How to say “cheese” in 35 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.
- queso/ˈkeso/ Spanish
- 奶酪/naɪ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ lɑʊ̯⁵¹/ Chinese
- 치즈[t͡ɕʰid͡ʑɯ] Korean
- τυρί/tiˈɾi/ Greek
- גבינה/ɡviˈna/ Hebrew
- சீஸ்/tʃiːs/ Tamil
“cheese” in Spanish: queso · French: fromage · Italian: formaggio · Portuguese: queijo · Chinese: 奶酪 · Korean: 치즈 · Turkish: peynir · Greek: τυρί
It is commonest in Slovenian, where sir is the 509th most used word.
Cheese in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans kaas/kɑːs/ #1,043
- Albanian djathë/dja.θə/ #1,759
- Basque gazta/ɡas̻ta/ #903
- Bengali পনির/poniɾ/ paneer; cheese #1,642
- Bosnian sir/sîr/ #900
- Bulgarian сирене[ˈsirɛnɛ] curd cheese #1,828
- Catalan formatge[furˈma.d͡ʒə] #2,067
- Chinese 奶酪/naɪ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ lɑʊ̯⁵¹/ #1,154
- Croatian sir/sîr/ #786
- Czech sýr[ˈsiːr] #2,490
- Danish ost/ˈost/ #2,320
- Dutch kaas/kaːs/ #2,205
- English blake/bleɪk/ Yellow, as butter or cheese #2,331
- Estonian juust/juːst/ #2,290
- French fromage/fʁɔ.maʒ/ #2,219
- Galician queixo/ˈkejʃo/ #2,077
- Greek τυρί/tiˈɾi/ #2,120
- Hebrew גבינה/ɡviˈna/ #1,500
- Icelandic ost/ɔst/ #2,408
- Indonesian keju/ˈkɛd͡ʒu/ #1,987
- Italian formaggio/forˈmad.d͡ʒo/ #2,365
- Korean 치즈[t͡ɕʰid͡ʑɯ] #900
- Lithuanian sūris[ˈs̪ûːrʲɪs̪] #2,281
- Macedonian сирење[ˈsiɾɛɲɛ] white cheese #1,651
- Malay keju/ˈked͡ʒu/ #1,437
- Malayalam ചീസ്/t͡ʃiːsɨ̆/ #1,278
- Portuguese queijo/ˈke(j).ʒu/ #2,136
- Romanian brânză/ˈbrɨn.zə/ #2,018
- Serbian sir/sîr/ #982
- Slovak syr/sir/ #1,294
- Slovenian sir/sír/ #509
- Spanish queso/ˈkeso/ #1,955
- Tamil சீஸ்/tʃiːs/ #1,034
- Turkish peynir[pʰe̞j.ˈniɾ] cheese, a dairy product made from curdled milk #2,033
- Ukrainian сир[sɪr] #2,030
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.