How to say “cut” in 40 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.
- corte/ˈkoɾte/ Spanish
- قطع/qa.tˤa.ʕa/ Arabic
- काट/kɑːʈ/ Hindi
- կտրել/kətˈɾel/ Armenian
- কাটা/kaʈa/ Bengali
- வெட்டு/ʋɛʈːɯ/ Tamil
“cut” in Spanish: corte · French: coupe · Italian: taglio · Portuguese: cortar · Arabic: قطع · Hindi: काट
It is commonest in Albanian, where prit is the 115th most used word.
Cut in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans knip/ˈknəp/ to cut #1,773
- Albanian prit/pɾit/ to cut, carve, slice, hew #115
- Arabic قطع/qa.tˤa.ʕa/ to cut, to break #560
- Armenian կտրել/kətˈɾel/ to cut #571
- Basque moztu/mos̻tu/ to cut, shear. shave #307
- Bengali কাটা/kaʈa/ to cut, chop #880
- Bosnian rez/rêːz/ #2,343
- Bulgarian рана[ˈranɐ] wound, cut #2,049
- Catalan tallar[təˈʎa] to cut #1,360
- Chinese 穿越/ʈ͡ʂʰu̯än⁵⁵ ɥɛ⁵¹/ to pass through; to cut through; to cross #1,208
- Croatian rez/rêːz/ #2,304
- Danish skære/skɛːrə/ #1,603
- Dutch snijden/ˈsnɛi̯də(n)/ to cut #2,455
- English bit/ˈbɪt/ To cut into something by clamping the teeth #297
- Estonian vene/ˈvene/ small boat, cut out of a tree trunk #1,195
- Finnish pieni/ˈpie̯ni/ To cut into pieces #366
- French coupe/kup/ to cut, cut up; to chop, to sever #1,428
- Galician espada/esˈpada/ sword, which is designed to cut, stab, slash… #997
- German scharf/ʃarf/ sharp; able to cut #2,090
- Hebrew קטע/kaˈta/ to cut off #1,325
- Hindi काट/kɑːʈ/ to cut, slice #797
- Icelandic skera[ˈscɛːra] to cut, slice, sever #862
- Indonesian luka/ˈluka/ an injury, such as a cut, stab, or tear, to a… #833
- Italian taglio/ˈtaʎ.ʎo/ cut, slit, slash, incision #1,943
- Korean 째[t͡ɕ͈ɛ] to cleave, to cut/tear #1,386
- Malay potong/ˈpotoŋ/ to cut; to sever into parts #860
- Malayalam മുറിവ്/muriʋɨ/ wound, cut #629
- Norwegian kutt/ˈkʉt/ to cut #893
- Persian قطع[qæt̪ʰʔ] cut, cutting, severing #490
- Portuguese cortar/koʁˈta(ʁ)/ to cut #1,494
- Romanian tai[taj] to cut #1,025
- Serbian rez/rêːz/ #2,481
- Slovenian rezati/rèːzati/ to cut #2,284
- Spanish corte/ˈkoɾte/ to cut #1,005
- Swedish skär/ɧæːr/ to cut; to perform an incision #1,748
- Tagalog tong/ˈtoŋ/ percentage cut or commission of the winnings… #526
- Tamil வெட்டு/ʋɛʈːɯ/ to cut, chop, crop #787
- Telugu కోయు/koːju/ to cut #1,535
- Urdu منقطع/mʊn.qə.t̪ɪʔ/ severed, cut off #2,478
- Vietnamese mổ[mo˧˩] to cut open #1,726
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.