How to say “dress” in 39 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 Malayalam, where വസ്ത്രം is the 337th most used word.
- Afrikaans rok A dress #425
- Albanian veshur to dress, clothe #592
- Arabic فستان #1,960
- Armenian շրջազգեստ dress, gown, frock #1,428
- Bengali সাজা to dress up, to wear makeup and/or jewelry #1,312
- Bosnian haljinu #1,542
- Bulgarian рокля skirt, dress #1,301
- Catalan vestit dress, apparel, clothing #762
- Chinese 裙子 skirt; dress #846
- Croatian haljinu #1,695
- Czech šaty #932
- Danish kjole dress, gown #1,446
- Dutch jurk #1,277
- Esperanto robo #2,347
- Estonian kleit #1,439
- Finnish asua attire, dress, suit, raiment, costume, outfit #1,662
- French robe dress, frock #1,085
- Georgian კაბა dress, frock #856
- German kleid dress, gown #1,342
- Greek φόρεμα #1,360
- Hebrew שלמה clothes, dress #1,267
- Hindi पोशाक attire, dress, clothing #1,603
- Indonesian gaun #1,513
- Italian camicia shirt, dress shirt #2,356
- Korean 드레스 #981
- Latvian tualeti dress, outfit, dressing style #1,732
- Macedonian фустан #1,245
- Malay gaun dress, gown #1,662
- Malayalam വസ്ത്രം #337
- Norwegian kle to dress, clothe #1,565
- Romanian rochie #1,767
- Russian платье dress, gown, frock #1,237
- Serbian haljinu #1,598
- Slovak šaty #506
- Slovenian obleka #573
- Swedish klä to clothe, to dress, to wear #1,608
- Tagalog damit clothes; clothing; dress #645
- Tamil ஆடை cloth, clothing, dress, garment #546
- Vietnamese diện to dress up; to be well-dressed; to be decked… #833
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.