How to say “bed” in 48 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.
- cama/ˈkama/ Spanish
- кровать[krɐˈvatʲ] Russian
- سرير/sa.riːr/ Arabic
- 침대[ˈt͡ɕʰi(ː)mdɛ] Korean
- बिस्तर/bɪs.t̪əɾ/ Hindi
- κρεβάτι[kɾɛˈvati] Greek
“bed” in Spanish: cama · German: bett · Portuguese: cama · Korean: 침대 · Russian: кровать · Arabic: سرير · Hindi: बिस्तर · Turkish: yatak
It is commonest in Afrikaans, where bed is the 314th most used word.
Bed in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans bed/bɛt/ #314
- Albanian shtrat/ʃtɾat/ #800
- Arabic سرير/sa.riːr/ bed, bedstead #1,558
- Armenian անկողին/ɑnkoˈʁin/ #519
- Basque ohean/oˈeˌan/ #520
- Bengali বিছানা/bit͡ʃʰana/ #1,141
- Bosnian krevet/krěʋet/ #647
- Bulgarian легло[lɛˈɡɫɔ] #1,513
- Catalan llit[ˈʎit] #475
- Chinese 床上/ʈ͡ʂʰu̯ɑŋ³⁵ ʂɑŋ⁵¹/ on the bed #480
- Croatian krevet/krěʋet/ #674
- Czech postele[ˈpostɛlɛ] #1,060
- Danish seng/ˈsɛnɡ/ #495
- Dutch bed/bɛt/ patch, bed #459
- Esperanto lito/ˈlito/ #925
- Estonian voodi/ˈvoːd̥i/ #1,118
- Finnish nukkumaan/ˈnukːumɑːn/ to bed #1,050
- Galician cama/ˈkama/ #490
- German bett/bɛt/ #548
- Greek κρεβάτι[kɾɛˈvati] #620
- Hebrew מיטה/miˈta/ a bed #2,007
- Hindi बिस्तर/bɪs.t̪əɾ/ bed, mattress, bedding #699
- Hungarian ágyban[ˈaːɟbɒn] #1,932
- Icelandic rúminu/ˈruːmɪnʏ/ #797
- Indonesian ranjang/ˈran.d͡ʒaŋ/ #2,309
- Korean 침대[ˈt͡ɕʰi(ː)mdɛ] #723
- Latvian gultā/ˈɡultaː/ #985
- Lithuanian lova[¹ˈloːʋɐ] #1,191
- Macedonian кревет[ˈkrɛvɛt] #551
- Malay katil/katil/ #1,072
- Malayalam കിടക്ക/kiɖɐkkɐ/ #668
- Norwegian senga/ˈsɛŋɑ/ a bed #1,420
- Polish łóżka/ˈwuʂ.ka/ #1,151
- Portuguese cama/ˈkɐ̃.mɐ/ #538
- Romanian pat/ˈpat/ #654
- Russian кровать[krɐˈvatʲ] #2,114
- Serbian krevet/krěʋet/ #637
- Slovak posteľ/pɔsceʎ/ #896
- Slovenian postelja/pòːstɛlja/ #1,120
- Spanish cama/ˈkama/ #537
- Swedish sängen/ˈsɛŋɛn/ a bed #1,100
- Tagalog kama/ˈkama/ #359
- Tamil படுக்கை/pɐɖʊkːɐɪ̯/ #866
- Telugu పడక/paɖaka/ #1,750
- Turkish yatak/jaˈtak/ bed, a piece of furniture on which to rest or… #978
- Ukrainian ліжко[ˈlʲiʒkɔ] #1,354
- Urdu بستر/bɪs.t̪əɾ/ bed, mattress #1,035
- Vietnamese giường[zɨəŋ˨˩] #936
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), 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.