How to say “finger” in 40 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.
- dedos/ˈdeðos/ Spanish
- 手指/ʂoʊ̯²¹⁴⁻³⁵ ʈ͡ʂɻ̩²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/ Chinese
- 손가락[sʰo̞nk͈a̠ɾa̠k̚] Korean
- उंगलियों/ʊŋ.ɡlɪ.jõː/ Hindi
- אצבע/(ʔ)et͡sˈba/ Hebrew
- আঙ্গুল/aŋɡul/ Bengali
“finger” in Spanish: dedos · French: doigts · German: finger · Italian: dita · Chinese: 手指 · Korean: 손가락 · Hindi: उंगलियों · Turkish: parmak
It is commonest in Chinese, where 手指 is the 562nd most used word.
Finger in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans vingers/ˈfəŋərs/ #1,037
- Albanian gisht/ɡiʃt/ #1,572
- Basque hatz/hat͡s̻/ #829
- Bengali আঙ্গুল/aŋɡul/ finger, toe #817
- Bosnian prst/pr̩̂st/ #1,622
- Bulgarian пръст[prɤst] #1,774
- Catalan dits[ˈdits] finger, toe #1,412
- Chinese 手指/ʂoʊ̯²¹⁴⁻³⁵ ʈ͡ʂɻ̩²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/ #562
- Croatian prst/pr̩̂st/ #1,655
- Czech prst[ˈpr̩st] #2,485
- Danish fingre/ˈfeŋʁɐ/ #1,750
- Dutch vingers/ˈvɪ.ŋərs/ #1,722
- Esperanto fingroj/ˈfinɡroi̯/ #1,156
- Estonian sõrm/sɤrm/ #2,238
- French doigts/dwa/ #1,530
- Galician dedo/ˈdedo/ #1,886
- German finger/ˈfɪŋɐ/ #994
- Greek δαχτυλίδι/ˌðaxtiˈliði/ ring for the finger #1,444
- Hebrew אצבע/(ʔ)et͡sˈba/ #1,418
- Hindi उंगलियों/ʊŋ.ɡlɪ.jõː/ #1,419
- Icelandic fingur[ˈfiŋkʏr] #1,445
- Indonesian jari/ˈd͡ʒari/ digit, finger #1,081
- Italian dita/ˈdi.ta/ #1,832
- Korean 손가락[sʰo̞nk͈a̠ɾa̠k̚] #860
- Latvian pirkstu/ˈpirkstu/ finger, toe #1,002
- Macedonian прсти[ˈpr̩sti] #1,685
- Malay jari/ˈd͡ʒari/ #762
- Malayalam വിരല്/ʋiɾɐlɨ/ #876
- Norwegian fingrene/ˈfɪŋrənə/ a finger #1,991
- Persian انگشت[ʔæŋ.ɡóʃt̪ʰ] #926
- Portuguese tocar/toˈka(ʁ)/ to touch, to finger, to feel #877
- Romanian degetul/ˈdedʒetul/ #1,632
- Serbian prst/pr̩̂st/ #1,627
- Slovak prst/pr̩st/ #1,209
- Slovenian prst/pə́rst/ #747
- Spanish dedos/ˈdeðos/ #1,684
- Tamil விரல்/ʋɪɾɐl/ finger, toe #750
- Turkish parmak/paɾˈmak/ finger, toe, digit #948
- Urdu انگلی/ʊŋ.ɡliː/ #1,355
- Vietnamese ấn[ʔən˧˦] to press with one's finger #907
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.