How to say “defend” 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 Georgian, where დაცვა is the 379th most used word.
- Albanian mbroj to protect; to defend #1,151
- Arabic دافع to defend #1,983
- Armenian պաշտպանել to protect, to defend #1,823
- Basque aldeztu to support, defend #2,489
- Bosnian zaštititi to defend, protect #1,708
- Bulgarian защитя to shield, to protect, to defend #2,139
- Catalan protegir to protect, defend #927
- Chinese 防守 to guard; to defend; to protect #1,652
- Croatian zaštititi to defend, protect #1,250
- Czech bránit to defend #2,017
- Danish beskytte to defend, protect #587
- Dutch verdedigen to defend #1,963
- English protect To keep safe; to defend; to guard; to prevent… #813
- Estonian kaitsta to defend #651
- French défendre to defend #1,912
- Galician defender to defend #1,435
- Georgian დაცვა to defend #379
- German beschützen to protect, to guard, to defend #1,143
- Icelandic verja to defend, guard, protect #817
- Indonesian membela to defend #1,878
- Macedonian штити to defend, shield, protect #2,362
- Norwegian forsvare to defend #1,743
- Polish broń to defend #392
- Portuguese defender to defend #2,378
- Russian защитить to defend, to guard, to protect #1,109
- Serbian zaštititi to defend, protect #2,170
- Slovak brániť to defend #1,127
- Slovenian braniti to defend #1,129
- Spanish proteger to protect, to defend #1,687
- Swedish försvara to defend #1,815
- Ukrainian захистити to defend #1,352
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.