How to say “desire” in 44 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.
- quiero/ˈkjeɾo/ Spanish
- ইচ্ছা/it͡ʃʰːa/ Bengali
- ஆசை/ɑːtʃɐɪ̯/ Tamil
- бажання[bɐˈʒanʲːɐ] Ukrainian
- مراد/mʊ.ɾɑːd̪/ Urdu
“desire” in Spanish: quiero
It is commonest in Spanish, where quiero is the 67th most used word.
Desire in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans eetlus/ˈiətlœs/ appetite, desire or eagerness to eat #2,120
- Albanian dëshirë/dəˈʃiɹə/ #740
- Arabic منى/mi.nan/ to arouse desire #743
- Armenian ցանկություն/t͡sʰɑnkuˈtʰjun/ wish, desire #1,212
- Basque opa/opa/ #878
- Bengali ইচ্ছা/it͡ʃʰːa/ desire, wish, will #326
- Bosnian neće/nêːt͡ɕeː/ to wish, want, desire #136
- Bulgarian желание[ʒɛˈɫaniɛ] desire, wish #1,162
- Catalan desig[dəˈzit͡ʃ] desire, wish #1,374
- Chinese 色情/sɤ⁵¹ t͡ɕʰiŋ³⁵/ lust; sexual desire; sexuality #1,790
- Croatian neće/nêːt͡ɕeː/ to wish, want, desire #122
- Czech aby[ˈabɪ] Denotes desire or wish; if only; had better #65
- Dutch wil/ʋɪl/ to want, desire #49
- English want/wɑnt/ To wish for or desire; to feel a need or… #66
- Esperanto deziras/deˈziras/ to desire, to wish #280
- Estonian soov/soːv/ wish, desire #1,434
- Finnish haluan/ˈhaluan/ to want, desire, wish, crave #78
- French veux/vø/ to want, wish, desire #66
- Galician quero/ˈkɛɾo/ to desire; to want #72
- Georgian მოდი[mo̞di] Intensifies the expression of a desire or… #117
- German will/vɪl/ to want; to wish; to desire; to demand #79
- Greek θέλω/ˈθelo/ to want, desire, will #60
- Hebrew רצון/ʁaˈt͡son/ will, volition, desire #1,458
- Hindi चाहिए/t͡ʃɑː.ɦɪ.eː/ to want, desire #70
- Indonesian ingin/ˈiŋin/ to wish for or desire; to feel a need or… #34
- Italian desiderio/de.ziˈdɛ.rjo/ wish, desire, longing #1,823
- Macedonian сакам[ˈsakam] to want, desire #48
- Malay mahu/ˈma(h)u/ to want, to desire #62
- Malayalam ആഗ്രഹം/aːɡɾɐhɐm/ eagerness, wish, desire #327
- Persian قصد[qæsd̪̥] intention, desire, objective #632
- Polish ochotę/ɔˈxɔ.tɛ/ desire, will, willingness #1,631
- Portuguese quero/ˈkɛ.ɾu/ to want; to wish; to desire #71
- Romanian st/ˌseˈte/ expressing a sudden desire for silence #1,833
- Russian желание[ʐɨˈɫanʲɪje] wish, desire #1,708
- Serbian neće/nêːt͡ɕeː/ to wish, want, desire #122
- Slovenian želja/ʒɛ̀ːlja/ wish, desire #746
- Spanish quiero/ˈkjeɾo/ to desire, to want, to want to #67
- Swedish vill/vɪl/ to want, desire #34
- Tagalog gusto/ɡusˈto/ want; like; desire #30
- Tamil ஆசை/ɑːtʃɐɪ̯/ desire, hope #972
- Telugu కోరిక/koːɾika/ a wish, desire, dream #666
- Turkish istiyorum/isˈtijoɾum/ to want, desire, wish #71
- Ukrainian бажання[bɐˈʒanʲːɐ] desire, wish #1,240
- Urdu مراد/mʊ.ɾɑːd̪/ desire, will #1,197
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) and Slovenian (artur (sl_SI), CC BY 4.0).
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.