How to say “ear” in 36 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.
- 耳朵/ˀɤɻ²¹⁴ d̥u̯ɔ⁴/ Chinese
- कान/kɑːn/ Hindi
- ყური[χʼuɾi] Georgian
- ականջ/ɑˈkɑnd͡ʒ/ Armenian
- কান/kan/ Bengali
- காது/kɑːd̪ɯ/ Tamil
“ear” in French: oreilles · Italian: orecchie · Chinese: 耳朵 · Hindi: कान · Turkish: kulak
It is commonest in Persian, where گوش is the 100th most used word.
Ear in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans ore[uə̯ɾə] #882
- Albanian vesh/veʃ/ #329
- Arabic تسمع/ta.sam.ma.ʕa/ to give ear, to listen, to lend an ear #643
- Armenian ականջ/ɑˈkɑnd͡ʒ/ #897
- Basque belarri/belari/ #1,217
- Bengali কান/kan/ #750
- Bulgarian клас[kɫas] #1,125
- Catalan orelles/uˈɾɛʎəs/ #1,985
- Chinese 耳朵/ˀɤɻ²¹⁴ d̥u̯ɔ⁴/ #652
- Croatian uho/ûxo/ #2,385
- Czech uši[ˈuʃɪ] #2,089
- Danish øre/øːrə/ #2,073
- Dutch oren/ˈoːrən/ #1,624
- English hear/ˈhɪɚ/ To perceive sounds through the ear #232
- Esperanto orelojn/oˈreloɪn/ #1,490
- French oreilles/ɔ.ʁɛj/ #1,897
- Georgian ყური[χʼuɾi] #847
- German gehört/ɡəˈhøːɐ̯t/ to hear through the ear #206
- Hindi कान/kɑːn/ #1,272
- Indonesian dengar/dəˈŋar/ to perceive sounds through the ear #129
- Italian orecchie/oˈrek.kje/ #2,186
- Korean 목이[mo̞ɡi] wood ear #865
- Lithuanian ausis[ɒʊˈsʲɪs] #1,299
- Macedonian уши[ˈuʃi] #2,120
- Malay telinga/təˈliŋa/ ear, organ of hearing #1,074
- Malayalam ചെവി/t͡ʃeʋi/ ear; the sense organ responsible for hearing #701
- Norwegian ørene/ˈøːɳ̩ə/ an ear #2,420
- Persian گوش[ɡ̥uːʃ] #100
- Romanian ureche/uˈre.ke/ #2,298
- Slovak uši/uʃi/ #1,047
- Slovenian ušesa/uˈʃeːsa/ #729
- Tamil காது/kɑːd̪ɯ/ #1,061
- Telugu చెవులు/ˈceʋulu/ #513
- Turkish kulak/kuˈɫak/ #864
- Urdu کان/kɑːn/ #656
- Vietnamese tai[taːj˧˧] #719
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), 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.