How to say “dad” in 31 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 Chinese, where 爸爸 is the 35th most used word.
- Afrikaans pa dad, father #145
- Albanian babi dad, father #182
- Bosnian tata dad, daddy #166
- Bulgarian татко daddy, dad, papa #173
- Chinese 爸爸 dad; papa #35
- Croatian tata dad, daddy #173
- Czech tati #346
- Danish far father, dad #105
- Dutch papa #465
- English papa Dad, daddy, father; a familiar or… #1,553
- Finnish isi dad, father, daddy #1,999
- German dad dad; Dad #362
- Greek μπαμπά dad, father #236
- Hindi पापा dad, daddy #417
- Hungarian apu #814
- Icelandic pabbi #103
- Italian papà dad, papa #417
- Korean 아빠 dad, papa #105
- Latvian tēti father, dad #327
- Macedonian тато #150
- Norwegian pappa dad, daddy #203
- Persian بابا dad, daddy, father #157
- Polish tato #301
- Portuguese papá dad; daddy; father #781
- Russian папа dad, daddy #274
- Serbian tata dad, daddy #169
- Spanish papá #197
- Swedish pappa dad, father #130
- Tagalog papa dad; daddy #176
- Tamil அப்பா father, dad #145
- Ukrainian тато #381
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.