How to say “busy” 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.
- مشغول/maʃ.ɣuːl/ Arabic
- व्यस्त/ʋjəst̪/ Hindi
- עסוק/aˈsuk/ Hebrew
- დაკავებული[d̥äkʼäve̞buli] Georgian
- ব্যস্ত/bæst̪o/ Bengali
“busy” in French: occupée · German: beschäftigt · Italian: presa · Portuguese: ocupado · Arabic: مشغول · Hindi: व्यस्त · Turkish: meşgul
It is commonest in Afrikaans, where besig is the 316th most used word.
Busy in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans besig/ˈbɪə.səχ/ #316
- Arabic مشغول/maʃ.ɣuːl/ #709
- Basque jardun/ɟardun/ to be busy doing something #974
- Bengali ব্যস্ত/bæst̪o/ #617
- Chinese 大忙/tä⁵¹ mɑŋ³⁵/ very busy #2,460
- Danish travlt/ˈtʁɑwˀld/ #676
- Dutch bezig/ˈbeː.zəx/ busy, occupied #472
- French occupée/ɔ.ky.pe/ #2,237
- Georgian დაკავებული[d̥äkʼäve̞buli] busy, occupied #745
- German beschäftigt/bəˈʃɛftɪkt/ #1,192
- Greek ήσυχο/ˈisiˌxo/ quiet, calm, not busy #1,367
- Hebrew עסוק/aˈsuk/ #789
- Hindi व्यस्त/ʋjəst̪/ busy, involved, engaged #861
- Hungarian elfoglalt[ˈɛlfoɡlɒlt] occupied, busy #1,621
- Icelandic upptekinn[ˈʏhp.tʰɛːcɪn(ː)] busy, occupied #872
- Indonesian sibuk/ˈsibuk/ #635
- Italian presa/ˈpre.za/ busy, taken up, preoccupied #895
- Korean 길거리[kiɭk͈ʌ̹ɾi] a thoroughfare; a busy street #2,208
- Lithuanian užsiėmęs[ʊsʲɪ.²ˈeːmʲæːs] busy, occupied, engaged #841
- Macedonian зафатен[ˈzafatɛn] #874
- Malay sibuk/ˈsibuk/ #636
- Norwegian opptatt/ˈɔpˌtɑt/ #776
- Persian مشغول[mæʃ.ɢúːl̥] busy, occupied #932
- Polish zajęta/zaˈjɛn.ta/ busy, occupied, engaged #2,361
- Portuguese ocupado/o.kuˈpa.du/ #1,317
- Swedish upptagen/ˈɵptɑːɡɛn/ busy, engaged in activity #1,029
- Tagalog bisi/ˈbisi/ busy; occupied #2,430
- Turkish meşgul/meʃ.ɡul/ #1,091
- Urdu مصروف/məs.ɾuːf/ busy, occupied, engaged #886
- Vietnamese rảnh[zajŋ̟˧˩] free; unoccupied; not busy #1,814
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) 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.