How to say “corpse” in 31 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.
- труп[trup] Russian
- جثة/d͡ʒuθ.θa/ Arabic
- 屍體/ʂɻ̩⁵⁵ tʰi²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/ Chinese
- גופה/ɡuˈfa/ Hebrew
- մեռել/meˈrel/ Armenian
- ശവം/ʃɐʋɐm/ Malayalam
“corpse” in French: cadavre · Italian: cadavere · Chinese: 屍體 · Russian: труп · Arabic: جثة · Turkish: ceset
It is commonest in Vietnamese, where xác is the 318th most used word.
Corpse in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans lyk/ləik/ dead body; corpse #120
- Arabic جثة/d͡ʒuθ.θa/ corpse, cadaver #816
- Armenian մեռել/meˈrel/ corpse, dead body #546
- Bengali লাশ/laʃ/ dead body, corpse #578
- Chinese 屍體/ʂɻ̩⁵⁵ tʰi²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/ corpse; cadaver; dead body #1,968
- Danish liget/ˈliːˀəð/ body, corpse #1,254
- Estonian laip/lɑi̯p/ corpse, dead body #1,380
- French cadavre/ka.davʁ/ corpse, cadaver #2,440
- Galician cadáver/kaˈdabeɾ/ corpse, cadaver #2,288
- German leiche/ˈlaɪ̯çə/ dead body, corpse, cadaver, carcass #942
- Greek πτώμα/ˈptoma/ cadaver, corpse, dead body #737
- Hebrew גופה/ɡuˈfa/ #1,232
- Indonesian mayat/ˈmajat/ dead body; corpse; cadaver #787
- Italian cadavere/kaˈda.ve.re/ corpse, body, cadaver #1,629
- Korean 시체[ˈɕʰi(ː)t͡ɕʰe̞] cadaver, corpse, body #925
- Latvian līķi/ˈliːci/ dead body, corpse #1,328
- Lithuanian lavonas[lɐ¹ˈʋoːnɐs] corpse, cadaver #1,307
- Malay mayat/ˈmajat/ #613
- Malayalam ശവം/ʃɐʋɐm/ #553
- Norwegian liket/ˈliːkə/ a corpse, body #1,126
- Persian جسد[d͡ʒæ.sæd̪̥] #719
- Romanian cadavrul/kaˈdavrul/ #1,331
- Russian труп[trup] corpse, dead body #2,103
- Slovak mŕtvola/mr̩ːtvɔla/ #1,796
- Slovenian truplo/trùːplɔ/ body, corpse #345
- Spanish cadáver/kaˈdabeɾ/ cadaver, corpse #2,013
- Tagalog patay/paˈtaj/ cadaver; corpse; dead body of a person #165
- Turkish ceset/dʒe.set/ #1,147
- Ukrainian труп[trup] #1,496
- Urdu لاش/lɑːʃ/ #777
- Vietnamese xác[saːk̚˧˦] #318
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), 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.