skill #1,980
- Vietnamese thuật[tʰwət̚˧˨ʔ] art; craft; skill; technique #557
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) 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.