How to say “funny” 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.
- مضحك/mudˤħik/ Arabic
- 好笑/xɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ ɕi̯ɑʊ̯⁵¹/ Chinese
- מצחיק/masˤˈħiːq/ Hebrew
- სასაცილო[säsät͡sʰiɫo̞] Georgian
- মজার/mɔd͡ʒaɾ/ Bengali
“funny” in French: drôle · German: lustig · Italian: divertente · Chinese: 好笑 · Arabic: مضحك · Turkish: komik
It is commonest in Afrikaans, where snaaks is the 331st most used word.
Funny in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans snaaks/snɑːks/ funny, comical #331
- Albanian qesharak/cɛʃäˈɾäk/ funny, amusing; laughable, ridiculous #1,388
- Arabic مضحك/mudˤħik/ funny, comical #451
- Bengali মজার/mɔd͡ʒaɾ/ #417
- Catalan graciós[ɡɾə.siˈos] #1,842
- Chinese 好笑/xɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ ɕi̯ɑʊ̯⁵¹/ funny; hilarious; amusing #589
- Croatian smiješan/smjěːʃan/ #2,106
- Czech vtipný[ˈfcɪpniː] funny, witty #1,832
- Danish morsomt/ˈmoɐ̯ˌsʌmˀd/ funny, entertaining, amusing #1,536
- Dutch grappig/ˈɣrɑ.pəx/ #646
- Esperanto amuza/aˈmuza/ funny, humorous #996
- Estonian naljakas/ˈnɑljɑkɑs/ #517
- Finnish hassua/ˈhassua/ funny, silly #2,317
- French drôle/dʁol/ funny, amusing #556
- Georgian სასაცილო[säsät͡sʰiɫo̞] #1,102
- German lustig/ˈlʊstɪk/ funny, humorous #844
- Greek αστεία/asˈtia/ in a funny way #1,443
- Hebrew מצחיק/masˤˈħiːq/ Funny, amusing, humorous #408
- Hungarian vicces[ˈvit͡sːɛʃ] funny, humorous #466
- Icelandic fyndinn[ˈfɪntɪn(ː)] #997
- Indonesian lucu/lu.t͡ʃu/ #443
- Italian divertente/di.verˈtɛn.te/ funny, amusing, entertaining, fun #539
- Latvian smieklīgi/ˈsmiekliːɡi/ funny, amusing, ridiculous, funnily,… #550
- Macedonian смешен[ˈsmɛʃɛn] funny, ridiculous #1,419
- Malay lucu/lu.t͡ʃu/ funny; hilarious #790
- Norwegian morsomt/ˈmʊʂɔmt/ #612
- Polish śmieszne/ˈɕmjɛʂ.nɛ/ #1,331
- Romanian amuzant/ˌamuˈzant/ #658
- Russian смешно[smʲɪʂˈno] in a funny manner/way, comically #885
- Serbian smešan/směːʃan/ #2,347
- Spanish divertido/dibeɾˈtido/ entertaining, amusing, funny #677
- Swedish roligt/ˈruːlɪkt/ funny, fun #532
- Tagalog kakatuwa/ˌkakatuˈaʔ/ amusing; funny #2,152
- Tamil நகைச்சுவை/nɐɡɐɪ̯tʃtʃʊʋɐɪ̯/ humorous, funny #767
- Turkish komik/koˈmik/ #460
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) and Estonian (news (et_EE), CC BY 4.0).
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.