How to say “dear” in 38 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 Basque, where maite is the 94th most used word.
- Afrikaans geagte dear; a formal way to address somebody at the… #1,521
- Armenian թանկ #574
- Basque maite dear, beloved #94
- Bengali লক্ষ্মী well-behaved, dear #1,912
- Bosnian dragi #572
- Catalan estimada #614
- Chinese 親愛的 darling; dear #758
- Croatian dragi #582
- Czech drahá dear, expensive #1,013
- Esperanto kara #207
- Estonian armas dear, beloved #455
- Finnish rakas dear, beloved, cherished #955
- French chère dear, beloved #1,210
- Georgian ძვირფასი costive, dear, precious, valuable #895
- German liebe lovable; dear; darling; sweet; good-hearted;… #185
- Greek αγαπητή #1,266
- Hindi प्रिय #397
- Icelandic ljúfur dear, beloved #1,202
- Indonesian mahal dear, expensive #1,187
- Italian cara dear, sweetheart #757
- Latvian mīļā dear, cherished, beloved #313
- Macedonian леле oh, oh my, oh dear, alas #434
- Malayalam പ്രിയപ്പെട്ട dear, dearest #335
- Norwegian kjære #320
- Persian عزیزم my darling, my dear #408
- Polish droga dear, expensive #810
- Portuguese querida #253
- Romanian dragă dear, sweetie #435
- Russian дорогой dear, precious #649
- Serbian dragi #544
- Slovak drahý #598
- Slovenian drag #1,421
- Spanish nena babe, dear #1,183
- Swedish raring dear; darling #904
- Turkish canım dear, darling #425
- Ukrainian люба dear, darling, sweetheart, love #601
- Urdu عزیز dear, loved #597
- Vietnamese đắt expensive; dear; costly #1,788
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.