How to say “city” in 50 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 Urdu, where شہر is the 163rd most used word.
- Afrikaans stad #389
- Albanian qytet city, particularly as a former administrative… #386
- Arabic مدينة town, city #351
- Armenian թաղամաս district, neighborhood, city block, quarter #1,586
- Basque hiriko #698
- Bengali শহর town, city #437
- Bosnian grad city, town #455
- Bulgarian града town, city #379
- Catalan ciutat #279
- Chinese 城市 city; town #231
- Croatian grad city, town #454
- Czech města #683
- Danish byen town, city #355
- Dutch stad city, town #370
- English susan Of or pertaining to the ancient city of Susa #2,240
- Esperanto urbo city, town #360
- Estonian linna #474
- Finnish kaupungin town, city #998
- French ville town, city #329
- Galician cidade #209
- Georgian ქალაქი town, city #288
- German stadt #365
- Greek πόλη town; city #316
- Hebrew עיר #1,038
- Hindi शहर #314
- Hungarian város city, town #846
- Icelandic borga #346
- Italian città town, city #630
- Korean 서울 capital; large city #1,631
- Latvian pilsētā city, town #654
- Lithuanian miestas #626
- Macedonian град city, town #368
- Malay bandar A city or town #260
- Malayalam നഗരം #343
- Norwegian byen town, city #308
- Persian شهر city, town #173
- Polish miasta city, town #693
- Portuguese cidade city, town #289
- Romanian oraș city, town #2,369
- Russian город city, town #631
- Serbian grad city, town #459
- Slovak mesta #398
- Spanish ciudad #335
- Swedish staden a city, a town #804
- Tagalog lungsod #333
- Tamil தலைநகர் capital city #1,890
- Telugu రాజధాని capital city #1,314
- Turkish şehir #729
- Ukrainian місто #570
- Urdu شہر #163
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.