How to say “colonel” in 34 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.
- coronel/koɾoˈnel/ Spanish
- полковник[pɐɫˈkovnʲɪk] Russian
- 上校/ʂɑŋ⁵¹⁻⁵³ ɕi̯ɑʊ̯⁵¹/ Chinese
- कर्नल/kəɾnəl/ Hindi
- קולונל/ˈko.lo.nel/ Hebrew
- سرهنگ[sæɹ.hæɲɡʲ̥] Persian
“colonel” in Spanish: coronel · French: colonel · German: colonel · Italian: colonnello · Portuguese: coronel · Chinese: 上校 · Russian: полковник · Hindi: कर्नल
It is commonest in Afrikaans, where kolonel is the 429th most used word.
Colonel in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans kolonel/ˌkʊə̯.lʊə̯ˈnɛl/ #429
- Bosnian pukovnik/pǔkoːʋniːk/ #1,919
- Bulgarian полковник[poɫˈkɔvnik] #1,068
- Catalan coronel[ku.ɾuˈnɛl] #1,135
- Chinese 上校/ʂɑŋ⁵¹⁻⁵³ ɕi̯ɑʊ̯⁵¹/ colonel; captain #450
- Croatian pukovnik/pǔkoːʋniːk/ #1,770
- Czech plukovník[ˈplukovɲiːk] #2,484
- Danish oberst/ˈoːˀbʌsd/ #906
- Dutch kolonel/ˌkoː.loːˈnɛl/ colonel, the military rank #942
- Estonian kolonel/ˈkolonel/ #613
- Finnish eversti/ˈeʋersti/ #1,166
- French colonel/kɔ.lɔ.nɛl/ a colonel, highest commissioned officer below… #1,102
- Galician coronel/koɾoˈnɛl/ #1,379
- German colonel/ˈkœʁnəl/ colonel; Colonel #1,152
- Greek συνταγματάρχη/ˌsidaɣmaˈtarçi/ the rank of colonel in the British and US… #2,442
- Hebrew קולונל/ˈko.lo.nel/ #997
- Hindi कर्नल/kəɾnəl/ #1,276
- Hungarian ezredes[ˈɛzrɛdɛʃ] #1,227
- Icelandic ofursti[ˈɔːvʏ(r̥)stɪ] #704
- Indonesian kolonel/koˈlonɛl/ #1,246
- Italian colonnello/ko.lonˈnɛl.lo/ #1,499
- Lithuanian pulkininkas[²ˈpʊlʲˑkʲɪnʲɪŋkɐs] #1,693
- Macedonian полковник[ˈpɔɫkɔvnik] #1,854
- Persian سرهنگ[sæɹ.hæɲɡʲ̥] #1,195
- Polish pułkowniku/puw.kɔvˈɲi.ku/ #2,018
- Portuguese coronel/ko.ɾoˈnɛw/ #996
- Russian полковник[pɐɫˈkovnʲɪk] #1,711
- Serbian pukovnik/pǔkoːʋniːk/ #1,805
- Slovak plukovník/plukɔvɲiːk/ #638
- Slovenian polkovnica/pɔlkɔ́ːʋnit͡sa/ #2,170
- Spanish coronel/koɾoˈnel/ #1,097
- Swedish överste/ˈøːvɛʂˌtɛ/ a colonel #1,196
- Turkish albay/aɫˈbaj/ #961
- Ukrainian полковник[pɔɫˈkɔu̯nek] #2,417
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 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.