How to say “fate” in 32 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 Italian, where caso is the 250th most used word.
- Armenian ճակատագիր destiny, fate #1,182
- Basque zori luck, chance, fate, fortune #1,844
- Bengali পরিণতি fate, result, consequence, outcome #1,336
- Bosnian sudbina fate, destiny #1,433
- Croatian sudbina fate, destiny #1,520
- Czech osud #1,296
- Dutch lot destiny, fate, lot #1,214
- Esperanto sorto fate, destiny #1,196
- Estonian saatus destiny, fate #1,015
- French destin destiny, fate #1,522
- Galician sorte fate, fortune #379
- German schicksal destiny, fate #1,294
- Greek τύχη fate, chance, luck #540
- Indonesian takdir destiny, fate #1,306
- Italian caso chance, fate #250
- Korean 운 luck, fortune, fate #936
- Latvian liktenis destiny, fate, fortune #1,626
- Lithuanian likimas fate, destiny #889
- Macedonian судбина fate, destiny #935
- Malay nasib fate, destiny, luck #654
- Norwegian skjebne fate, destiny #1,701
- Persian سرنوشت destiny; fate #847
- Polish los #1,178
- Portuguese sorte #350
- Russian судьба destiny, fate, doom, fortune, predestination #1,949
- Serbian sudbina fate, destiny #1,411
- Spanish destino destiny, fate #1,085
- Swedish ödet destiny, fate #2,299
- Tagalog kapalaran fate; fortune #1,044
- Tamil விதி fate, destiny #631
- Turkish kader destiny, fate #2,163
- Urdu قسمت fate, destiny #419
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.