How to say “child” in 52 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.
- niños/ˈniɲos/ Spanish
- ребята[rʲɪˈbʲatə] Russian
- طفل/tˤifl/ Arabic
- 孩子/xaɪ̯³⁵ d͡z̥ɹ̩³/ Chinese
- 아이[a̠i] Korean
- बच्चे/bət̪.t͡ʃeː/ Hindi
“child” in Spanish: niños · French: enfants · Italian: bambino · Portuguese: crianças · Chinese: 孩子 · Korean: 아이 · Russian: ребята · Arabic: طفل
It is commonest in Chinese, where 孩子 is the 18th most used word.
Child in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans kind/kənt/ #133
- Albanian fëmijë/fəˈmijə/ child, offspring, toddler #213
- Arabic طفل/tˤifl/ #274
- Basque ume/ume/ #275
- Bengali সন্তান/ʃɔnt̪an/ child, offspring #544
- Bosnian dijete/djěːte/ child, kid #431
- Bulgarian дете[dɛˈtɛ] child, kid #317
- Catalan nens[ˈnɛns] boy, male child #379
- Chinese 孩子/xaɪ̯³⁵ d͡z̥ɹ̩³/ child; children; kid #18
- Croatian dijete/djěːte/ child, kid #314
- Czech dítě[ˈɟiːcɛ] #287
- Danish børn/ˈbœrn/ #257
- Dutch kinderen/ˈkɪn.də.rə(n)/ child, kid, non-adult human #261
- English girl/ˈɡɜɹl/ A female child #202
- Esperanto infanoj/inˈfanoi̯/ #218
- Estonian lapsed/ˈlɑpsed̥/ child, kid #385
- Finnish lapset/ˈlɑpset/ #556
- French enfants/ɑ̃.fɑ̃/ #255
- Galician nenos/ˈnenos/ boy; male child, especially before puberty #292
- Georgian შვილი[ʃʷili] #184
- German kinder/ˈkɪndɐ/ kid; child #278
- Greek παιδιά/peðiˈa/ child; kid #125
- Hebrew ילד/jald/ a child, a kid, a boy #220
- Hindi बच्चे/bət̪.t͡ʃeː/ #212
- Hungarian gyerek[ˈɟɛrɛk] alternative form of gyermek child” #484
- Icelandic börn[ˈpœrtn̥] #343
- Indonesian anak/ˈanak/ #107
- Italian bambino/bamˈbi.no/ child, baby, toddler, tot #356
- Korean 아이[a̠i] child, kid #301
- Latvian bērni/ˈbæːrni/ #354
- Lithuanian vaikas[²ˈʋɐɪˑkɐs] #268
- Macedonian дете[ˈdɛtɛ] child, kid #215
- Malay anak/ˈanak/ A person's child #104
- Malayalam കുട്ടി/kuʈʈi/ #134
- Norwegian barn/bɑːɳ/ #216
- Persian بچه[bæ.t͡ʃʰe] child, kid #46
- Polish dzieci/ˈd͡ʑɛ.t͡ɕi/ #228
- Portuguese crianças/kɾiˈɐ̃.sɐs/ #458
- Romanian copii/koˈpiʲ/ #300
- Russian ребята[rʲɪˈbʲatə] child, kid, baby: children, kids, babies #322
- Serbian dete/ˈdɛtɛ/ child, kid #348
- Slovak dieťa/ɟɪ̯eca/ #186
- Slovenian otrok/ɔtrɔ́k/ #172
- Spanish niños/ˈniɲos/ child, boy #331
- Swedish barn/bɑːrn/ a child #182
- Tagalog anak/ʔaˈnak/ child; offspring #135
- Tamil பிள்ளை/pɪɭːɐɪ̯/ child, infant, offspring #1,423
- Telugu శిశువు/ˈɕiɕuʋu/ a child, infant #108
- Turkish çocuk/t͡ʃoˈd͡ʒuk/ #197
- Ukrainian дитина[deˈtɪnɐ] #549
- Urdu بچہ/bət̪.t͡ʃɑ(ː)/ baby; kid, child #367
- Vietnamese bé[ʔɓɛ˧˦] you, little child #186
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), Slovenian (artur (sl_SI), CC BY 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.