How to say “free” 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.
- libre/ˈlibɾe/ Spanish
- أطلق/ʔatˤ.la.qa/ Arabic
- 自由/t͡sɹ̩⁵¹ joʊ̯³⁵/ Chinese
- 무료[muɾjo] Korean
- मुक्त/mʊkt̪/ Hindi
- חופשי/χofˈʃi/ Hebrew
“free” in Spanish: libre · French: libre · Italian: libero · Portuguese: livre · Chinese: 自由 · Korean: 무료 · Arabic: أطلق · Hindi: मुक्त
It is commonest in Chinese, where 自由 is the 190th most used word.
Free in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans vry/ˈfrɛɪ/ free, unconstrained #401
- Albanian falas/falas/ #1,041
- Arabic أطلق/ʔatˤ.la.qa/ to free, to liberate, to emancipate #491
- Armenian ազատ/ɑˈzɑt/ #448
- Basque askatu/as̺katu/ to free, to liberate #335
- Bengali মুক্ত/mukt̪o/ #375
- Bosnian slobodan/slôbodan/ #996
- Bulgarian свободен[svoˈbɔdɛn] #1,038
- Catalan lliure[ˈʎiw.ɾə] free, liberated #577
- Chinese 自由/t͡sɹ̩⁵¹ joʊ̯³⁵/ free; unconstrained #190
- Croatian slobodan/slôbodan/ #1,014
- Czech volný[ˈvolniː] #1,778
- Danish gratis/ɡraːtis/ gratis, free #1,151
- Dutch kalm/kɑl(ə)m/ calm, tranquil, free of noise and disturbance #1,305
- English quiet/ˈkwaɪ̯.ət/ With little or no sound; free of disturbing… #650
- Esperanto libera/liˈbera/ #504
- Estonian ilma/ˈilmɑ/ free of charge, on the house #221
- Finnish irti/ˈirti(ˣ)/ loose, unfastened, free, separate, detached #414
- French libre/libʁ/ free, at liberty #779
- Galician libre/ˈlibɾe/ free, not captive, unbound #539
- Georgian თავისუფალი[tʰävisupʰäli] #338
- German los/loːs/ rid of, free of #93
- Greek χωρίς/xoˈɾis/ without, -less, -free #163
- Hebrew חופשי/χofˈʃi/ #745
- Hindi मुक्त/mʊkt̪/ #652
- Hungarian szabad[ˈsɒbɒd] free to move or act according to one's will #397
- Icelandic frjáls[ˈfrjauls] #839
- Indonesian jelas/d͡ʒəˈlas/ free of ambiguity or doubt #339
- Italian libero/ˈli.be.ro/ #831
- Korean 무료[muɾjo] free, at no cost, free of charge #1,713
- Latvian brīvs[brīːws] #962
- Lithuanian laisvas/ˈlɐɪsvɐs/ #688
- Macedonian слободен[ˈsɫɔbɔdɛn] #692
- Malay bebas/ˈbebas/ #593
- Malayalam സ്വതന്ത്ര/sʋɐd̬ɐn̪t̪ɾä/ independent, free #1,180
- Norwegian fri/fɾiː/ free, not imprisoned or enslaved #534
- Persian آزاد[ʔɒː.zɒ́ːd̪̥] #415
- Polish darmo/ˈdar.mɔ/ free, gratis #2,451
- Portuguese livre/ˈli.vɾi/ #707
- Romanian liber/ˈli.ber/ free, at liberty #635
- Serbian slobodan/slôbodan/ #943
- Slovak slobodný/slɔbɔdniː/ #1,233
- Slovenian prost/prɔ́st/ #757
- Spanish libre/ˈlibɾe/ #628
- Swedish fri/friː/ #828
- Tagalog ligtas/liɡˈtas/ safe; free from danger #346
- Telugu స్వేచ్ఛ/sʋeːt͡ɕːʰa/ free will #682
- Turkish serbest/seɾˈbest/ #782
- Ukrainian звільнити[zʲʋʲilʲˈnɪte] to free, to liberate, to release, to set free #1,666
- Urdu آزاد/ɑː.zɑːd̪/ free, independent #447
- Vietnamese rảnh[zajŋ̟˧˩] free; unoccupied; not busy #1,814
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.