How to say “attempt” in 42 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.
It is commonest in Tamil, where முயற்சி is the 111th most used word.
- Arabic محاولة attempt, trial #483
- Armenian փորձել to try, to attempt #327
- Basque saiatu to try, to attempt #180
- Bengali চেষ্টা attempt, endeavour, effort, enterprise #124
- Bosnian pokušaj attempt, try #796
- Bulgarian опит attempt, try #788
- Catalan intentar to try, to attempt #674
- Chinese 妄想 to vainly hope to; to attempt in vain #2,367
- Croatian pokušaj attempt, try #763
- Czech zkusit to try, to attempt #934
- Dutch probeer to try, to attempt #355
- English try To attempt; to endeavour. Followed by… #248
- Esperanto provu to try, attempt #441
- Estonian proovida to try, to attempt #871
- Finnish yritän to try, attempt, endeavour/endeavor #362
- French tente to attempt #1,938
- German versuchen to try, to attempt #470
- Greek προσπαθώ to attempt, try #551
- Hebrew ניסה to try, to attempt #729
- Hindi प्रयास attempt, try, effort, endeavor #1,098
- Icelandic reyna to try, attempt #159
- Indonesian mencoba to attempt; to endeavour #203
- Italian tentativo attempt, try, effort, shot, endeavour/endeavor #2,188
- Korean 시도 #1,614
- Lithuanian pabandyti to try, to attempt #949
- Macedonian обиди try, attempt #895
- Malay serangan an attempt to cause damage, injury to, or… #488
- Malayalam ശ്രമം #570
- Norwegian forsøk to attempt, try #1,311
- Persian سعی try, attempt #436
- Polish staram to attempt, to try #1,234
- Portuguese tentar to try, go for, attempt #206
- Romanian încerca to try, to attempt #684
- Russian попробовать to test, to attempt, to try #1,145
- Serbian pokušaj attempt, try #758
- Slovak pokus try, attempt #792
- Slovenian poskusiti to try, attempt #671
- Spanish intentando to try, to attempt; especially: to strain or… #882
- Swedish försöker to attempt, to try #230
- Tagalog subukan to try; to attempt; to try out #386
- Tamil முயற்சி effort, exertion, attempt, activity,… #111
- Ukrainian спробувати to try, to attempt #946
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.