How to say “beat” in 35 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.
- मार/mɑːɾ/ Hindi
- അടി/ɐɖi/ Malayalam
- بزن[bé.zæn] Persian
“beat” in French: battre · German: schlagen · Portuguese: bater · Hindi: मार
It is commonest in Hindi, where मार is the 171st most used word.
Beat in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans slaan/slɑːn/ hit, slap, beat, strike #435
- Albanian rrahur/rahuɾ/ to strike, beat #1,647
- Arabic ضرب/dˤa.ra.ba/ to strike, to beat, to hit #871
- Basque jipoitu/xipoi̯tu/ to beat up, hit #1,263
- Bengali হারানো/ha.ra.no/ to defeat, to beat #1,007
- Bulgarian бия[ˈbijɐ] to beat, to thrash #1,796
- Chinese 打死/tä²¹⁴⁻³⁵ sɹ̩²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/ to kill by beating; to beat to death #629
- Danish slår/slɔːˀr/ to beat, hit, knock #443
- Dutch klopt/klɔpt/ to knock or beat audibly #405
- English e/ˈiː/ The second semiquaver of a beat #1,539
- Esperanto batis/ˈbatis/ to beat, to strike, to hit #1,283
- Estonian löök/løːk/ hit, punch, beat #1,391
- French battre/batʁ/ to beat; to defeat #771
- German schlagen/ˈʃlaːɡŋ̩/ to beat; to hit; to knock; to strike; to… #1,065
- Hindi मार/mɑːɾ/ to beat, hit, strike, knock #171
- Hungarian ütött[ˈytøtː] to hit, strike, beat, knock, slap, smack #1,983
- Icelandic drepa[ˈtrɛːpa] to beat, hit #171
- Indonesian memukul/mə.mu.kʊl/ to hit, to strike, to beat #856
- Korean 쳐[t͡ɕʰʌ̹] to hit, to beat, to strike, to slap, to pound #792
- Latvian sit/ˈsit/ to hit, to strike, to beat #1,234
- Lithuanian mušti/ˈmʊʃ.tʲɪ/ to beat, strike, hit #2,227
- Macedonian бори[ˈbɔɾi] to attack or beat in play #892
- Malay pukul/ˈpukul/ to hit, to strike, to beat #365
- Malayalam അടി/ɐɖi/ #389
- Norwegian slå/ˈʃloː/ to beat, punch, hit, strike #371
- Persian بزن[bé.zæn] to beat, hit, strike #177
- Polish wynocha/vɘˈnɔ.xa/ get out!, out!, beat it!, begone! #1,994
- Portuguese bater/baˈte(ʁ)/ to beat; to beat up #1,102
- Romanian bate/ˈba.te/ to beat #1,000
- Slovak biť/bic/ to beat, to hit, to strike #1,166
- Swedish slå/sloː/ to hit, punch or beat; to give a blow #423
- Turkish defol/ˈdef.oɫ/ Get out!, Beat it!, Piss off! #904
- Ukrainian вбити[ˈwbɪte] to beat in, to drive in, to hammer in, to… #478
- Urdu مارنا/mɑːɾ.nɑː/ to beat, hit, strike #822
- Vietnamese nhịp[ɲip̚˧˨ʔ] rhythm; rate; beat #1,593
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), Estonian (news (et_EE), 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.