How to say “boat” in 40 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.
- barco/ˈbaɾko/ Spanish
- 보트[po̞tʰɯ] Korean
- नाव/nɑːʋ/ Hindi
- নাও/nao/ Bengali
- படகு/pɐɖɐɡɯ/ Tamil
- ബോട്ട്/boːʈʈɨ/ Malayalam
“boat” in Spanish: barco · German: boot · Italian: barca · Portuguese: barco · Korean: 보트 · Hindi: नाव
It is commonest in Bengali, where নাও is the 142nd most used word.
Boat in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans boot/bʊət/ #854
- Albanian varkë/vaɾkə/ #1,561
- Arabic قارب/qaː.rib/ small boat, skiff, dinghy #1,177
- Armenian առագաստանավ/ɑrɑɡɑstɑˈnɑv/ sailing boat, sailboat, sailing ship #893
- Basque txalupa/t͡ʃalupa/ boat, dinghy #922
- Bengali নাও/nao/ #142
- Bulgarian кораб[ˈkɔrɐp] ship, large boat, vessel #737
- Catalan vaixell[bəˈʃeʎ] vessel, boat, ship #632
- Danish skib/ˈskiːp/ ship, boat, vessel #1,164
- Dutch boot[boʊ̯t] #911
- Esperanto boato/boˈato/ #1,582
- Estonian vene/ˈvene/ small boat, cut out of a tree trunk #1,195
- German boot/boːt/ #1,121
- Greek πλοίο/ˈpli.o/ ship, large boat #797
- Hebrew ספינה/sfiˈna/ ship, boat #1,643
- Hindi नाव/nɑːʋ/ #1,171
- Icelandic skip[ˈscɪːp] ship, boat #808
- Indonesian perahu/pəˈrahu/ #1,170
- Italian barca/ˈbar.ka/ #1,252
- Korean 보트[po̞tʰɯ] #1,181
- Latvian laivu/ˈlaiʋu/ #1,643
- Lithuanian valtis[¹ˈʋɑˑlʲtʲɪs] #1,754
- Malay perahu/pəˈrahu/ #1,494
- Malayalam ബോട്ട്/boːʈʈɨ/ #384
- Norwegian båten/ˈboːtn̩/ a boat #1,043
- Persian کشتی[kʰʲæʃ.t̪ʰíː] boat, ship #902
- Polish łódź/ˈwut͡ɕ/ #1,988
- Portuguese barco/ˈbaʁ.ku/ #836
- Romanian barcă/ˈbarkə/ #1,755
- Serbian čamac/t͡ʃǎːmat͡s/ #2,111
- Slovak čln/t͡ʃl̩n/ #1,577
- Slovenian čoln/t͡ʃɔ́ːʋn/ #669
- Spanish barco/ˈbaɾko/ #834
- Swedish båten/ˈboːtɛn/ a boat #1,221
- Tagalog bangka/baŋˈkaʔ/ boat; canoe #1,005
- Tamil படகு/pɐɖɐɡɯ/ boat, yacht #1,303
- Telugu ఓడ/oːɖa/ ship, boat, vessel #492
- Ukrainian човен[ˈt͡ʃɔʋen] #1,872
- Urdu کشتی/kəʃ.t̪iː/ boat, ship #737
- Vietnamese thuyền[tʰwiən˨˩] #602
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.