How to say “boy” in 48 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.
- chica/ˈt͡ʃika/ Spanish
- мальчик[ˈmalʲt͡ɕɪk] Russian
- 男孩/nän³⁵ xaɪ̯³⁵/ Chinese
- 소년[ˈsʰo̞(ː)ɲʌ̹n] Korean
- लड़का/ləɽ.kɑː/ Hindi
- αγόρι/aˈɣo.ɾi/ Greek
“boy” in Spanish: chica · French: garçon · German: jungs · Italian: ragazzi · Portuguese: rapaz · Chinese: 男孩 · Korean: 소년 · Russian: мальчик
It is commonest in Telugu, where అబ్బాయిలు is the 79th most used word.
Boy in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans seuntjies/ˈsøəiŋˌcis/ small boy #2,038
- Albanian djalë/djalə/ #237
- Armenian տղա/təˈʁɑ/ #401
- Basque mutil/mutil/ boy, young man #220
- Bengali ছেলে/t͡ʃʰele/ #171
- Bosnian dečko/dêt͡ʃko/ #591
- Bulgarian момче[momˈt͡ʃɛ] #283
- Catalan noi[ˈnɔj] boy, young man #256
- Chinese 男孩/nän³⁵ xaɪ̯³⁵/ #233
- Croatian dečki/ˈdɛtʃkɪ/ #470
- Czech kluk[ˈkluk] #545
- Danish dreng/ˈdrɛŋˀ/ boy, lad #384
- Dutch jongens/ˈjɔ.ŋə(n)s/ a boy, any male child #288
- English ted/tɛd/ A Teddy boy #2,230
- Esperanto knabo/ˈknabo/ #269
- Estonian poiss/poi̯sː/ #261
- Finnish poika/ˈpoi̯kɑ/ #234
- French garçon/ɡaʁ.sɔ̃/ #462
- Galician nenos/ˈnenos/ boy; male child, especially before puberty #292
- German jungs/jʊŋs/ #398
- Greek αγόρι/aˈɣo.ɾi/ #414
- Hebrew ילד/jald/ a child, a kid, a boy #220
- Hindi लड़का/ləɽ.kɑː/ #294
- Hungarian srácok[ˈʃraːt͡sok] #325
- Icelandic strákur[ˈstrauːkʏr] #349
- Indonesian pria/ˈpria/ man, boy #149
- Italian ragazzi/raˈɡat.t͡si/ boy, young man #218
- Korean 소년[ˈsʰo̞(ː)ɲʌ̹n] #1,361
- Latvian puika/ˈpuika/ #458
- Lithuanian vaikinas[ʋɐjˈkʲɪnɐs] lad, boy, guy #348
- Macedonian момци[ˈmɔmt͡si] lad, youth, boy #202
- Malayalam ആൺകുട്ടി/aːɳkuʈʈi/ boy, young male #1,264
- Norwegian gutt/ɡʉtː/ a boy #333
- Polish chłopaki/xwɔˈpa.ki/ #728
- Portuguese rapaz/ʁaˈpa(j)s/ boy; young man; lad; youngster #345
- Romanian băiat[bəˈjat] #639
- Russian мальчик[ˈmalʲt͡ɕɪk] #697
- Serbian dečko/dêt͡ʃko/ #539
- Slovak chlapec/xlapet͡s/ #308
- Slovenian fant/fánt/ #176
- Spanish chica/ˈt͡ʃika/ boy; kid #258
- Swedish kille/²kɪlːɛ/ a boy #413
- Tagalog lalaki/laˈlaki/ man; boy; guy; male person #177
- Tamil பையன்/pɐɪ̯jɐn/ boy, kid, little fellow #99
- Telugu అబ్బాయిలు/ˈabbaːˌjilu/ a boy #79
- Turkish oğlan/oːˈɫan/ boy, male child #1,707
- Ukrainian хлопець[ˈxɫɔpet͡sʲ] boy, lad #369
- Urdu لڑکے/ləɽkeː/ #234
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) 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.