How to say “cheese” in 35 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 Slovenian, where sir is the 509th most used word.
- Afrikaans kaas #1,043
- Albanian djathë #1,759
- Basque gazta #903
- Bengali পনির paneer; cheese #1,642
- Bosnian sir #900
- Bulgarian сирене curd cheese #1,828
- Catalan formatge #2,067
- Chinese 奶酪 #1,154
- Croatian sir #786
- Czech sýr #2,490
- Danish ost #2,320
- Dutch kaas #2,205
- English blake Yellow, as butter or cheese #2,331
- Estonian juust #2,290
- French fromage #2,219
- Galician queixo #2,077
- Greek τυρί #2,120
- Hebrew גבינה #1,500
- Icelandic ost #2,408
- Indonesian keju #1,987
- Italian formaggio #2,365
- Korean 치즈 #900
- Lithuanian sūris #2,281
- Macedonian сирење white cheese #1,651
- Malay keju #1,437
- Malayalam ചീസ് #1,278
- Portuguese queijo #2,136
- Romanian brânză #2,018
- Serbian sir #982
- Slovak syr #1,294
- Slovenian sir #509
- Spanish queso #1,955
- Tamil சீஸ் #1,034
- Turkish peynir cheese, a dairy product made from curdled milk #2,033
- Ukrainian сир #2,030
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.