How to say “cat” in 43 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 Tamil, where பில்லி is the 363rd most used word.
- Afrikaans kat #878
- Albanian mace #1,305
- Arabic قطة a cat #1,976
- Armenian կատու #1,363
- Basque katu #743
- Bosnian mačka #1,948
- Catalan gat #2,098
- Croatian mačka #1,885
- Czech kočka #1,889
- Danish kat #1,473
- Dutch kat domestic cat, pussy, Felis silvestris catus #1,256
- English tom The male of the domesticated cat, especially… #878
- Esperanto kato #1,220
- Estonian kass #1,244
- Finnish kissa #2,450
- French chat #1,372
- Galician gato #992
- German katze house cat, Felis silvestris catus #1,690
- Greek γάτα #1,524
- Hebrew חתול #1,306
- Hindi बिल्ली #1,833
- Icelandic köttur a cat #1,490
- Indonesian kucing #922
- Italian gatto #1,667
- Korean 고양이 #563
- Latvian kaķis domestic cat #1,591
- Lithuanian katė #1,557
- Macedonian мачка #1,300
- Malay kucing #814
- Malayalam പൂച്ച cat, Felis catus, small, domesticated… #839
- Norwegian katt a cat #2,198
- Persian گربه #712
- Portuguese gato #1,523
- Romanian pisica #1,850
- Serbian mačka #1,846
- Slovak mačka #1,139
- Slovenian mačka #657
- Spanish gato #1,486
- Tagalog pusa cat; feline #468
- Tamil பில்லி #363
- Telugu పిల్లులు #668
- Turkish kedi #1,165
- Vietnamese mèo #1,143
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.