How to say “breathe” in 30 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.
- respirar/respiˈɾaɾ/ Spanish
- تنفس/ta.naf.fa.sa/ Arabic
- 呼吸/xu⁵⁵ ɕi⁵⁵/ Chinese
- სუნთქვა[suntʰkʰʷa] Georgian
- மூச்சுவிடு/muːtʃtʃʊʋɪɖɯ/ Tamil
“breathe” in Spanish: respirar · French: respire · German: atmen · Italian: respira · Portuguese: respirar · Chinese: 呼吸 · Arabic: تنفس
It is commonest in Georgian, where სუნთქვა is the 243rd most used word.
Breathe in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans asemhaal/ˈɑːsəmˌhɑːl/ to breathe #1,029
- Arabic تنفس/ta.naf.fa.sa/ to breathe, to respire, to take a breath, to… #1,715
- Bosnian diše/ˈdiʃɛ/ to breathe, take breath #2,404
- Catalan respirar[rəs.piˈɾa] to breathe #2,157
- Chinese 呼吸/xu⁵⁵ ɕi⁵⁵/ to breathe; to exhale and inhale; to breathe… #370
- Croatian disati/dǐːsati/ to breathe, take breath #1,948
- Czech dýchat[ˈdiːxat] to breathe #2,004
- Dutch adem/ˈaːdəm/ to breathe #1,264
- Esperanto spirito/spiˈrito/ to breathe #909
- Finnish hengitä/ˈheŋŋɪtæ/ to breathe, respire #2,076
- French respire/ʁɛs.piʁ/ to breathe #1,942
- Georgian სუნთქვა[suntʰkʰʷa] to breathe #243
- German atmen/ˈaːtmən/ to breathe #1,712
- Icelandic anda[ˈanta] to breathe #714
- Indonesian bernapas/bərˈnapas/ to breathe #1,520
- Italian respira/resˈpira/ to breathe #2,308
- Latvian elpo/ˈælpuo/ to breathe #1,184
- Macedonian дише[ˈdiʃɛ] to breathe #2,135
- Malay bernafas/bə(r)nafas/ to breathe #862
- Norwegian pust/ˈpʉst/ to breathe #1,353
- Portuguese respirar/ʁes.piˈɾa(ʁ)/ to breathe #1,597
- Romanian respira/res.piˈra/ to breathe #2,138
- Serbian diše/ˈdiʃɛ/ to breathe, take breath #2,319
- Slovak dýchať/ˈdiːxac/ to breathe #954
- Slovenian dihati/dìːxati/ to breathe #840
- Spanish respirar/respiˈɾaɾ/ to breathe #2,260
- Swedish andas/ˈandas/ to breathe #832
- Tagalog huminga/humiˈŋa/ to breathe; to inhale and exhale air #1,136
- Tamil மூச்சுவிடு/muːtʃtʃʊʋɪɖɯ/ to breathe, respire, take a breather #1,864
- Vietnamese thở[tʰəː˧˩] to breathe out; to exhale #831
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 Catalan (upc_ona (ca_ES), CC BY-SA 4.0), Slovenian (artur (sl_SI), CC BY 4.0) and Vietnamese (vais1000 (vi_VN), CC BY 4.0).
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.