How to say “cut” in 40 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.
It is commonest in Albanian, where prit is the 115th most used word.
- Afrikaans knip to cut #1,773
- Albanian prit to cut, carve, slice, hew #115
- Arabic قطع to cut, to break #560
- Armenian կտրել to cut #571
- Basque moztu to cut, shear. shave #307
- Bengali কাটা to cut, chop #880
- Bosnian rez #2,343
- Bulgarian рана wound, cut #2,049
- Catalan tallar to cut #1,360
- Chinese 穿越 to pass through; to cut through; to cross #1,208
- Croatian rez #2,304
- Danish skære #1,603
- Dutch snijden to cut #2,455
- English bit To cut into something by clamping the teeth #297
- Estonian vene small boat, cut out of a tree trunk #1,195
- Finnish pieni To cut into pieces #366
- French coupe to cut, cut up; to chop, to sever #1,428
- Galician espada sword, which is designed to cut, stab, slash… #997
- German scharf sharp; able to cut #2,090
- Hebrew קטע to cut off #1,325
- Hindi काट to cut, slice #797
- Icelandic skera to cut, slice, sever #862
- Indonesian luka an injury, such as a cut, stab, or tear, to a… #833
- Italian taglio cut, slit, slash, incision #1,943
- Korean 째 to cleave, to cut/tear #1,386
- Malay potong to cut; to sever into parts #860
- Malayalam മുറിവ് wound, cut #629
- Norwegian kutt to cut #893
- Persian قطع cut, cutting, severing #490
- Portuguese cortar to cut #1,494
- Romanian tai to cut #1,025
- Serbian rez #2,481
- Slovenian rezati to cut #2,284
- Spanish corte to cut #1,005
- Swedish skär to cut; to perform an incision #1,748
- Tagalog tong percentage cut or commission of the winnings… #526
- Tamil வெட்டு to cut, chop, crop #787
- Telugu కోయు to cut #1,535
- Urdu منقطع severed, cut off #2,478
- Vietnamese mổ to cut open #1,726
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.