How to say “beat” in 35 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 Hindi, where मार is the 171st most used word.
- Afrikaans slaan hit, slap, beat, strike #435
- Albanian rrahur to strike, beat #1,647
- Arabic ضرب to strike, to beat, to hit #871
- Basque jipoitu to beat up, hit #1,263
- Bengali হারানো to defeat, to beat #1,007
- Bulgarian бия to beat, to thrash #1,796
- Chinese 打死 to kill by beating; to beat to death #629
- Danish slår to beat, hit, knock #443
- Dutch klopt to knock or beat audibly #405
- English e The second semiquaver of a beat #1,539
- Esperanto batis to beat, to strike, to hit #1,283
- Estonian löök hit, punch, beat #1,391
- French battre to beat; to defeat #771
- German schlagen to beat; to hit; to knock; to strike; to… #1,065
- Hindi मार to beat, hit, strike, knock #171
- Hungarian ütött to hit, strike, beat, knock, slap, smack #1,983
- Icelandic drepa to beat, hit #171
- Indonesian memukul to hit, to strike, to beat #856
- Korean 쳐 to hit, to beat, to strike, to slap, to pound #792
- Latvian sit to hit, to strike, to beat #1,234
- Lithuanian mušti to beat, strike, hit #2,227
- Macedonian бори to attack or beat in play #892
- Malay pukul to hit, to strike, to beat #365
- Malayalam അടി #389
- Norwegian slå to beat, punch, hit, strike #371
- Persian بزن to beat, hit, strike #177
- Polish wynocha get out!, out!, beat it!, begone! #1,994
- Portuguese bater to beat; to beat up #1,102
- Romanian bate to beat #1,000
- Slovak biť to beat, to hit, to strike #1,166
- Swedish slå to hit, punch or beat; to give a blow #423
- Turkish defol Get out!, Beat it!, Piss off! #904
- Ukrainian вбити to beat in, to drive in, to hammer in, to… #478
- Urdu مارنا to beat, hit, strike #822
- Vietnamese nhịp rhythm; rate; beat #1,593
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.