How to say “eye” 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.
- ojos/ˈoxos/ Spanish
- глаза[ˈɡɫazə] Russian
- عين/ʕajn/ Arabic
- 眼睛/jɛn²¹⁴ d͡ʑ̥iŋ⁴/ Chinese
- 눈[nun] Korean
- आँखें/ɑ̃ː.kʰẽː/ Hindi
“eye” in Spanish: ojos · French: yeux · German: augen · Italian: occhi · Portuguese: olhos · Chinese: 眼睛 · Korean: 눈 · Russian: глаза
It is commonest in Chinese, where 眼睛 is the 151st most used word.
Eye in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans oë/uə̯/ #229
- Albanian sytë/sytə/ #309
- Arabic عين/ʕajn/ #1,210
- Armenian աչք/ɑt͡ʃʰkʰ/ #493
- Basque begi/ˈbeɣi/ #485
- Bengali চোখ/t͡ʃokʰ/ #261
- Bosnian oči/ˈotʃɪ/ #507
- Bulgarian око[oˈkɔ] #1,224
- Catalan ulls/ˈuʎs/ #334
- Chinese 眼睛/jɛn²¹⁴ d͡ʑ̥iŋ⁴/ eye; eyes #151
- Croatian oči/ˈotʃɪ/ #463
- Czech ok[ˈok] #299
- Danish øjeblik/øjəblek/ blink of an eye, moment #272
- Dutch ogen/ˈoːɣə(n)/ #403
- English ugly/ˈʌɡli/ Displeasing to the eye; aesthetically… #1,649
- Esperanto okuloj/oˈkuloi̯/ #371
- Estonian silmad/ˈsilmɑd̥/ #549
- Finnish silmät/ˈsilmæt/ #1,282
- French yeux/jø/ eye, organ that is sensitive to light,… #359
- Galician ollos/ˈoʎos/ #243
- Georgian თვალები[tʰʷalebi] #430
- German augen/ˈʔaʊ̯ɡŋ̩/ #400
- Greek μάτια/ˈmatça/ #359
- Hebrew עין/ˈʕa.jin/ #773
- Hindi आँखें/ɑ̃ː.kʰẽː/ #696
- Hungarian szemmel[ˈsɛmːɛl] #2,067
- Icelandic augnablik[ˈœiknaˌplɪːk] blink of an eye, moment, second, jiffy #409
- Indonesian mengawasi/məŋaˈwasi/ to keep an eye on, to keep watch over, to… #1,162
- Italian occhi/ˈɔk.ki/ #421
- Korean 눈[nun] #332
- Latvian acis/ˈat͡sis/ #408
- Lithuanian akis[ɐˈkʲɪs] #320
- Macedonian очи[ˈɔt͡ʃi] #390
- Malay mata/ˈmatə/ #248
- Malayalam കണ്ണ്/kɐɳɳɨ/ #269
- Norwegian øyeblikk/ˈœ͡ʏəˌblɪk/ moment, blink of an eye #399
- Persian چشم[t͡ʃʰæʃm] #311
- Polish ok/ˈɔk/ #164
- Portuguese olhos/ˈɔ.ʎus/ #361
- Romanian ochii/ˈokiɪ/ #419
- Russian глаза[ˈɡɫazə] #485
- Serbian oči/ˈotʃɪ/ #457
- Slovak oči/ɔt͡ʃi/ #332
- Slovenian oči/ˈoːtʃi/ #179
- Spanish ojos/ˈoxos/ #369
- Swedish sånt/ˈsoːnt/ eye dialect spelling of sådan #353
- Tagalog mata/maˈta/ #437
- Tamil கண்/kɐɳ/ #484
- Telugu కన్ను/kanːu/ #531
- Turkish göz/ˈɟøz/ #399
- Ukrainian око[ˈɔkɔ] #1,525
- Urdu آنکھ/ɑ̃ːkʰ/ #576
- Vietnamese mắt[mat̚˧˦] #384
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.