How to say “close” in 49 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.
- cerca/ˈθeɾka/ Spanish
- קרוב/kaˈʁov/ Hebrew
- ახლოს[äχɫo̞s] Georgian
- بستن[bæs.t̪ʰǽn] Persian
“close” in Spanish: cerca · Portuguese: perto
It is commonest in Indonesian, where dekat is the 337th most used word.
Close in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans sluit/slœit/ to close #568
- Albanian mbyllur/mbyɫuɾ/ to close, shut, seal #489
- Arabic قريب/qa.riːb/ near, close, adjacent #535
- Armenian մոտ/mot/ close to, near, by #86
- Bengali নিকট/nikɔʈ/ near, close to, about #1,088
- Bosnian blizu/blǐːzu/ near, close #486
- Bulgarian до[dɔ] near, close to #59
- Catalan tanca[ˈtaŋ.kə] to close #1,120
- Chinese 停止/tʰiŋ³⁵ ʈ͡ʂɻ̩²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/ to stop; to suspend; to close #204
- Croatian blizu/blǐːzu/ near, close #484
- Czech zavři[ˈzavr̝ɪ] to close, to shut #1,524
- Danish luk/ˈlɔɡ/ to close #554
- Dutch dicht/dɪxt/ close, closely #546
- English care/kɛɚ/ Close attention; concern; responsibility #244
- Esperanto fermu/ˈfermu/ to close, to shut #728
- Estonian ligi/ˈliɡ̊i/ closer; close, nearby, near #993
- Finnish melkein/ˈmelkei̯n/ almost, nearly, close to #459
- French fin/fɛ̃/ end, close, finish #404
- Galician pecha/ˈpet͡ʃa/ to close; to shut #1,576
- Georgian ახლოს[äχɫo̞s] close, closely, imminently, near, thereby #571
- German nächste/ˈnɛːçstə/ near, close, nearby #638
- Greek γύρω/ˈjiro/ around, close by #495
- Hebrew קרוב/kaˈʁov/ close, near #400
- Hungarian mellettem[ˈmɛlːɛtːɛm] by, near, beside, close, next to him/her/it #1,994
- Indonesian dekat/dəˈkat/ #337
- Italian prossima/ˈprɔs.si.ma/ very near, near, close #653
- Korean 가까이[ka̠k͈a̠i] closely, close together; nearby #396
- Latvian aizveries/ˈaizʋeries/ to close up #506
- Lithuanian arti/ˈar.tʲɪ/ nearby, close, around #562
- Macedonian блиску[ˈblisku] close by #561
- Malay hampir/ˈhampe(r)/ very close or near to #302
- Norwegian nær/ˈnæːr/ #611
- Persian بستن[bæs.t̪ʰǽn] to close, to shut #1,963
- Polish zamknij/ˈza.mkɲij/ to close, to lock, to shut #464
- Portuguese perto/ˈpɛʁ.tu/ close, closely, next #379
- Romanian aproape[a.ˈpro̯a.pe] near, close, nearby #230
- Russian друг[drux] close friend #195
- Serbian blizu/blǐːzu/ near, close #494
- Slovak blízky/bʎiːski/ #1,550
- Slovenian skoraj/skɔ̀ːraj/ almost, nearly, close #194
- Spanish cerca/ˈθeɾka/ close, near, around, about, nearly, nigh #380
- Swedish nära/ˈnɛːra/ near, close #401
- Tagalog pare/ˈpaɾe/ buddy; close male friend #160
- Tamil மூடு/muːɖɯ/ to shut, close #275
- Telugu ముగింపు/ˈmuɡinpu/ the end, close, conclusion #208
- Turkish yakın/jɑˈkɯn/ close by, nearby #412
- Ukrainian близько[ˈbɫɪzʲkɔ] near, nearby, close #671
- Urdu تقریبا/t̪əq.ɾiː.bən/ around, about, approximately, close to,… #402
- Vietnamese thân[tʰən˧˧] close or even best #312
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.