How to say “dead” in 45 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.
- muerta/ˈmweɾta/ Spanish
- мертва[mʲɪrtˈva] Russian
- ميت/maj.jit/ Arabic
- 死者/sɹ̩²¹⁴⁻³⁵ ʈ͡ʂɤ²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/ Chinese
- मृत/mɾɪt̪/ Hindi
- νεκρός/neˈkɾos/ Greek
“dead” in Spanish: muerta · French: morte · German: tot · Italian: morto · Portuguese: morta · Chinese: 死者 · Russian: мертва · Arabic: ميت
It is commonest in Malay, where mati is the 83rd most used word.
Dead in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans dood/dʊət/ #106
- Arabic ميت/maj.jit/ #360
- Armenian մեռած/meˈrɑt͡s/ #194
- Bengali মৃত/mɾit̪o/ dead, deceased #366
- Bosnian mrtav/mřtaʋ/ dead, deceased #357
- Bulgarian мъртъв[ˈmɤrtɐf] dead, lifeless, inanimate #368
- Catalan morts/ˈmɔrs/ #522
- Chinese 死者/sɹ̩²¹⁴⁻³⁵ ʈ͡ʂɤ²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/ the dead; the deceased; the departed #786
- Croatian mrtav/mřtaʋ/ dead, deceased #358
- Czech mrtvý[ˈmr̩tviː] #546
- Danish døde[ˈd̥øːðə] dead, inanimate #234
- Dutch lijken/ˈlɛi̯kə(n)/ the dead but otherwise intact body,… #771
- English alive/əˈlaɪv/ Having life; living; not dead #542
- Estonian surnud/ˈsurnud̥/ #216
- Finnish kuolleet/ˈkuolleːt/ dead person, decedent, deceased #1,793
- French morte/mɔʁt/ #569
- Galician mortos/ˈmoɾtos/ dead; deceased #543
- Georgian მკვდარი/mkʼvdari/ #431
- German tot/toːt/ dead, deceased #271
- Greek νεκρός/neˈkɾos/ #490
- Hindi मृत/mɾɪt̪/ dead, deceased #586
- Hungarian halott[ˈhɒlotː] dead, deceased #359
- Icelandic dauður[ˈtœiːðʏr] #1,884
- Indonesian mayat/ˈmajat/ dead body; corpse; cadaver #787
- Italian morto/ˈmɔr.to/ #308
- Latvian līķi/ˈliːci/ dead body, corpse #1,328
- Macedonian мртов[ˈmr̩tɔf] #229
- Malay mati/mati/ dead, death, deceased #83
- Malayalam ശവശരീരം/ʃɐʋɐʃɐɾiːɾɐm/ corpse, dead body #1,754
- Norwegian døde/ˈdøːdə/ dead, deceased #233
- Persian مردگان[moɹ.d̪e.ɡɒːn] a dead person #2,418
- Polish martwy/ˈmar.tfɘ/ #1,212
- Portuguese morta/ˈmɔʁ.tɐ/ #794
- Romanian mort[mort] #371
- Russian мертва[mʲɪrtˈva] #1,780
- Serbian mrtav/mřtaʋ/ dead, deceased #364
- Slovak mŕtvy/mr̩ːtvi/ #261
- Slovenian mrtev/mə̀rtəʋ/ #203
- Spanish muerta/ˈmweɾta/ #886
- Swedish döda/²døːda/ #169
- Tagalog patay/paˈtaj/ cadaver; corpse; dead body of a person #165
- Turkish ölüm/øˈlym/ the dead person #510
- Ukrainian мертвий[ˈmɛrtʋei̯] #733
- Urdu مردہ/mʊɾ.d̪ɑ(ː)/ dead, deceased #376
- Vietnamese tịch[tïk̟̚˧˨ʔ] to drop dead; to croak #1,538
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.