How to say “gift” in 50 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.
- هدية/ha.dij.ja/ Arabic
- 선물[ˈsʰɘ(ː)nmuɭ] Korean
- δώρο/ˈðo.ɾo/ Greek
- מתנה/mat.taːˈnaː/ Hebrew
- উপহার/u.po.har/ Bengali
- பரிசு/pɐɾɪtʃɯ/ Tamil
“gift” in Korean: 선물 · Arabic: هدية · Turkish: hediye · Greek: δώρο
It is commonest in Urdu, where دیا is the 50th most used word.
Gift in other languages, A to Z
- Albanian dhuratë/ðuˈɾatə/ gift, present #748
- Arabic هدية/ha.dij.ja/ gift, donation #574
- Armenian նվեր/nəˈveɾ/ present, gift #1,146
- Basque opari/opaɾi/ gift, present #477
- Bengali উপহার/u.po.har/ gift, present #502
- Bosnian poklon/pǒklon/ gift, present #800
- Bulgarian подарък[poˈdarɐk] #789
- Catalan regal[rəˈɣal] present, gift #877
- Chinese 天才/tʰi̯ɛn⁵⁵ t͡sʰaɪ̯³⁵/ talent; gift; genius #541
- Croatian dar/dâːr/ #1,033
- Czech dárek[ˈdaːrɛk] gift, present, donation #1,050
- Danish gave[ˈɡ̊æːʋə] gift, present #845
- Dutch cadeau/kaːˈdoː/ present; gift #1,856
- Esperanto donaco/doˈnat͡so/ gift, present #849
- Estonian kingitus/ˈkinɡ̊itus/ gift, present #1,045
- Finnish lahja/ˈlɑhjɑ/ present, gift #1,541
- French noël/nɔ.ɛl/ A Christmas gift #716
- Galician agasallo/aɡaˈsaɟo/ gift, present #1,575
- Georgian ნიჭი[nit͡ʃʼi] talent, gift #957
- German geschenk/ɡəˈʃɛŋk/ present, gift #1,091
- Greek δώρο/ˈðo.ɾo/ gift, donation, present #756
- Hebrew מתנה/mat.taːˈnaː/ #824
- Hindi उपहार/ʊ.pʰɑːɾ/ present, gift #1,172
- Hungarian ajándék[ˈɒjaːndeːk] present, gift, donation #1,691
- Icelandic gjöf[ˈcœːv] gift, present #647
- Indonesian hadiah/haˈdiah/ #592
- Italian regalo/reˈɡa.lo/ present, gift #1,055
- Korean 선물[ˈsʰɘ(ː)nmuɭ] gift; present #599
- Latvian dāvana[ˈdɑ̄ː.vɑ.nɑ] present, gift #1,071
- Lithuanian dovana/doːvɐˈnɐ/ #610
- Macedonian подарок[ˈpɔdaɾɔk] gift, present #699
- Malay hadiah[ha.di.ah] A gift or present #535
- Malayalam സമ്മാനം/sɐmmaːnɐm/ gift, present #326
- Norwegian gave/ˈɡɑːvə/ a present or gift #1,034
- Persian بخشش[bæx.ʃéʃ] gift, donation #1,485
- Polish prezent/ˈprɛ.zɛnt/ gift, present #1,162
- Portuguese dom/ˈdõ/ donation; gift; present #2,476
- Romanian cadou/kaˈdow/ present, gift #1,040
- Russian подарок[pɐˈdarək] present, gift #967
- Serbian poklon/pǒklon/ gift, present #783
- Slovak darček/dart͡ʃek/ gift, present #637
- Slovenian darilo/darìːlɔ/ present, gift #370
- Spanish regalo/reˈɡalo/ present, gift #899
- Swedish bjuda/²bjʉːda/ to offer, to give as a gift #1,236
- Tagalog regalo/ɾeˈɡalo/ gift; present #735
- Tamil பரிசு/pɐɾɪtʃɯ/ gift, donation, present #572
- Turkish hediye/he.diˈje/ gift, present #831
- Ukrainian подарунок[pɔdɐˈrunɔk] present, gift #1,012
- Urdu دیا/d̪ə.jɑː/ #50
- Vietnamese tài[taːj˨˩] talent; gift #444
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.