How to say “brave” 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.
- valiente/baˈljente/ Spanish
- أليس/ʔal.jas/ Arabic
- 勇敢/jʊŋ²¹⁴⁻³⁵ kän²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/ Chinese
- बहादुर/bə.ɦɑː.d̪ʊɾ/ Hindi
“brave” in Spanish: valiente · Chinese: 勇敢 · Arabic: أليس · Hindi: बहादुर
It is commonest in Arabic, where أليس is the 77th most used word.
Brave in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans dapper/ˈdɐpər/ brave, courageous #925
- Albanian guximshëm[ɡʊˈdzimʃəm] daring, brave, courageous #1,910
- Arabic أليس/ʔal.jas/ #77
- Armenian խիզախ/χiˈzɑχ/ bold, courageous, brave #1,063
- Basque ausart/au̯s̺art/ daring, brave #1,375
- Bengali বাহাদুর/bahad̪uɾ/ skilful, valorous, brave #2,425
- Bosnian hrabar/xrǎːbar/ bold, courageous, brave #2,123
- Bulgarian смел[smɛɫ] brave, bold, courageous, audacious, daring #2,169
- Catalan valent[bəˈlen] valiant, brave, courageous #1,359
- Chinese 勇敢/jʊŋ²¹⁴⁻³⁵ kän²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/ brave; courageous; undaunted #557
- Croatian smio/smǐo/ brave, bold, courageous #1,870
- Czech čelit[ˈt͡ʃɛlɪt] to brave, confront, face something #2,483
- Danish modig/moːdi/ brave, courageous #2,075
- Esperanto kuraĝa/kuˈrad͡ʒa/ brave, courageous #1,014
- Estonian vapper/ˈvɑpːer/ brave, intrepid, courageous, valiant #1,269
- Georgian მამაცი[mämät͡sʰi] adventurous, brave, doughty, gallant, game,… #865
- Hebrew אמיץ/aˈmit͡s/ bold, brave, courageous #1,509
- Hindi बहादुर/bə.ɦɑː.d̪ʊɾ/ brave, valiant #1,259
- Hungarian bátor[ˈbaːtor] courageous, brave, valiant #1,622
- Icelandic hugrakkur[ˈhʏɣ.rahkʏr] brave, courageous, gallant #1,425
- Indonesian berani/bəˈrani/ #557
- Latvian drošs[dɾùoʃ] brave, fearless, confident #462
- Lithuanian drąsus[drɑːˈsʊs] bold, brave, courageous #1,397
- Macedonian херој[ˈxɛɾɔj] brave man, hero #707
- Malay berani/bəˈrani/ #434
- Norwegian modig/muː.di/ brave, courageous, bold #1,675
- Persian شجاع[ʃo.d͡ʒɒːʔ] #1,272
- Romanian curajos/ku.raˈʒos/ courageous, brave #1,865
- Serbian hrabar/xrǎːbar/ bold, courageous, brave #2,080
- Slovak odvážny/ɔdvaːʒni/ brave, courageous #1,790
- Slovenian pogumen/pɔɡùːmən/ #874
- Spanish valiente/baˈljente/ brave, courageous, fearless #1,897
- Swedish modig/ˈmuːdɪɡ/ brave, courageous #2,127
- Tagalog matapang/maˈtapaŋ/ brave; courageous #1,141
- Turkish cesur/d͡ʒeˈsuɾ/ bold, brave #1,197
- Urdu بہادر/bəɦɑːd̪ʊɾ/ #599
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.