How to say “desire” in 44 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 Tagalog, where gusto is the 30th most used word.
- Afrikaans eetlus appetite, desire or eagerness to eat #2,120
- Albanian dëshirë #740
- Arabic منى to arouse desire #743
- Armenian ցանկություն wish, desire #1,212
- Basque opa #878
- Bengali ইচ্ছা desire, wish, will #326
- Bosnian neće to wish, want, desire #136
- Bulgarian желание desire, wish #1,162
- Catalan desig desire, wish #1,374
- Chinese 色情 lust; sexual desire; sexuality #1,790
- Croatian neće to wish, want, desire #122
- Czech aby Denotes desire or wish; if only; had better #65
- Dutch wil to want, desire #49
- English want To wish for or desire; to feel a need or… #66
- Esperanto deziras to desire, to wish #280
- Estonian soov wish, desire #1,434
- Finnish haluan to want, desire, wish, crave #78
- French veux to want, wish, desire #66
- Galician quero to desire; to want #72
- Georgian მოდი Intensifies the expression of a desire or… #117
- German will to want; to wish; to desire; to demand #79
- Greek θέλω to want, desire, will #60
- Hebrew רצון will, volition, desire #1,458
- Hindi चाहिए to want, desire #70
- Indonesian ingin to wish for or desire; to feel a need or… #34
- Italian desiderio wish, desire, longing #1,823
- Macedonian сакам to want, desire #48
- Malay mahu to want, to desire #62
- Malayalam ആഗ്രഹം eagerness, wish, desire #327
- Persian قصد intention, desire, objective #632
- Polish ochotę desire, will, willingness #1,631
- Portuguese quero to want; to wish; to desire #71
- Romanian st expressing a sudden desire for silence #1,833
- Russian желание wish, desire #1,708
- Serbian neće to wish, want, desire #122
- Slovenian želja wish, desire #746
- Spanish quiero to desire, to want, to want to #67
- Swedish vill to want, desire #34
- Tagalog gusto want; like; desire #30
- Tamil ஆசை desire, hope #972
- Telugu కోరిక a wish, desire, dream #666
- Turkish istiyorum to want, desire, wish #71
- Ukrainian бажання desire, wish #1,240
- Urdu مراد desire, will #1,197
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.