How to say “fun” in 35 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.
- diversión/dibeɾˈsjon/ Spanish
- 好玩/xɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ wän³⁵/ Chinese
- כיף/kef/ Hebrew
- তামাশা/t̪amaʃa/ Bengali
- வேடிக்கை/ʋeːɖɪkːɐɪ̯/ Tamil
- مذاق/mə.zɑːq/ Urdu
“fun” in Spanish: diversión · German: spaß · Portuguese: divertido · Chinese: 好玩 · Turkish: eğlence
It is commonest in Icelandic, where gaman is the 162nd most used word.
Fun in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans lekker/ˈlækər/ good, nice, fun in a more generic sense #205
- Arabic لاعب/laː.ʕa.ba/ to play with, to have fun with, to jest with #1,124
- Basque dibertitu/dibertitu/ to have fun #1,331
- Bengali তামাশা/t̪amaʃa/ fun, jest #1,404
- Bosnian zabava/ˈzabɐvɐ/ fun, amusement #959
- Bulgarian забавно[zɐˈbavno] fun, interesting, entertaining #562
- Catalan divertit[di.βərˈtit] fun, amusing #778
- Chinese 好玩/xɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ wän³⁵/ #498
- Croatian zabava/ˈzabɐvɐ/ fun, amusement #959
- Czech zábava[ˈzaːbava] fun, entertainment, amusement #1,234
- Danish sjov/sjɔv/ #551
- Dutch plezier/pləˈziːr/ fun, leisure #670
- English play/pleɪ̯/ To act in a manner such that one has fun; to… #328
- Estonian lõbu/ˈlɤb̥u/ pleasure, fun #1,421
- German spaß/ʃpaːs/ #511
- Hebrew כיף/kef/ #485
- Hungarian móka[ˈmoːkɒ] #2,171
- Icelandic gaman[ˈkaːman] fun, pleasure, enjoyment #162
- Indonesian menyenangkan/mə.ɲəˈnaŋ.kan/ #380
- Italian gioco/ˈd͡ʒɔ.ko/ to play a game, for fun or as a pastime #570
- Korean 장난[t͡ɕa̠ŋna̠n] mischief, fun, practical joke #651
- Macedonian забава[ˈzabava] fun, amusement, entertainment #389
- Malay seronok/səˈronok/ pleasant; enjoyable; fun #793
- Norwegian gøy/ˈɡœ͡ʏ/ #687
- Polish zabawy/zaˈba.vɘ/ fun, amusement; game #1,634
- Portuguese divertido/d͡ʒi.veʁˈt͡ʃi.du/ fun; amusing; entertaining #929
- Romanian distractiv[dis.trakˈtiv] #1,125
- Serbian zabava/ˈzabɐvɐ/ fun, amusement #1,057
- Slovenian zabava/zabáːʋa/ fun, amusement #402
- Spanish diversión/dibeɾˈsjon/ fun, entertainment, amusement, levity #2,097
- Swedish kul/kʉːl/ #344
- Tamil வேடிக்கை/ʋeːɖɪkːɐɪ̯/ fun, amusement, diversion #304
- Turkish eğlence/eː.lenˈd͡ʒe/ fun, amusement, entertainment #1,363
- Urdu مذاق/mə.zɑːq/ fun, joke #316
- Vietnamese trêu[t͡ɕew˧˧] to tease, to poke fun #2,158
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.