How to say “boat” in 40 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 Bengali, where নাও is the 142nd most used word.
- Afrikaans boot #854
- Albanian varkë #1,561
- Arabic قارب small boat, skiff, dinghy #1,177
- Armenian առագաստանավ sailing boat, sailboat, sailing ship #893
- Basque txalupa boat, dinghy #922
- Bengali নাও #142
- Bulgarian кораб ship, large boat, vessel #737
- Catalan vaixell vessel, boat, ship #632
- Danish skib ship, boat, vessel #1,164
- Dutch boot #911
- Esperanto boato #1,582
- Estonian vene small boat, cut out of a tree trunk #1,195
- German boot #1,121
- Greek πλοίο ship, large boat #797
- Hebrew ספינה ship, boat #1,643
- Hindi नाव #1,171
- Icelandic skip ship, boat #808
- Indonesian perahu #1,170
- Italian barca #1,252
- Korean 보트 #1,181
- Latvian laivu #1,643
- Lithuanian valtis #1,754
- Malay perahu #1,494
- Malayalam ബോട്ട് #384
- Norwegian båten a boat #1,043
- Persian کشتی boat, ship #902
- Polish łódź #1,988
- Portuguese barco #836
- Romanian barcă #1,755
- Serbian čamac #2,111
- Slovak čln #1,577
- Slovenian čoln #669
- Spanish barco #834
- Swedish båten a boat #1,221
- Tagalog bangka boat; canoe #1,005
- Tamil படகு boat, yacht #1,303
- Telugu ఓడ ship, boat, vessel #492
- Ukrainian човен #1,872
- Urdu کشتی boat, ship #737
- Vietnamese thuyền #602
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.