How to say “church” in 45 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 Telugu, where చర్చి is the 362nd most used word.
- Afrikaans kerk #808
- Albanian kishë #1,337
- Arabic كنيسة #1,750
- Armenian եկեղեցի #1,367
- Basque eliza #674
- Bengali চার্চ #1,144
- Bosnian crkva #2,281
- Bulgarian църква #1,568
- Catalan església #1,332
- Croatian crkva #2,119
- Czech kostela #2,358
- Danish kirken #1,496
- Dutch kerk church, house of Christian worship #993
- Esperanto eklezio church, especially one of Christianity #1,557
- Estonian kirik #1,756
- French église #1,181
- Galician igrexa #756
- Georgian ეკლესია #1,420
- German kirche #1,148
- Greek εκκλησία #1,000
- Hindi चर्च #1,901
- Icelandic kirkju #1,508
- Italian chiesa #1,149
- Korean 교회 #1,204
- Latvian baznīcu #2,275
- Lithuanian bažnyčia church; basilica #1,219
- Macedonian црква #1,235
- Malay gereja #916
- Malayalam പള്ളി #853
- Norwegian kirken #1,123
- Persian کلیسا #1,857
- Polish kościoła #2,344
- Portuguese igreja #1,028
- Romanian biserică #1,477
- Russian церковь #1,956
- Serbian crkva #2,121
- Slovak kostole #1,262
- Slovenian cerkev #554
- Spanish iglesia #981
- Swedish kyrkan a church #1,192
- Tagalog simbahan #1,469
- Tamil திருச்சபை #1,370
- Telugu చర్చి #362
- Turkish kilise #1,864
- Urdu چرچ building of a church #668
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.