How to say “forest” in 45 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.
- bosque/ˈboske/ Spanish
- лесу[ˈlʲesʊ] Russian
- غابة/ɣaː.ba/ Arabic
- 森林/sən⁵⁵ lin³⁵/ Chinese
- जंगल/d͡ʒəŋ.ɡəl/ Hindi
- ტყის[tʼχʼis] Georgian
“forest” in Spanish: bosque · French: forêt · German: wald · Portuguese: floresta · Chinese: 森林 · Russian: лесу · Arabic: غابة · Hindi: जंगल
It is commonest in Telugu, where అడవి is the 221st most used word.
Forest in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans bos/bɔs/ wood, forest #412
- Albanian pyll[pyɫ] forest, wood #1,195
- Arabic غابة/ɣaː.ba/ #2,423
- Armenian անտառ/ɑnˈtɑr/ forest, wood #1,132
- Basque basora/baˈs̺oˌɾa/ forest, woods, jungle #1,205
- Bengali মাল/mal/ a forest or wood near a village #682
- Bosnian šumi/ˈʃumɪ/ forest, woods #1,651
- Catalan bosc[ˈbɔsk] forest; wood; woods #1,004
- Chinese 森林/sən⁵⁵ lin³⁵/ forest; trees #535
- Croatian šumi/ˈʃumɪ/ forest, woods #1,577
- Danish skoven/ˈsɡʌwˀən/ #1,179
- Dutch bos/bɔs/ wood, forest #1,267
- Esperanto arbaro/arˈbaro/ #401
- Estonian metsa/ˈmetsɑ/ #1,135
- French forêt/fɔ.ʁe/ #2,070
- Galician bosque/ˈbɔske/ #1,598
- Georgian ტყის[tʼχʼis] forest, wood #1,364
- German wald/valt/ forest; woods; woodland #1,334
- Greek δάσος/ˈða.sos/ wood, forest #1,107
- Hindi जंगल/d͡ʒəŋ.ɡəl/ forest, woods #621
- Hungarian erdőben[ˈɛrdøːbɛn] #2,298
- Indonesian hutan/ˈhutan/ #705
- Korean 숲[sʰup̚] a forest or grove #1,049
- Latvian mežā/ˈmeʒaː/ #1,414
- Lithuanian miškas[ˈmʲɪʃkɐs] #2,449
- Macedonian шума[ˈʃuma] forest, woods #1,953
- Malay hutan/ˈhutan/ #605
- Malayalam കാട്/kaːɖɨ/ #751
- Norwegian skogen/ˈskuːɡən/ forest, wood #1,065
- Persian جنگل[d͡ʒæɲ.ɡʲǽl̥] jungle, forest #662
- Portuguese floresta/floˈɾɛs.tɐ/ #1,563
- Romanian pădure/pəˈdu.re/ #1,368
- Russian лесу[ˈlʲesʊ] forest, woods #2,270
- Serbian šumi/ˈʃumɪ/ forest, woods #1,524
- Slovak les/ʎes/ forest, woods #1,295
- Slovenian gozd/ɡɔ́st/ #723
- Spanish bosque/ˈboske/ #1,348
- Swedish skogen/ˈskuːjɛn/ forest, wood #1,020
- Tagalog gubat/ˈɡubat/ woods; woodland; forest #293
- Tamil கான்/kɑːn/ #1,229
- Telugu అడవి/ˈaɖaʋi/ #221
- Turkish orman/oɾˈman/ forest, wood #2,339
- Ukrainian лісі[ˈlʲisʲi] forest, woods #1,752
- Urdu جنگل/d͡ʒəŋ.ɡəl/ jungle, forest, wilderness #208
- Vietnamese rừng[zɨŋ˨˩] #981
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.