How to say “female” in 44 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 Telugu, where ఆమె is the 22nd most used word.
- Afrikaans vriendin female friend #831
- Albanian femër a female #840
- Arabic فتاة female adolescent, youth, juvenile; young girl #173
- Basque neba brother of a female #1,095
- Bengali স্ত্রী woman, female #352
- Bosnian supruga wife, female spouse #1,260
- Bulgarian жена #153
- Catalan esposa wife; female equivalent of espòs #1,140
- Chinese 女人 woman; adult female #47
- Croatian supruga wife, female spouse #963
- Czech kamarádka female buddy #1,395
- Danish veninde female friend #1,608
- Dutch moeder mother, female parent #183
- English she The female person or animal previously… #46
- Esperanto reĝino female monarch. queen regnant #763
- Estonian sõbranna a female friend #1,549
- Georgian დაი used to address a female #1,487
- Hebrew חברה A female friend, or more generally a female… #405
- Hindi महिला lady, female, woman #247
- Icelandic tík a bitch, a female dog #689
- Indonesian perempuan #533
- Italian infermiera female nurse #1,834
- Korean 언니 older sister of a female #367
- Latvian kuce female dog, bitch #1,277
- Lithuanian draugė a female friend #619
- Macedonian девојка girl, young female, maiden #222
- Malay perempuan #234
- Malayalam സുന്ദരി beauty; beautiful female #538
- Norwegian setter a female hare #430
- Persian ماده #1,092
- Portuguese avó grandmother, female grandparent #1,013
- Romanian amice female friend #626
- Russian миссис female equivalent of ми́стер: Mrs, mistress #405
- Serbian supruga wife, female spouse #1,216
- Slovak panna female virgin #1,571
- Slovenian ženska female, woman #222
- Spanish hija daughter; female equivalent of hijo #339
- Tagalog babae woman; girl; female #211
- Tamil பெண் #97
- Telugu ఆమె third-person singular distal female pronoun,… #22
- Turkish cadı A sorcerer, wizard, a female witch #1,822
- Ukrainian подруга female friend, friendess #1,087
- Urdu مادہ #1,603
- Vietnamese mái #796
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.