How to say “break” in 41 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 Chinese, where 休息 is the 198th most used word.
- Afrikaans breek to break #414
- Albanian din to break #343
- Arabic قطع to cut, to break #560
- Armenian ընդմիջում #696
- Basque hautsi to break #478
- Bosnian pucaj to crack, break, burst, split #1,375
- Bulgarian прекъсвам to interrupt, to break off, to cut off #2,411
- Catalan trencar to break #1,021
- Chinese 休息 to rest; to take a break #198
- Croatian pucati to crack, break, burst, split #1,334
- Danish brød to break #944
- Dutch gebroken to break #989
- English weekend The break in the working week, usually two… #1,346
- Esperanto rompis to break #1,089
- French cassé to break #1,435
- Galician romper to break #1,785
- German brechen to break #1,577
- Greek διάλειμμα pause, break, recess; elevenses #1,602
- Hebrew הפסקה A break, an intermission, an interval #1,064
- Hindi तोड़ break, fissure #554
- Icelandic hlé break, rest #1,287
- Indonesian istirahat to take a break, to rest, to repose #762
- Italian rotto to break #1,190
- Korean 휴식 rest; relaxation; break #2,161
- Macedonian скрши to break, fracture #827
- Malay pecah to break #1,216
- Norwegian stå stop up, stop short, break down #422
- Persian شکستن to break #2,008
- Polish przerwę break, interruption, pause #2,467
- Romanian pauză pause, break, stop #1,205
- Russian перерыв interruption, stop, break, intermission #2,334
- Serbian pucaj to crack, break, burst, split #1,477
- Slovak rozbiť to break, to shatter, to smash #1,949
- Slovenian zlomiti to break #1,641
- Spanish roto to break #1,596
- Swedish förstöra to break, to demolish; to make something… #999
- Tagalog masira to break down; to get broken; to get damaged #638
- Tamil அறுக்க to be severed, to break #2,197
- Turkish mola rest, break, pause #2,171
- Urdu خلل break, breach #1,069
- Vietnamese rời to break off; to break loose; to leave #524
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.