How to say “distance” in 31 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.
- distancia/disˈtanθja/ Spanish
- दूरी/d̪uː.ɾiː/ Hindi
- απόσταση/aˈpostaˌsi/ Greek
- מרחק/meʁˈχak/ Hebrew
- հեռավորություն/herɑvoɾuˈtʰjun/ Armenian
- দূর/d̪uɾ/ Bengali
“distance” in Spanish: distancia · French: distance · Italian: distanza · Portuguese: distância · Hindi: दूरी · Greek: απόσταση
It is commonest in Malayalam, where ദൂരം is the 333rd most used word.
Distance in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans afstand/ˈaf.stant/ #1,001
- Arabic ابتعد/ib.ta.ʕa.da/ to move away from, distance oneself from #553
- Armenian հեռավորություն/herɑvoɾuˈtʰjun/ #1,461
- Bengali দূর/d̪uɾ/ #444
- Bulgarian разстояние[rɐsstoˈja̟niɛ] #1,591
- Catalan distància[disˈtan.si.ə] #1,566
- Chinese 行程/ɕiŋ³⁵ ʈ͡ʂʰɤŋ³⁵/ route; travel distance #1,828
- Danish afstand/avstanˀ/ #1,723
- Dutch afstand/ˈɑf.stɑnt/ #1,282
- English long/lɒŋ/ Over a great distance in space #180
- French distance/dis.tɑ̃s/ to distance, outdistance #2,039
- Galician distancia/disˈtanθja/ #1,436
- Greek απόσταση/aˈpostaˌsi/ #1,670
- Hebrew מרחק/meʁˈχak/ #1,450
- Hindi दूरी/d̪uː.ɾiː/ #871
- Indonesian panjang/ˈpand͡ʒaŋ/ having much distance from one terminating… #647
- Italian distanza/disˈtan.t͡sa/ distance, interval #1,922
- Korean 멀리[ˈmɘ(ː)ʎʎi] afar, at a distance #386
- Malay jarak/ˈd͡ʒarak/ #929
- Malayalam ദൂരം/d̪uːɾɐm/ #333
- Norwegian avstand/ˈɑːvˌstɑn/ #1,912
- Persian فاصله[fɒː.se.lé] distance, space between things #561
- Polish od/ˈɔt/ indicates separation, distance, loss of… #43
- Portuguese distância/d͡ʒisˈtɐ̃.sjɐ/ #1,473
- Slovak vzdialenosť/vzɟɪ̯aʎenɔsc/ #1,700
- Spanish distancia/disˈtanθja/ #1,620
- Swedish nivå/ˈniːvoː/ distance relative to a given reference… #2,116
- Tagalog layo/ˈlajoʔ/ distance; farness #680
- Tamil செல்ல/tʃɛllɐ/ at a distance #86
- Turkish yüksek/jycˈsec/ Having a great distance between its bottom… #488
- Urdu فاصلہ/fɑː.sɪ.lɑː/ #1,541
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) and Catalan (upc_ona (ca_ES), CC BY-SA 4.0).
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.