How to say “border” in 36 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.
- 가[ka̠(ː)] Korean
- तट/t̪əʈ/ Hindi
- גבול/ɡvul/ Hebrew
- അതിര്/ɐd̪iɾɨ/ Malayalam
- кордон[kɔrˈdɔn] Ukrainian
- سرحد/səɾ.ɦəd̪/ Urdu
“border” in French: bord · German: grenze · Portuguese: fronteira · Korean: 가 · Hindi: तट · Turkish: sınır
It is commonest in Korean, where 가 is the 89th most used word.
Border in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans grens/χrɛns/ border, frontier #771
- Albanian kufirin/kufiɾin/ border, confines, limit #1,796
- Arabic حافة/ħaː.fa/ edge, border #1,845
- Basque muga/muɡa/ limit, border, frontier #734
- Bengali সীমানা/ʃimana/ boundary, border, periphery #1,763
- Bosnian granica/ɡrǎnit͡sa/ #2,032
- Catalan frontera[fɾunˈte.ɾə] border, frontier #2,091
- Croatian granica/ɡrǎnit͡sa/ #2,125
- Czech hranice[ˈɦraɲɪt͡sɛ] border, boundary, borderline #1,658
- Danish grænsen/ˈɡʁɛnsən/ #1,664
- Dutch boord/boːrt/ border, boundary #1,223
- Esperanto limo/ˈlimo/ border, frontier, boundary #1,819
- French bord/bɔʁ/ border, edge, limit; boundary #931
- Galician beira[ˈbei̯ɾɐ] border, edge, brim, limit #1,267
- German grenze/ˈɡrɛn.t͡sə/ to border #1,927
- Greek όρια/ˈoriˌa/ limit, boundary; border, dividing line #1,771
- Hebrew גבול/ɡvul/ A border, a boundary, a limit, a line: a line… #1,618
- Hindi तट/t̪əʈ/ border, brink #1,445
- Indonesian batas/ˈbatas/ #1,222
- Italian bordo/ˈbor.do/ edge, border, margin, hem, rim #1,578
- Korean 가[ka̠(ː)] border, edge, end #89
- Macedonian граница[ˈɡranit͡sa] #1,933
- Malay sempadan/səmˈpadan/ border; boundary; frontier #1,030
- Malayalam അതിര്/ɐd̪iɾɨ/ border, boundary #496
- Norwegian grensen/ˈɡrɛnsn̩/ a border #1,631
- Persian حد[hæd̪̥(ː)] limit, border, boundary #553
- Portuguese fronteira/fɾõˈte(j).ɾɐ/ #2,196
- Serbian granica/ɡrǎnit͡sa/ #2,083
- Slovak hranice/ɦraɲit͡se/ #970
- Slovenian meje/ˈmeːjɛ/ border, boundary #742
- Swedish gränsen/ˈɡrɛnsɛn/ bound, boundary; the border of a territory #1,441
- Tagalog gilid/ˈɡilid/ border; edge; margin; rim; corner #1,055
- Telugu అంచు/aɲt͡ɕu/ skirt, border of a cloth #944
- Turkish sınır/sɯ.nɯɾ/ #2,130
- Ukrainian кордон[kɔrˈdɔn] #2,294
- Urdu سرحد/səɾ.ɦəd̪/ border, frontier #1,020
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) and Slovenian (artur (sl_SI), CC BY 4.0).
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.