How to say “breakfast” 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.
- desayuno/desaˈʝuno/ Spanish
- завтрак[ˈzaftrək] Russian
- 早餐/t͡sɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ t͡sʰän⁵⁵/ Chinese
- नाश्ता/nɑːʃ.t̪ɑː/ Hindi
- নাস্তা/naʃt̪a/ Bengali
- പ്രാതൽ/praːd̪ɐl/ Malayalam
“breakfast” in Spanish: desayuno · German: frühstück · Italian: colazione · Portuguese: pequeno-almoço · Chinese: 早餐 · Russian: завтрак · Hindi: नाश्ता · Turkish: kahvaltı
It is commonest in Slovenian, where zajtrk is the 531st most used word.
Breakfast in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans ontbyt/ɔntˈbəi̯t/ #883
- Albanian sille/ˈsiɫɛ/ #1,127
- Basque gosaldu/ɡos̺aldu/ to have breakfast #1,083
- Bengali নাস্তা/naʃt̪a/ breakfast, repast #1,172
- Bosnian doručak/dǒrut͡ʃak/ #1,373
- Bulgarian закуска[zɐˈkuskɐ] #1,242
- Catalan esmorzar[əz.murˈza] to breakfast #1,630
- Chinese 早餐/t͡sɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ t͡sʰän⁵⁵/ #587
- Croatian doručak/dǒrut͡ʃak/ #1,235
- Danish morgenmad/ˈmɔr.ənˌmað/ #1,335
- Dutch ontbijt/ɔntˈbɛi̯t/ a breakfast, first meal of the day, usually… #1,473
- Estonian hommikusöök/ˈhomːikusøːk/ #1,967
- Galician almorzo/alˈmoɾθo/ breakfast; lunch #1,923
- German frühstück/ˈfʁyːʃtʏk/ #1,560
- Hindi नाश्ता/nɑːʃ.t̪ɑː/ #2,125
- Indonesian sarapan/saˈrapan/ #1,325
- Italian colazione/ko.latˈt͡sjo.ne/ #1,398
- Latvian brokastis[ˈbɾūɔ̯̄kastis] #1,483
- Lithuanian pusryčiai[ˈpʊsʲrʲiːt͡ʃʲɛɪ] #1,773
- Macedonian појадок[ˈpɔjadɔk] #1,657
- Malay sarapan/saˈrapan/ #1,157
- Malayalam പ്രാതൽ/praːd̪ɐl/ breakfast, morning food #2,165
- Norwegian frokost/¹fruːˌkɔst/ breakfast; the first meal of the day, usually… #1,197
- Persian صبحونه/sobhuːne/ #1,442
- Polish śniadanie/ɕɲaˈda.ɲɛ/ #1,551
- Portuguese pequeno-almoço/piˌkẽ.nu.awˈmo.su/ #1,919
- Russian завтрак[ˈzaftrək] #1,899
- Serbian doručak/dǒrut͡ʃak/ #1,214
- Slovak raňajky/raɲajki/ #739
- Slovenian zajtrk/zàːjtərk/ #531
- Spanish desayuno/desaˈʝuno/ #1,883
- Swedish frukost/ˈfrʉkɔst/ #1,315
- Tagalog almusal/ʔalmuˈsal/ #2,344
- Turkish kahvaltı/kah.vaɫˈtɯ/ #1,354
- Ukrainian сніданок[sʲnʲiˈdanɔk] #2,061
- Urdu ناشتا/nɑːʃ.t̪ɑː/ #1,821
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.