How to say “building” in 47 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.
- edificio/ediˈfiθjo/ Spanish
- 건물[ˈkɘ(ː)nmuɭ] Korean
- निर्माण/nɪɾ.mɑːɳ/ Hindi
- κτίριο/ˈktiriˌo/ Greek
- בניין/binˈjan/ Hebrew
- கட்டிடம்/kɐʈːɪɖɐm/ Tamil
“building” in Spanish: edificio · French: bâtiment · Italian: edificio · Portuguese: edifício · Korean: 건물 · Hindi: निर्माण · Greek: κτίριο
It is commonest in Tamil, where கட்டிடம் is the 522nd most used word.
Building in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans geboue/xəˈbəʊə/ #1,958
- Albanian ndërtesë/ndəɾtɛsə/ building, facility #1,222
- Arabic بيت/bajt/ house, building #316
- Armenian տուն/tun/ house, building #152
- Basque eraikin/eɾai̯kin/ #725
- Bengali ঘর/ɡʱɔɾ/ a house, building, residence #456
- Bosnian zgrada/zɡrâda/ #1,676
- Bulgarian дом[dɔm] residential building, home, house #552
- Catalan edifici[ə.ðiˈfi.si] #828
- Chinese 公寓/kʊŋ⁵⁵ y⁵¹/ multi-storied apartment building #408
- Croatian zgrada/zɡrâda/ #1,761
- Czech budovy[ˈbudovɪ] #1,762
- Danish bygningen/ˈbyˌɡneŋˀən/ a building; closed structure with walls and a… #1,399
- Dutch gebouw/ɣəˈbɑu̯/ building, structure, construction #929
- English door/doɹ/ A portal of entry into a building, room, or… #291
- Esperanto teatro/teˈatro/ a building where theatrical productions are… #947
- Estonian hoone/ˈhoːne/ building, edifice #1,240
- French bâtiment/ba.ti.mɑ̃/ building, edifice #1,776
- Galician edificio/ɛdiˈfiθjo/ building, edifice #887
- German hause[ˈhaʊ̯zə] house, building #245
- Greek κτίριο/ˈktiriˌo/ #1,074
- Hebrew בניין/binˈjan/ #1,556
- Hindi निर्माण/nɪɾ.mɑːɳ/ building, construction #714
- Hungarian ház[ˈhaːz] house, building #719
- Indonesian gedung/ɡəˈduŋ/ #832
- Italian edificio/e.diˈfi.t͡ʃo/ #1,397
- Korean 건물[ˈkɘ(ː)nmuɭ] building, construction, edifice #744
- Latvian sienas/ˈsieːnas/ wall that limits a building, a room, etc #1,218
- Lithuanian pastatas[²ˈpɑːstɐtɐs] #1,261
- Macedonian зграда[ˈzɡrada] #1,073
- Malay bangunan/baŋunan/ #564
- Malayalam കെട്ടിടം/keʈʈiʈɐm/ #849
- Norwegian bygningen/ˈbʏɡnɪŋən/ a building #1,538
- Persian ساختمان[sɒːxt̪ʰ.mɒ́ːn] #1,261
- Polish budynku/buˈdɘŋ.ku/ #1,390
- Portuguese edifício/e.d͡ʒiˈfi.sju/ building, edifice #1,396
- Romanian clădire[kləˈdi.re] #1,508
- Russian дом[dom] house, building #260
- Serbian zgrada/zɡrâda/ #1,790
- Slovak budova/budɔva/ #1,137
- Slovenian stavba/stáːʋba/ building, structure #1,217
- Spanish edificio/ediˈfiθjo/ #1,018
- Swedish hos/hʊs/ at someone's place or building, usually their… #270
- Tagalog opis/ˈʔopis/ office or building used for non-manual work #1,157
- Tamil கட்டிடம்/kɐʈːɪɖɐm/ #522
- Turkish eve/eˈve/ A building for a family to reside in; house,… #194
- Urdu عمارت/ɪmɑːɾət̪/ #540
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.