How to say “ball” in 44 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.
- bola/ˈbola/ Spanish
- мяч[mʲæt͡ɕ] Russian
- كرة/ku.ra/ Arabic
- गोली/ɡoː.liː/ Hindi
- μπάλα/ˈba.la/ Greek
- பந்து/pɐnd̪ɯ/ Tamil
“ball” in Spanish: bola · French: balle · German: kugel · Italian: palle · Portuguese: bolas · Russian: мяч · Arabic: كرة · Hindi: गोली
It is commonest in Hindi, where गोली is the 339th most used word.
Ball in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans bal/bal/ A ball #554
- Albanian top/tɔp/ #1,067
- Arabic كرة/ku.ra/ #424
- Basque baloi/baloi̯/ #1,868
- Bosnian loptu/ˈloptʊ/ #1,568
- Chinese 打球/tä²¹⁴⁻²¹ t͡ɕʰi̯oʊ̯³⁵/ to play a ball game #1,852
- Croatian loptu/ˈloptʊ/ #1,675
- Czech míč[ˈmiːt͡ʃ] #2,173
- Danish kugle/kuːlə/ #1,725
- Dutch bal/bɑl/ to play with a ball #1,042
- English nick/nɪk/ A small deflection of the ball off the edge… #1,163
- Esperanto pilkon/ˈpilkon/ #1,956
- Estonian kuuli/ˈkuːli/ ball, especially a heavy one #1,115
- French balle/bal/ #821
- German kugel/ˈkuːɡəl/ a ball, usually solid #1,742
- Greek μπάλα/ˈba.la/ #1,173
- Hebrew כדור/kaˈduʁ/ A ball or orb or other spherical object #531
- Hindi गोली/ɡoː.liː/ #339
- Hungarian golyó[ˈɡojoː] #2,269
- Icelandic bolti[ˈpɔl̥tɪ] #1,769
- Indonesian bola/ˈbola/ ball, a solid or hollow sphere, or roughly… #640
- Italian palle/ˈpalle/ #1,126
- Latvian bumbu/ˈbumbu/ #893
- Lithuanian kamuolys[kɐmuɔ²ˈlʲiːs] clew; a ball of thread #1,852
- Macedonian топка[ˈtɔpka] #1,357
- Malay bola/ˈbola/ #582
- Malayalam പന്ത്/pɐn̪t̪ɨ/ #893
- Norwegian ballen/ˈbɑln̩/ #1,826
- Persian توپ[t̪ʰúːpʰ] #687
- Polish piłkę/ˈpiw.kɛ/ #2,307
- Portuguese bolas/ˈbɔ.lɐs/ ball, sphere, round object #962
- Romanian bal/ˈbal/ #2,199
- Russian мяч[mʲæt͡ɕ] #2,062
- Serbian loptu/ˈloptʊ/ #1,544
- Slovak bál/baːl/ #819
- Slovenian krogla/króːɡla/ #811
- Spanish bola/ˈbola/ #2,291
- Swedish bollen/ˈbɔlɛn/ a ball; a more or less spherical object which… #1,892
- Tagalog bola/ˈbola/ ball; round object #529
- Tamil பந்து/pɐnd̪ɯ/ ball, sphere #495
- Telugu బంతి/ˈbanti/ a ball of any kind #409
- Turkish top/ˈtop/ #1,200
- Urdu گیند/ɡeːnd̪/ #855
- Vietnamese bóng[ʔɓawŋ͡m˧˦] a ball #539
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 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.