How to say “courage” in 35 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.
- بأس/baʔs/ Arabic
- हिम्मत/ɦɪm.mət̪/ Hindi
- θάρρος/ˈθaros/ Greek
- সাহস/ʃahoʃ/ Bengali
- தைரியம்/d̪ɐɪ̯ɾɪjɐm/ Tamil
- ധൈര്യം/d̪(ʱ)ɐi̯ɾjɐm/ Malayalam
“courage” in German: mut · Italian: coraggio · Portuguese: coragem · Arabic: بأس · Hindi: हिम्मत · Turkish: cesaret · Greek: θάρρος
It is commonest in Arabic, where بأس is the 149th most used word.
Courage in other languages, A to Z
- Arabic بأس/baʔs/ courage, boldness #149
- Bengali সাহস/ʃahoʃ/ courage, fortitude #372
- Bosnian hrabrost/xrǎːbroːst/ #2,144
- Bulgarian кураж[koˈraʃ] courage, fortitude #2,489
- Croatian hrabrost/xrǎːbroːst/ #2,199
- Dutch durf/dʏrf/ valor/valour, courage, daring, braveness #1,521
- English dare/dɛ(ə)ɹ/ To have enough courage #971
- Esperanto kuraĝon/kuˈrad͡ʒon/ courage, bravery, boldness #1,594
- French couilles/kuj/ balls; courage, bravery #2,163
- Galician coraxe/koˈɾaʃe/ courage, boldness, audacity #2,099
- German mut/muːt/ courage; bravery #1,640
- Greek θάρρος/ˈθaros/ courage, bravery, valour, valor #2,072
- Hebrew ביצים/bejt͡sim/ testicles; having balls, courage, cojones #1,082
- Hindi हिम्मत/ɦɪm.mət̪/ courage, valour #826
- Icelandic hugrekki[ˈhʏɣ.rɛhcɪ] #1,137
- Indonesian keberanian/kəbəraˈnian/ #1,382
- Italian coraggio/koˈrad.d͡ʒo/ courage, bravery, valour/valor #969
- Latvian drosmi/ˈdruosmi/ courage, bravery #2,211
- Lithuanian drįsti[²ˈdʲrʲiːsʲtʲɪ] to dare, to have the courage #1,457
- Macedonian храброст[ˈxrabrɔst] bravery, courage, valour #939
- Malay keberanian/kəbəraˈnian/ courage, bravery #948
- Malayalam ധൈര്യം/d̪(ʱ)ɐi̯ɾjɐm/ #392
- Persian شجاعت[ʃo.d͡ʒɒː.ʔæt̪ʰ] bravery, courage #1,599
- Portuguese coragem/koˈɾa.ʒẽj̃/ courage; boldness; guts #1,380
- Romanian curaj/kuˈraʒ/ courage, guts, bravery #1,487
- Serbian hrabrost/xrǎːbroːst/ #2,057
- Slovak odvaha/ɔdvaɦa/ #2,105
- Slovenian pogum/pɔɡúːm/ #771
- Swedish vågar/ˈvoːɡar/ to dare, to have enough courage #1,264
- Tagalog katapangan/kataˈpaŋan/ bravery; courage #1,466
- Tamil தைரியம்/d̪ɐɪ̯ɾɪjɐm/ courage, bravery #885
- Telugu పిరికి/piriki/ a coward, person who lacks courage #1,189
- Turkish cesaret/d͡ʒe.saːˈɾet/ #1,312
- Urdu ہمت/ɦɪm.mət̪/ courage, valour #454
- Vietnamese dũng[zʊwŋ͡m˦ˀ˥] courage; bravery #1,249
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), 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.