How to say “cake” in 33 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 Chinese, where 蛋糕 is the 479th most used word.
- Afrikaans koek #1,168
- Albanian tortë #1,929
- Arabic كعك #1,881
- Bengali কেক #922
- Bosnian kolač #2,432
- Bulgarian пита round loaf, cake, pie #1,367
- Catalan pastís pie, cake, pastry #1,420
- Chinese 蛋糕 #479
- Croatian kolač #2,442
- Czech dort #2,031
- Danish kage #1,853
- Dutch taart a pie, large cake, or cobbler #1,698
- Esperanto kukon #2,361
- Estonian kook #2,287
- French gâteau a sponge cake, i.e. a cake made with a… #1,581
- German kuchen pie; cake; tart #1,774
- Greek τούρτα cake with layers of filling and icing,… #2,351
- Hebrew עוגה #1,530
- Hindi केक #1,953
- Icelandic köku a cake #1,839
- Italian torta pie, tart, cake or similar #1,465
- Korean 케이크 #1,443
- Lithuanian torto torte, cake #2,075
- Macedonian торта #1,727
- Malay kek #1,180
- Malayalam കേക്ക് #703
- Norwegian kake a cake #2,304
- Persian کیک #2,000
- Serbian kolač #2,377
- Tagalog kakanin rice cake, usually one served with shredded… #2,406
- Tamil கேக் #1,920
- Turkish pasta #1,881
- Urdu کیک #1,045
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.