How to say “baby” in 41 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 குழந்தை is the 82nd most used word.
- Afrikaans baba #387
- Arabic رضيع baby, infant, suckling #1,763
- Basque jaioberri #1,828
- Bengali শিশু baby, infant #738
- Bosnian beba #835
- Bulgarian бебе baby, infant, babe #771
- Catalan bebè #1,749
- Chinese 娃娃 #1,339
- Croatian beba #964
- Danish baby A baby, an infant #769
- Dutch baby #422
- Esperanto bebo #637
- Estonian beebi #1,280
- Finnish vauva #1,392
- French bébé #337
- Galician bebé #910
- Georgian ბავშვი baby, child #372
- German baby #367
- Greek μωρό baby, infant #264
- Hebrew תינוק infant, baby #658
- Hindi शिशु infant, baby #1,624
- Hungarian bébi #1,065
- Indonesian bayi #481
- Italian bambino child, baby, toddler, tot #356
- Korean 아기 unweaned baby, child #410
- Latvian mazulis little child, little one, baby #1,481
- Lithuanian kūdikis baby, infant #882
- Macedonian мали to baby, infantilize #423
- Malay bayi baby, infant #499
- Norwegian baby a baby #877
- Portuguese bebé #499
- Russian ребята child, kid, baby: children, kids, babies #322
- Serbian beba #829
- Slovak bábätko #1,632
- Slovenian dojenček #766
- Swedish baby a baby #1,305
- Tamil குழந்தை baby, infant #82
- Telugu పిల్లలు #116
- Turkish bebek #447
- Ukrainian малюк baby, little one, little kid, toddler, tot #1,985
- Urdu بچہ baby; kid, child #367
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.