How to say “baby” 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.
- رضيع/ra.dˤiːʕ/ Arabic
- 娃娃/wä³⁵ wä³/ Chinese
- μωρό/moˈɾo/ Greek
- ბავშვი[b̥äfʃʷi] Georgian
- শিশু/ʃiʃu/ Bengali
- குழந்தை/kʊɻɐnd̪ɐɪ̯/ Tamil
“baby” in French: bébé · German: baby · Portuguese: bebé · Chinese: 娃娃 · Arabic: رضيع · Turkish: bebek · Greek: μωρό
It is commonest in Tamil, where குழந்தை is the 82nd most used word.
Baby in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans baba/ˈbɑːbɐ/ #387
- Arabic رضيع/ra.dˤiːʕ/ baby, infant, suckling #1,763
- Basque jaioberri/ɟaɪˈoβeˌri/ #1,828
- Bengali শিশু/ʃiʃu/ baby, infant #738
- Bosnian beba/běːba/ #835
- Bulgarian бебе[ˈbɛbɛ] baby, infant, babe #771
- Catalan bebè[bəˈβɛ] #1,749
- Chinese 娃娃/wä³⁵ wä³/ #1,339
- Croatian beba/běːba/ #964
- Danish baby/ˈbɛjbi/ A baby, an infant #769
- Dutch baby/ˈbeːbi/ #422
- Esperanto bebo/ˈbebo/ #637
- Estonian beebi/ˈb̥eːb̥i/ #1,280
- Finnish vauva/ˈʋɑu̯ʋɑ/ #1,392
- French bébé/be.be/ #337
- Galician bebé/beˈbe/ #910
- Georgian ბავშვი[b̥äfʃʷi] baby, child #372
- German baby/ˈbeːbi/ #367
- Greek μωρό/moˈɾo/ baby, infant #264
- Hebrew תינוק/tiˈnok/ infant, baby #658
- Hindi शिशु/ʃɪ.ʃuː/ infant, baby #1,624
- Hungarian bébi[ˈbeːbi] #1,065
- Indonesian bayi/ˈbaji/ #481
- Italian bambino/bamˈbi.no/ child, baby, toddler, tot #356
- Korean 아기[a̠ɡi] unweaned baby, child #410
- Latvian mazulis/ˈmazulis/ little child, little one, baby #1,481
- Lithuanian kūdikis[²ˈkuːdʲɪkʲɪs] baby, infant #882
- Macedonian мали[ˈmali] to baby, infantilize #423
- Malay bayi[ba.ji] baby, infant #499
- Norwegian baby/ˈbæ͡ɪbʏ/ a baby #877
- Portuguese bebé/bɛˈbɛ/ #499
- Russian ребята[rʲɪˈbʲatə] child, kid, baby: children, kids, babies #322
- Serbian beba/běːba/ #829
- Slovak bábätko/baːbætkɔ/ #1,632
- Slovenian dojenček/dɔjɛ̀ːnt͡ʃək/ #766
- Swedish baby/ˈbabyː/ a baby #1,305
- Tamil குழந்தை/kʊɻɐnd̪ɐɪ̯/ baby, infant #82
- Telugu పిల్లలు/ˈpillalu/ #116
- Turkish bebek[be.ˈbec] #447
- Ukrainian малюк[mɐˈlʲuk] baby, little one, little kid, toddler, tot #1,985
- Urdu بچہ/bət̪.t͡ʃɑ(ː)/ baby; kid, child #367
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.