How to say “bone” in 34 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 ఎముక is the 671st most used word.
- Afrikaans heupbeen hip bone #1,801
- Armenian ոսկոր #1,814
- Basque hezur #1,159
- Bengali হাড় #2,208
- Bulgarian кости #2,224
- Catalan ossos #1,683
- Croatian kost #2,444
- Czech kosti #1,891
- French os #1,577
- Galician ósos #1,714
- German knochen #1,989
- Hebrew עצם #1,282
- Hindi हड्डी #2,435
- Icelandic bein #1,236
- Indonesian tulang #1,074
- Italian ossa #2,103
- Korean 뼈 #1,672
- Latvian kaulu #2,426
- Macedonian коски #1,674
- Malay tulang #913
- Malayalam എല്ല് #1,408
- Persian استخوان #1,580
- Polish kości #1,517
- Portuguese ossos #1,989
- Romanian oase #2,280
- Slovak kosti #1,029
- Slovenian kost #910
- Spanish huesos #2,266
- Tagalog buto #1,232
- Tamil எலும்பு #939
- Telugu ఎముక #671
- Turkish kemik #2,170
- Urdu ہڈی #1,983
- Vietnamese xương #1,138
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.