How to say “food” in 50 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 Malayalam, where ഭക്ഷണം is the 120th most used word.
- Afrikaans kos #263
- Albanian ushqim #561
- Arabic طعام #615
- Armenian ուտելիք #1,744
- Basque jan #205
- Bengali খাবার #271
- Bosnian hranu #715
- Bulgarian храна food, foodstuff, provisions; nourishment,… #520
- Chinese 食物 #269
- Croatian hranu #795
- Danish mad #415
- Dutch voedsel #1,480
- English keeps The food or money required to keep someone… #1,321
- Esperanto manĝaĵo #681
- Estonian toitu #855
- Finnish ruokaa #667
- French nourriture food, nourishment #1,134
- Galician comida #434
- Georgian საკვები #1,077
- German kochen to cook, to prepare food #1,922
- Greek φαγητό #514
- Hebrew מזון food, nourishment #1,099
- Hindi खाने food, meal #428
- Hungarian ételt food, dish #2,245
- Icelandic mat #420
- Indonesian makanan food, meal #388
- Italian cibo #755
- Korean 음식 food, including drink #685
- Latvian ēdienu food prepared for consumption; meal; dish #1,120
- Lithuanian maistas #822
- Macedonian храна #398
- Malay makanan food; meal #346
- Malayalam ഭക്ഷണം #120
- Norwegian mat #445
- Persian غذا #325
- Polish jedzenie #1,019
- Portuguese comida food, something edible #542
- Romanian mâncare #707
- Russian еда #1,736
- Serbian hranu #744
- Slovak jedla #799
- Slovenian hrana #504
- Swedish mat #477
- Tagalog pagkain #212
- Tamil உணவு #217
- Telugu ఆకలి a need or desire for food - hunger, appetite #898
- Turkish yemeği meal, food #649
- Ukrainian їжа #1,784
- Urdu خوراک victuals, meal, food #1,047
- Vietnamese thức food; drink #395
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.