How to say “doctor” in 53 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.
- médico/ˈmediko/ Spanish
- доктор[ˈdoktər] Russian
- دكتور/dokˈtoːr/ Arabic
- 醫生/i⁵⁵ ʂɤŋ⁵⁵/ Chinese
- 의사[ɰisʰa̠] Korean
- डॉक्टर/ɖɔk.ʈəɾ/ Hindi
“doctor” in Spanish: médico · French: docteur · German: doktor · Italian: dottore · Portuguese: doutor · Chinese: 醫生 · Korean: 의사 · Russian: доктор
It is commonest in Persian, where دکتر is the 180th most used word.
Doctor in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans dokter/ˈdɔk.tər/ medical doctor, physician #245
- Albanian doktor/dɔktɔɾ/ a male doctor #424
- Arabic دكتور/dokˈtoːr/ #297
- Armenian բժիշկ/bəˈʒiʃk/ doctor, physician #336
- Basque mediku/mediku/ doctor, physician #591
- Bengali ডাক্তার/ɖakt̪aɾ/ #338
- Bosnian doktor/dôktor/ doctor, physician #648
- Bulgarian доктор[ˈdɔktor] male doctor #706
- Catalan doctor[dukˈto] #432
- Chinese 醫生/i⁵⁵ ʂɤŋ⁵⁵/ doctor; physician and surgeon; medical… #482
- Croatian doktor/dôktor/ doctor, physician #768
- Czech doktor[ˈdoktor] doctor, physician #612
- Danish doktor/ˈdɔɡdɐ/ #742
- Dutch dokter/ˈdɔk.tər/ #398
- English doc/dɑk/ A doctor #1,515
- Esperanto kuracisto/kuraˈt͡sisto/ doctor, physician #658
- Estonian doktor/ˈd̥oktor/ #538
- Finnish tohtori/ˈtohtori/ doctor, one with a doctorate #309
- French docteur/dɔk.tœʁ/ a doctor #426
- Galician doutor/ˈdowtoɾ/ doctor, physician #611
- Georgian ექიმმა[e̞kʰimmä] physician, doctor #1,336
- German doktor/ˈdɔktoːr/ #659
- Greek γιατρός/ʝaˈtros/ doctor, healer #649
- Hebrew דוקטור/ˈdoktoʁ/ #574
- Hindi डॉक्टर/ɖɔk.ʈəɾ/ #549
- Hungarian doktor[ˈdoktor] doctor, physician #537
- Icelandic læknir[ˈlaihknɪr] medical practitioner, doctor, MD #441
- Indonesian dokter/ˈdoktər/ doctor, a physician; a member of the medical… #354
- Italian dottore/dotˈto.re/ #531
- Korean 의사[ɰisʰa̠] #454
- Latvian ārsts[āːrsts] doctor, physician #1,345
- Lithuanian daktaras[²ˈdɑːktɐrɐs] #454
- Macedonian доктор[ˈdɔktɔr] #547
- Malay doktor/doktor/ doctor; physician #387
- Malayalam ഡോക്റ്റർ/ɖoːktɐr/ #685
- Norwegian doktor/ˈdɔktʊr/ #761
- Persian دکتر[d̪okʰʲ.t̪ʰóɹ] doctor, physician #180
- Polish doktorze/dɔkˈtɔ.ʐɛ/ physician, medical doctor #680
- Portuguese doutor/do(w)ˈtoʁ/ a doctor #705
- Romanian doctor/ˈdok.tor/ #666
- Russian доктор[ˈdoktər] #227
- Serbian doktor/dôktor/ doctor, physician #617
- Slovak doktor/dɔktɔr/ doctor, physician #231
- Slovenian zdravnik/zdraʋnìːk/ doctor, physician #388
- Spanish médico/ˈmediko/ #696
- Swedish doktorn/ˈdɔktuːrn/ doctor; physician #787
- Tagalog doktor/dokˈtoɾ/ doctor; physician #710
- Tamil டாக்டர்/ɖɑːkʈɐɾ/ doctor, physician #237
- Telugu చికిత్సకుడు/ˈcikitˌsakuɖu/ a physician, doctor #1,388
- Turkish doktor/dokˈtoɾ/ doctor, physician #257
- Ukrainian лікар[ˈlʲikɐr] #867
- Urdu ڈاکٹر/ɖɑːk.ʈəɾ/ #182
- Vietnamese đốc[ʔɗəwk͡p̚˧˦] headmaster, chief, doctor #1,073
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), Slovenian (artur (sl_SI), CC BY 4.0) and Vietnamese (vais1000 (vi_VN), CC BY 4.0).
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.