How to say “city” in 50 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.
- ciudad/θiwˈdad/ Spanish
- город[ˈɣorət] Russian
- 城市/ʈ͡ʂʰɤŋ³⁵ ʂɻ̩⁵¹/ Chinese
- शहर/ʃə.ɦəɾ/ Hindi
- עיר/(ʔ)iʁ/ Hebrew
- നഗരം/nɐɡɐɾɐm/ Malayalam
“city” in Spanish: ciudad · German: stadt · Portuguese: cidade · Chinese: 城市 · Russian: город · Hindi: शहर · Turkish: şehir
It is commonest in Urdu, where شہر is the 163rd most used word.
City in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans stad/stat/ #389
- Albanian qytet/cyˈtet/ city, particularly as a former administrative… #386
- Arabic مدينة/ma.diː.na/ town, city #351
- Armenian թաղամաս/tʰɑʁɑˈmɑs/ district, neighborhood, city block, quarter #1,586
- Basque hiriko/hiɾiko/ #698
- Bengali শহর/ʃɔhoɾ/ town, city #437
- Bosnian grad/ɡrâːd/ city, town #455
- Bulgarian града[ɡrɐˈdɤ] town, city #379
- Catalan ciutat[siwˈtat] #279
- Chinese 城市/ʈ͡ʂʰɤŋ³⁵ ʂɻ̩⁵¹/ city; town #231
- Croatian grad/ɡrâːd/ city, town #454
- Czech města[ˈmɲɛsta] #683
- Danish byen/ˈbyːˀən/ town, city #355
- Dutch stad/stɑt/ city, town #370
- English susan/ˈsuːzən/ Of or pertaining to the ancient city of Susa #2,240
- Esperanto urbo/ˈurbo/ city, town #360
- Estonian linna/ˈlinːɑ/ #474
- Finnish kaupungin/ˈkaupuŋŋɪn/ town, city #998
- French ville/vil/ town, city #329
- Galician cidade/θiˈdade/ #209
- Georgian ქალაქი[kʰäɫäkʰi] town, city #288
- German stadt/ʃtat/ #365
- Greek πόλη/ˈpoli/ town; city #316
- Hebrew עיר/(ʔ)iʁ/ #1,038
- Hindi शहर/ʃə.ɦəɾ/ #314
- Hungarian város[ˈvaːroʃ] city, town #846
- Icelandic borga[ˈpɔrka] #346
- Italian città/t͡ʃitˈta/ town, city #630
- Korean 서울[sʰʌ̹uɭ] capital; large city #1,631
- Latvian pilsētā/ˈpilsæːtaː/ city, town #654
- Lithuanian miestas[²ˈmʲiɛstɐs] #626
- Macedonian град[ɡrat] city, town #368
- Malay bandar/ˈbanda(r)/ A city or town #260
- Malayalam നഗരം/nɐɡɐɾɐm/ #343
- Norwegian byen/ˈbyːən/ town, city #308
- Persian شهر[ʃæɦɹ] city, town #173
- Polish miasta/ˈmjas.ta/ city, town #693
- Portuguese cidade/siˈda.d͡ʒi/ city, town #289
- Romanian oraș/oˈraʃ/ city, town #2,369
- Russian город[ˈɣorət] city, town #631
- Serbian grad/ɡrâːd/ city, town #459
- Slovak mesta/ˈmesta/ #398
- Spanish ciudad/θiwˈdad/ #335
- Swedish staden/ˈstɑːdɛn/ a city, a town #804
- Tagalog lungsod/luŋˈsod/ #333
- Tamil தலைநகர்/t̪ɐlɐɪ̯nɐɡɐɾ/ capital city #1,890
- Telugu రాజధాని/ˈraːɟaˌdʰaːni/ capital city #1,314
- Turkish şehir/ʃeˈhiɾ/ #729
- Ukrainian місто[ˈmʲistɔ] #570
- Urdu شہر/ʃəɦɾ/ #163
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) and Estonian (news (et_EE), CC BY 4.0).
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.