How to say “church” in 45 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.
- iglesia/iˈɡlesja/ Spanish
- церковь[ˈt͡sɛrkəfʲ] Russian
- كنيسة/ka.niː.sa/ Arabic
- 교회[ˈkjo(ː)βwe̞] Korean
- चर्च/t͡ʃəɾt͡ʃ/ Hindi
- εκκλησία/e.kliˈsi.a/ Greek
“church” in Spanish: iglesia · French: église · German: kirche · Italian: chiesa · Portuguese: igreja · Korean: 교회 · Russian: церковь · Arabic: كنيسة
It is commonest in Telugu, where చర్చి is the 362nd most used word.
Church in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans kerk/kɛrk/ #808
- Albanian kishë/kiːʃ/ #1,337
- Arabic كنيسة/ka.niː.sa/ #1,750
- Armenian եկեղեցի/jekeʁeˈt͡sʰi/ #1,367
- Basque eliza/elis̻a/ #674
- Bengali চার্চ/t͡ʃaɾt͡ʃ/ #1,144
- Bosnian crkva/t͡sr̩̂ːkʋa/ #2,281
- Bulgarian църква[ˈt͡sɤrkvɐ] #1,568
- Catalan església[əzˈɡle.zi.ə] #1,332
- Croatian crkva/t͡sr̩̂ːkʋa/ #2,119
- Czech kostela[ˈkostɛla] #2,358
- Danish kirken/ˈkiɐ̯ɡən/ #1,496
- Dutch kerk/kɛrk/ church, house of Christian worship #993
- Esperanto eklezio/ekleˈzio/ church, especially one of Christianity #1,557
- Estonian kirik/ˈkirik/ #1,756
- French église/e.ɡliz/ #1,181
- Galician igrexa/iˈɡɾeʃa/ #756
- Georgian ეკლესია[e̞kʼle̞siä] #1,420
- German kirche/ˈkɪʁçə/ #1,148
- Greek εκκλησία/e.kliˈsi.a/ #1,000
- Hindi चर्च/t͡ʃəɾt͡ʃ/ #1,901
- Icelandic kirkju/ˈcʰɪr̥cʏ/ #1,508
- Italian chiesa/ˈkjɛ.za/ #1,149
- Korean 교회[ˈkjo(ː)βwe̞] #1,204
- Latvian baznīcu/ˈbaz-niːt͡su/ #2,275
- Lithuanian bažnyčia[bɐ¹ˈʒʲnʲiːt͡ʃʲɛ] church; basilica #1,219
- Macedonian црква[ˈt͡sr̩kva] #1,235
- Malay gereja/ɡəˈred͡ʒə/ #916
- Malayalam പള്ളി/pɐɭɭi/ #853
- Norwegian kirken/ˈçɪrkən/ #1,123
- Persian کلیسا[kʰʲe.liː.sɒ́ː] #1,857
- Polish kościoła/kɔɕˈt͡ɕɔ.wa/ #2,344
- Portuguese igreja/iˈɡɾe.ʒɐ/ #1,028
- Romanian biserică/biˈse.ri.kə/ #1,477
- Russian церковь[ˈt͡sɛrkəfʲ] #1,956
- Serbian crkva/t͡sr̩̂ːkʋa/ #2,121
- Slovak kostole/kɔstɔʎe/ #1,262
- Slovenian cerkev/t͡sèːrkəʋ/ #554
- Spanish iglesia/iˈɡlesja/ #981
- Swedish kyrkan/ˈɕyrkan/ a church #1,192
- Tagalog simbahan/simˈbahan/ #1,469
- Tamil திருச்சபை/t̪ɪɾʊtʃtʃɐbɐɪ̯/ #1,370
- Telugu చర్చి/t͡ɕaɾt͡ɕi/ #362
- Turkish kilise/kiˈli.se/ #1,864
- Urdu چرچ/t͡ʃəɾt͡ʃ/ building of a church #668
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.