How to say “big” in 51 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.
- большой[bɐlʲˈʂoj] Russian
- كبير/ka.biːr/ Arabic
- बड़ा/bə.ɽɑː/ Hindi
- μεγάλη/meˈɣali/ Greek
- גדול/ɡaˈdol/ Hebrew
- დიდი[d̥idi] Georgian
“big” in French: grand · German: große · Italian: grandi · Russian: большой · Arabic: كبير · Hindi: बड़ा · Turkish: büyük · Greek: μεγάλη
It is commonest in Malayalam, where വലിയ is the 50th most used word.
Big in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans groot/χrʊət/ great; big; large #128
- Albanian madh/mað/ big, large #170
- Arabic كبير/ka.biːr/ big, large #174
- Armenian մեծ/met͡s/ big, large #76
- Basque handi/handi/ big, large #268
- Bengali দাও/d̪ao/ a kind of big knife #57
- Bosnian sranje/srǎːɲe/ A very difficult situation, big trouble #213
- Bulgarian голям[ɡoˈlʲa̟m] big, large #374
- Catalan gran[ˈɡɾan] big, large #158
- Chinese 哥哥/kɤ⁵⁵ g̊ə²/ elder brother; big brother #196
- Croatian sranje/srǎːɲe/ A very difficult situation, big trouble #256
- Czech velký[ˈvɛlkiː] #461
- Dutch grote/ˈɣroːtə/ big, large, great #247
- Esperanto granda/ˈɡranda/ big, large #157
- Estonian suur/ˈsuːr/ large, big #203
- Finnish iso/ˈiso/ big, large, great #405
- French grand/ɡʁɑ̃/ #267
- Galician tamaño/taˈmaɲo/ so big #2,008
- Georgian დიდი[d̥idi] big, large, great #66
- German große/ˈɡʁoːsə/ big, large, large-scale #456
- Greek μεγάλη/meˈɣali/ big, large, great #283
- Hebrew גדול/ɡaˈdol/ big, large #188
- Hindi बड़ा/bə.ɽɑː/ big, large, huge #312
- Hungarian nagy[ˈnɒɟ] big, great #93
- Icelandic stór[ˈstouːr] #1,470
- Indonesian besar/bəˈsar/ big, large #130
- Italian grandi/ˈɡran.di/ big, large #833
- Korean 큰[kxɯn] to be big, large #130
- Latvian liels[ˈlīɛ̄ls] big, large #300
- Lithuanian didelis[ˈdʲɪdʲɛlʲɪs] #395
- Macedonian голема[ˈɡɔlɛma] big, large, great #246
- Malay raya[ra.jə] great; big #1,147
- Malayalam വലിയ/ʋɐlijɐ/ big; large #50
- Norwegian stor/stuːɾ/ large, big, great #267
- Persian بزرگ[bo.zóɹɡʲ̥] large, big #140
- Polish duży/ˈdu.ʐɘ/ big, large #1,132
- Portuguese grande/ˈɡɾɐ̃.d͡ʒi/ large; great; big #173
- Romanian mare/ˈma.re/ big, large, great #122
- Russian большой[bɐlʲˈʂoj] big, large, great #511
- Serbian sranje/srǎːɲe/ A very difficult situation, big trouble #259
- Slovak veľký/veʎkiː/ #264
- Slovenian velik/ʋɛ̀ːlik/ big, large #281
- Spanish señora/seˈɲoɾa/ great big; whopping #299
- Swedish stor/stuːr/ big, large; of large size #285
- Tagalog malaki/malaˈki/ big; large #265
- Tamil பெரிய/pɛɾɪjɐ/ big, large #84
- Telugu పెద్ద/ped̪ːa/ great, big, large #86
- Turkish büyük[byˈjyc] big, grand, large #78
- Ukrainian великий[ʋeˈɫɪkei̯] big, large #437
- Urdu بڑا/bə.ɽɑː/ big, large, huge #168
- Vietnamese bị[ʔɓi˧˨ʔ] big sack made from sedge #66
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.