How to say “beginning” in 47 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 Telugu, where మొదటి is the 93rd most used word.
- Albanian fillim start, beginning #468
- Arabic بداية beginning, start #614
- Armenian սկիզբ beginning, start; commencement #669
- Bengali শুরু start, beginning #110
- Bosnian početak #1,042
- Bulgarian начало beginning, start #922
- Catalan principi beginning, start #1,102
- Chinese 見面 at first; in the beginning; initially #2,084
- Croatian početak #899
- Czech začátek #1,276
- Danish begyndelsen beginning, start, commencement #1,697
- Dutch vanmorgen this morning, the morning at the beginning of… #1,093
- English start The beginning of an activity #303
- Esperanto komenco beginning, start, commencement #804
- Estonian alguses #999
- Finnish alusta start, beginning, inception, incipience #1,079
- French début start, beginning #700
- Georgian თავიდან from the beginning #260
- German ab beginning at that time or location; from #179
- Greek αρχή origin, beginning #541
- Hebrew ראשונה #791
- Hindi शुरू #187
- Hungarian indulás start, beginning, launch #1,409
- Icelandic byrjun beginning, outset, start #1,117
- Indonesian awal beginning, start #491
- Korean 시작 start, beginning #588
- Latvian sākumā beginning, starting point *in time or space #785
- Lithuanian pradžia #912
- Macedonian почеток #616
- Malay semula from the beginning #261
- Malayalam തുടക്കം #474
- Norwegian begynnelsen #1,262
- Persian شروع beginning, commencement, onset, opening #106
- Polish początku #819
- Portuguese início #1,181
- Romanian începutul beginning, start #1,564
- Russian начало beginning, commencement, onset, start #1,672
- Serbian početak #916
- Slovak začiatok beginning, start #681
- Slovenian začetek #436
- Swedish början beginning, start #737
- Tagalog simula start; beginning #480
- Tamil கொண்டு from, beginning with #353
- Telugu మొదటి beginning, origin, source #93
- Turkish baştan from scratch, from the beginning #911
- Ukrainian початок beginning, start #1,684
- Urdu شروع #147
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.