How to say “family” in 52 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.
- familia/faˈmilja/ Spanish
- семья[sʲɪˈm⁽ʲ⁾ja] Russian
- عائلة/ʕaː.ʔi.la/ Arabic
- परिवार/pə.ɾɪ.ʋɑːɾ/ Hindi
- οικογένεια/i.koˈʝe.ni.a/ Greek
- משפחה/miʃpaˈχa/ Hebrew
“family” in Spanish: familia · French: famille · German: familie · Italian: famiglia · Portuguese: família · Russian: семья · Arabic: عائلة · Hindi: परिवार
It is commonest in Georgian, where ოჯახი is the 209th most used word.
Family in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans familie/fɐˈmili/ #249
- Albanian zonja/zɔɲa/ lady in a wealthy family with servants #321
- Arabic عائلة/ʕaː.ʔi.la/ #306
- Armenian ընտանիք/əntɑˈnikʰ/ #1,123
- Basque familia/familia/ family, lineage #239
- Bengali পরিবার/poɾibaɾ/ #328
- Bosnian porodica/pǒrodit͡sa/ #683
- Bulgarian семейство[sɛˈmɛjstvo] #392
- Catalan família[fəˈmi.li.ə] #247
- Chinese 家人/t͡ɕi̯ä⁵⁵ ɻən³⁵/ one's family or family members #210
- Croatian obitelj/obǐːteʎ/ #373
- Czech rodina[ˈroɟɪna] #620
- Danish familie/faˈmilˀjə/ #268
- Dutch gezin/ɣəˈzɪn/ immediate family or nuclear family #906
- English friend/fɹɛnd/ A person, typically someone other than a… #255
- Esperanto familio/famiˈlio/ #416
- Estonian pere/ˈpere/ #548
- Finnish perhe/ˈperheˣ/ family, nuclear family, immediate family #953
- French famille/fa.mij/ #233
- Galician familia/faˈmilja/ #272
- Georgian ოჯახი[o̞d͡ʒäχi] #209
- German familie/faˈmiːli̯ə/ #299
- Greek οικογένεια/i.koˈʝe.ni.a/ #408
- Hebrew משפחה/miʃpaˈχa/ family; kin; in particular, a set of parents… #456
- Hindi परिवार/pə.ɾɪ.ʋɑːɾ/ family; household #271
- Hungarian család[ˈt͡ʃɒlaːd] #704
- Icelandic ættir/ˈaihtɪr/ #220
- Indonesian keluarga/kəluˈarɡa/ #262
- Italian famiglia/faˈmiʎ.ʎa/ #274
- Korean 가족[ka̠d͡ʑo̞k̚] household; family #412
- Latvian ģimenes/ˈɟimenes/ family living together; larger group of… #540
- Lithuanian šeima[ɕɛjˈmɐ] #322
- Macedonian семејство[ˈsɛmɛjstvɔ] #288
- Malay keluarga/kəluarɡa/ #233
- Malayalam കുടുംബം/kuʈumbɐm/ #267
- Norwegian familien/fɑˈmiːlɪən/ a family #340
- Persian خانواده[xɒː.ne.vɒː.d̪é] #213
- Polish rodziny/rɔˈd͡ʑi.nɘ/ #594
- Portuguese família/faˈmi.ljɐ/ family; nuclear family #246
- Romanian familia[faˈmi.li.a] #391
- Russian семья[sʲɪˈm⁽ʲ⁾ja] #636
- Serbian porodica/pǒrodit͡sa/ #611
- Slovak rodina/rɔɟina/ #360
- Slovenian družina/druʒìːna/ #282
- Spanish familia/faˈmilja/ #253
- Swedish familj/faˈmɪlːj/ #333
- Tagalog pamilya/paˈmilja/ #323
- Tamil குடும்பம்/kʊɖʊmbɐm/ family, household #357
- Turkish eve/eˈve/ A building for a family to reside in; house,… #194
- Ukrainian родина[rɔˈdɪnɐ] #2,242
- Urdu خاندان/xɑːn.d̪ɑːn/ #231
- Vietnamese họ[hɔ˧˨ʔ] family name; surname #58
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.