How to say “black” 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.
- negro/ˈneɡɾo/ Spanish
- काले/kɑːleː/ Hindi
- μαύρο/ˈma.vɾo/ Greek
- שחורה/ʃχoˈʁa/ Hebrew
- შავი[ʃävi] Georgian
- սև/sev/ Armenian
“black” in Spanish: negro · German: schwarze · Italian: nero · Portuguese: negro · Hindi: काले · Turkish: kara · Greek: μαύρο
It is commonest in Georgian, where შავი is the 203rd most used word.
Black in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans swart/swɑrt/ #570
- Albanian zi/ˈzi/ in black #725
- Arabic حالك/ħaːlik/ very dark or black, pitch-black, deep black,… #243
- Armenian սև/sev/ #269
- Basque beltz/belt͡s̻/ #483
- Bengali কালো/kalo/ #399
- Bosnian crno/ˈtsrno/ #1,915
- Bulgarian черен[ˈt͡ʃɛrɛn] #1,457
- Catalan negre[ˈnɛ.ɣɾə] #556
- Chinese 黑人/xeɪ̯⁵⁵ ɻən³⁵/ black person #556
- Croatian crno/ˈtsrno/ #1,963
- Czech černý[ˈt͡ʃɛrniː] #1,705
- Danish sorte/ˈsoɐ̯də/ #843
- Dutch zwarte/ˈzʋɑr.tə/ #812
- English japan/d͡ʒəˈpæn/ A hard black enamel varnish containing asphalt #2,348
- Esperanto nigra/ˈniɡra/ #780
- Estonian musta/ˈmustɑ/ #969
- French noir/nwaʁ/ black in colour #729
- Galician negro/ˈneɡɾo/ black, dark colored #436
- Georgian შავი[ʃävi] #203
- German schwarze/ˈʃvaɾtsə/ black, reflecting little or no light #1,635
- Greek μαύρο/ˈma.vɾo/ #1,201
- Hebrew שחורה/ʃχoˈʁa/ #1,579
- Hindi काले/kɑːleː/ #1,640
- Hungarian fekete[ˈfɛkɛtɛ] #607
- Icelandic svartur[ˈsvar̥tʏr] #1,213
- Indonesian hitam/ˈhitam/ #564
- Italian nero/ˈne.ro/ #999
- Korean 흑인[xɯɡin] black person #1,001
- Latvian melnā/ˈmællnaː/ #1,322
- Lithuanian juodas[¹ˈju̟ɔdɐs] #1,430
- Macedonian црна[ˈt͡sr̩na] #1,126
- Malay hitam/ˈhitam/ #491
- Malayalam കറുപ്പ്/kɐruppɨ/ #866
- Norwegian svarte/ˈsvɑʈə/ #668
- Persian سیاه[si.jɒːʱ] #1,031
- Polish czarny/ˈt͡ʂar.nɘ/ #1,883
- Portuguese negro/ˈne.ɡɾu/ #1,203
- Romanian negru/ˈne.ɡru/ #923
- Serbian crno/ˈtsrno/ #1,915
- Slovak čierny/t͡ʃɪ̯erni/ #852
- Slovenian črn/t͡ʃə̀rn/ #1,051
- Spanish negro/ˈneɡɾo/ #730
- Swedish svart/¹svart/ #869
- Tagalog taong/ˈtaʔoŋ/ black mourning veil or handkerchief #178
- Tamil கருப்பு/kɐɾʊpːɯ/ black, dark #598
- Telugu నల్ల/ˈnalla/ #1,074
- Turkish kara/kaˈɾa/ black, dark #737
- Ukrainian чорний[ˈt͡ʃɔrnei̯] #1,638
- Urdu سیاہ/sɪjɑːɦ/ #541
- Vietnamese đen[ʔɗɛn˧˧] of the color black #702
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.