How to say “boy” in 48 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 అబ్బాయిలు is the 79th most used word.
- Afrikaans seuntjies small boy #2,038
- Albanian djalë #237
- Armenian տղա #401
- Basque mutil boy, young man #220
- Bengali ছেলে #171
- Bosnian dečko #591
- Bulgarian момче #283
- Catalan noi boy, young man #256
- Chinese 男孩 #233
- Croatian dečki #470
- Czech kluk #545
- Danish dreng boy, lad #384
- Dutch jongens a boy, any male child #288
- English ted A Teddy boy #2,230
- Esperanto knabo #269
- Estonian poiss #261
- Finnish poika #234
- French garçon #462
- Galician nenos boy; male child, especially before puberty #292
- German jungs #398
- Greek αγόρι #414
- Hebrew ילד a child, a kid, a boy #220
- Hindi लड़का #294
- Hungarian srácok #325
- Icelandic strákur #349
- Indonesian pria man, boy #149
- Italian ragazzi boy, young man #218
- Korean 소년 #1,361
- Latvian puika #458
- Lithuanian vaikinas lad, boy, guy #348
- Macedonian момци lad, youth, boy #202
- Malayalam ആൺകുട്ടി boy, young male #1,264
- Norwegian gutt a boy #333
- Polish chłopaki #728
- Portuguese rapaz boy; young man; lad; youngster #345
- Romanian băiat #639
- Russian мальчик #697
- Serbian dečko #539
- Slovak chlapec #308
- Slovenian fant #176
- Spanish chica boy; kid #258
- Swedish kille a boy #413
- Tagalog lalaki man; boy; guy; male person #177
- Tamil பையன் boy, kid, little fellow #99
- Telugu అబ్బాయిలు a boy #79
- Turkish oğlan boy, male child #1,707
- Ukrainian хлопець boy, lad #369
- Urdu لڑکے #234
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.