How to say “breathe” in 30 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 Georgian, where სუნთქვა is the 243rd most used word.
- Afrikaans asemhaal to breathe #1,029
- Arabic تنفس to breathe, to respire, to take a breath, to… #1,715
- Bosnian diše to breathe, take breath #2,404
- Catalan respirar to breathe #2,157
- Chinese 呼吸 to breathe; to exhale and inhale; to breathe… #370
- Croatian disati to breathe, take breath #1,948
- Czech dýchat to breathe #2,004
- Dutch adem to breathe #1,264
- Esperanto spirito to breathe #909
- Finnish hengitä to breathe, respire #2,076
- French respire to breathe #1,942
- Georgian სუნთქვა to breathe #243
- German atmen to breathe #1,712
- Icelandic anda to breathe #714
- Indonesian bernapas to breathe #1,520
- Italian respira to breathe #2,308
- Latvian elpo to breathe #1,184
- Macedonian дише to breathe #2,135
- Malay bernafas to breathe #862
- Norwegian pust to breathe #1,353
- Portuguese respirar to breathe #1,597
- Romanian respira to breathe #2,138
- Serbian diše to breathe, take breath #2,319
- Slovak dýchať to breathe #954
- Slovenian dihati to breathe #840
- Spanish respirar to breathe #2,260
- Swedish andas to breathe #832
- Tagalog huminga to breathe; to inhale and exhale air #1,136
- Tamil மூச்சுவிடு to breathe, respire, take a breather #1,864
- Vietnamese thở to breathe out; to exhale #831
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.