How to say “fight” in 51 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.
- pelea/peˈlea/ Spanish
- бороться[bɐˈrot͡sːə] Russian
- 打架/tä²¹⁴⁻²¹ t͡ɕi̯ä⁵¹/ Chinese
- लड़ाई/lə.ɽɑː.iː/ Hindi
- αγώνα/aˈɣona/ Greek
- נלחם/nilˈχam/ Hebrew
“fight” in Spanish: pelea · French: combat · Italian: combattere · Portuguese: lutar · Chinese: 打架 · Russian: бороться · Hindi: लड़ाई · Turkish: dövüş
It is commonest in Tagalog, where laban is the 348th most used word.
Fight in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans veg/ˈfæx/ to fight #366
- Albanian luftë/luftə/ war, fight #499
- Arabic قاتل/qaː.ta.la/ to combat, to battle, to fight #501
- Armenian կռվել/kərˈvel/ to fight #1,110
- Basque borroka/boˈroˌka/ battle, fight, combat #334
- Bengali লড়াই/lɔɽai̯/ conflict, fight, contention #1,785
- Bosnian boriti/bǒriti/ to fight, struggle #1,196
- Bulgarian битка[ˈbitkɐ] battle, fight, engagement, fray #1,137
- Chinese 打架/tä²¹⁴⁻²¹ t͡ɕi̯ä⁵¹/ to come to blows; to fight; to scuffle #700
- Croatian boriti/bǒriti/ to fight, struggle #950
- Czech bojovat[ˈbojovat] to fight #834
- Danish kæmpede/ˈkɛmbəðə/ fight, struggle, battle #1,801
- Dutch vechten/ˈvɛxtə(n)/ to fight #659
- English victor/ˈvɪk.tɚ/ The winner in a fight or contest #2,391
- Esperanto batali/baˈtali/ to fight #962
- Estonian võitlema/ˈvɤi̯tlemɑ/ to fight, to struggle, to contend #1,209
- Finnish taistella/ˈtɑi̯stelːɑˣ/ to fight, struggle #2,024
- French combat/kɔ̃.ba/ to fight, to combat #1,029
- Galician loita/ˈlojta/ to fight, to struggle #508
- Georgian ჩხუბი[t͡ʃʰχubi] fight, fray, quarrel, scrimmage, skirmish,… #676
- German streit/ʃtʁaɪ̯t/ quarrel, dispute, fight, argument #1,731
- Greek αγώνα/aˈɣona/ fight, efforts, struggle #1,002
- Hebrew נלחם/nilˈχam/ to fight, wage war #1,297
- Hindi लड़ाई/lə.ɽɑː.iː/ fight, argument #391
- Hungarian harcolni[ˈhɒrt͡solni] to fight #1,866
- Icelandic berjast/ˈpɛrjast/ to fight, to brawl, to quarrell #421
- Italian combattere/komˈbat.te.re/ to fight; to combat #1,311
- Korean 싸움[s͈a̠um] fighting, fight, quarrel, battle, contest #1,469
- Latvian cīnīties/ˈt͡siːniːties/ to fight #1,015
- Lithuanian kova[koːˈvɐ] fight, struggle #705
- Macedonian битка[ˈbitka] battle, fight #1,199
- Malay berjuang/bər.d͡ʒu.aŋ/ to struggle; to fight; to strive #711
- Malayalam പോരാട്ടം/poːɾaːʈʈɐm/ #886
- Norwegian slåss/ˈʃlɔs/ to fight #742
- Persian نبرد[næ.bǽɹd̪̥] battle, fight, combat #1,137
- Polish walczyć/ˈval.t͡ʂɘt͡ɕ/ to fight #961
- Portuguese lutar/luˈta(ʁ)/ to fight #720
- Romanian lupte/ˈlupte/ fight, fighting #1,548
- Russian бороться[bɐˈrot͡sːə] to fight, to wrestle, to struggle, to strive #1,985
- Serbian borba/bǒrba/ #1,463
- Slovak bojovať/bɔjɔvac/ to fight #482
- Slovenian boriti/bɔrìːti/ to fight, struggle #610
- Spanish pelea/peˈlea/ to fight #1,093
- Swedish slåss/ˈslɔs/ to fistfight punch, to fight #783
- Tagalog laban/ˈlaban/ fight; quarrel #348
- Tamil சண்டை/tʃɐɳɖɐɪ̯/ fight, conflict #638
- Telugu పోరాటం/ˈpoːraːʈan/ fight, fighting #429
- Turkish dövüş/døˈvyʃ/ #1,685
- Ukrainian битися[ˈbɪtesʲɐ] to fight, to struggle #1,180
- Urdu لڑائی/lə.ɽɑː.iː/ #476
- Vietnamese chiến[t͡ɕiən˧˦] a war, fight #226
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), 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.