How to say “friend” in 52 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.
- amigo/aˈmiɡo/ Spanish
- صديق/sˤa.diːq/ Arabic
- 朋友/pʰɤŋ³⁵ joʊ̯³/ Chinese
- 친구[t͡ɕʰinɡu] Korean
- दोस्त/d̪oːst̪/ Hindi
- φίλος/ˈfi.los/ Greek
“friend” in Spanish: amigo · French: ami · German: freund · Italian: amico · Portuguese: amigo · Chinese: 朋友 · Korean: 친구 · Arabic: صديق
It is commonest in Chinese, where 朋友 is the 26th most used word.
Friend in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans vriend/ˈvrint/ #213
- Albanian shoku/ʃɔku/ male friend #191
- Arabic صديق/sˤa.diːq/ #286
- Armenian ընկեր/ənˈkeɾ/ #212
- Basque lagun/laɡun/ companion, colleague, friend #117
- Bengali বন্ধু/bond̪ʱu/ #162
- Bosnian prijatelj/prîjateʎ/ #361
- Bulgarian приятел[priˈja̟tɛɫ] male friend, male crony, male mate, male… #196
- Catalan amic[əˈmik] #237
- Chinese 朋友/pʰɤŋ³⁵ joʊ̯³/ #26
- Croatian prijatelj/prîjateʎ/ #361
- Czech přítel[ˈpr̝̊iːtɛl] #570
- Danish ven/vɛn/ #204
- Dutch vriend/vrint/ #259
- English pal/pæl/ A friend, buddy, mate, cobber; someone to… #1,768
- Esperanto amiko/aˈmiko/ #238
- Estonian sõber/ˈsɤb̥er/ #265
- Finnish kaveri/ˈkɑʋeri/ friend, buddy, pal, mate #470
- French ami/a.mi/ #270
- Galician amigo/aˈmiɡo/ #259
- Georgian მეგობრები[me̞ɡo̞bɾe̞bi] #233
- German freund/frɔʏ̯nt/ #256
- Greek φίλος/ˈfi.los/ #402
- Hebrew חבר/χaˈveʁ/ A friend #133
- Hindi दोस्त/d̪oːst̪/ #202
- Hungarian barátok[ˈbɒraːtok] #752
- Icelandic vinur[ˈvɪːnʏr] #153
- Indonesian teman/təˈman/ #201
- Italian amico/aˈmi.ko/ friend, companion, partner #161
- Korean 친구[t͡ɕʰinɡu] #171
- Latvian draugs[drà͜ʊks̪] #186
- Lithuanian draugas[²ˈdrɒʊˑɡɐs] male friend #246
- Macedonian пријател[ˈpri(j)atɛɫ] friend, pal, mate #213
- Malay rakan/ˈrakan/ #469
- Malayalam സുഹൃത്ത്/suhrɨt̪t̪ɨ/ #283
- Norwegian venn/ˈvɛn/ a friend #252
- Persian دوست[d̪uːst̪ʰ] #49
- Polish koleś/ˈkɔ.lɛɕ/ friend, buddy #792
- Portuguese amigo/aˈmi.ɡu/ #218
- Romanian prieten/priˈe.ten/ #433
- Russian друг[drux] close friend #195
- Serbian prijatelj/prîjateʎ/ #377
- Slovak priateľ/prɪ̯aceʎ/ #319
- Slovenian prijatelj/prijáːtɛl/ #178
- Spanish amigo/aˈmiɡo/ #191
- Swedish vän/vɛːn/ a friend #225
- Tagalog kaibigan/kaʔiˈbiɡan/ friend; pal #96
- Tamil நண்பர்/nɐɳbɐɾ/ friend, companion #177
- Telugu స్నేహితుడు/ˈsneːhiˌtuɖu/ boyfriend, a male friend #115
- Turkish dostum/dosˈtum/ #181
- Ukrainian друг[druɦ] friend, companion #227
- Urdu دوست/d̪oːst̪/ #161
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) and Slovenian (artur (sl_SI), CC BY 4.0).
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.