How to say “ear” in 36 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 Persian, where گوش is the 100th most used word.
- Afrikaans ore #882
- Albanian vesh #329
- Arabic تسمع to give ear, to listen, to lend an ear #643
- Armenian ականջ #897
- Basque belarri #1,217
- Bengali কান #750
- Bulgarian клас #1,125
- Catalan orelles #1,985
- Chinese 耳朵 #652
- Croatian uho #2,385
- Czech uši #2,089
- Danish øre #2,073
- Dutch oren #1,624
- English hear To perceive sounds through the ear #232
- Esperanto orelojn #1,490
- French oreilles #1,897
- Georgian ყური #847
- German gehört to hear through the ear #206
- Hindi कान #1,272
- Indonesian dengar to perceive sounds through the ear #129
- Italian orecchie #2,186
- Korean 목이 wood ear #865
- Lithuanian ausis #1,299
- Macedonian уши #2,120
- Malay telinga ear, organ of hearing #1,074
- Malayalam ചെവി ear; the sense organ responsible for hearing #701
- Norwegian ørene an ear #2,420
- Persian گوش #100
- Romanian ureche #2,298
- Slovak uši #1,047
- Slovenian ušesa #729
- Tamil காது #1,061
- Telugu చెవులు #513
- Turkish kulak #864
- Urdu کان #656
- Vietnamese tai #719
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.