How to say “breath” in 32 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.
- 숨[sʰu(ː)m] Korean
- सांस/sɑːns/ Hindi
- נשימה/neʃiˈma/ Hebrew
- მომენტი[mo̞me̞ntʼi] Georgian
- շունչ/ʃunt͡ʃʰ/ Armenian
- দম/d̪ɔm/ Bengali
“breath” in Korean: 숨 · Hindi: सांस · Turkish: nefes
It is commonest in Urdu, where سانس is the 260th most used word.
Breath in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans asem/ˈɑːsəm/ #532
- Albanian frymë/fɾymə/ #563
- Armenian շունչ/ʃunt͡ʃʰ/ #545
- Basque arnasa/arnas̺a/ breath, act of breathing #470
- Bengali দম/d̪ɔm/ #1,112
- Bosnian dah/dâx/ #2,389
- Bulgarian дъх[dɤx] #2,155
- Chinese 深呼吸/ʂən⁵⁵ xu⁵⁵ ɕi⁵⁵/ to take a deep breath; to breathe deeply #1,287
- Croatian disati/dǐːsati/ to breathe, take breath #1,948
- Czech dech[ˈdɛx] #2,365
- Finnish hengen/ˈheŋŋen/ #1,993
- Georgian მომენტი[mo̞me̞ntʼi] breath, breathing, moment #1,172
- Hebrew נשימה/neʃiˈma/ a breath #1,407
- Hindi सांस/sɑːns/ breath, respiration #722
- Icelandic andi[ˈantɪ] #1,516
- Indonesian napas/ˈnapas/ #1,606
- Korean 숨[sʰu(ː)m] breath, breathing #604
- Latvian elpu/ˈælpu/ breath, breathing #1,566
- Lithuanian kvapas[²ˈkʋɑːpɐs] #1,074
- Macedonian здив[zdif] #1,894
- Malay nafas/ˈnafas/ breath, respiration #820
- Malayalam ശ്വാസം/ʃʋaːsɐm/ #362
- Norwegian pusten/ˈpʉstn̩/ #2,344
- Persian نفس[næ.fǽs] #471
- Polish oddech/ˈɔd.dɛx/ #2,435
- Serbian dah/dâx/ #2,291
- Slovak dych/dix/ #1,121
- Tagalog hingal/hiˈŋal/ panting; out of breath #554
- Tamil மூச்சு/muːtʃtʃɯ/ #354
- Telugu ఊపిరి/uːpiɾi/ breath, respiration #328
- Turkish nefes/neˈfes/ #594
- Urdu سانس/sɑ̃ːs/ breath, breathing #260
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).
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.