How to say “girl” 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.
- niña/ˈniɲa/ Spanish
- девушка[ˈdʲeʂkə] Russian
- 女孩/ny²¹⁴⁻²¹ xaɪ̯³⁵/ Chinese
- लड़की/ləɽ.kiː/ Hindi
- κορίτσι/koˈɾi.t͡si/ Greek
- ילדה/jalˈda/ Hebrew
“girl” in Spanish: niña · French: fille · German: mädchen · Italian: ragazza · Portuguese: menina · Chinese: 女孩 · Russian: девушка · Hindi: लड़की
It is commonest in Serbian, where treba is the 74th most used word.
Girl in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans meisie/ˈməi.si/ #228
- Albanian vajza/vajza/ #221
- Armenian օրիորդ/oˈɾjoɾtʰ/ girl; unmarried woman; maid, maiden; damsel #98
- Basque neska/nes̺ka/ #96
- Bengali মেয়ে/me/ #538
- Bosnian treba/trěːba/ girl, chick #83
- Bulgarian момиче[moˈmit͡ʃɛ] #229
- Catalan noia[ˈnɔ.jə] girl, young woman #259
- Chinese 女孩/ny²¹⁴⁻²¹ xaɪ̯³⁵/ #83
- Croatian treba/trěːba/ girl, chick #110
- Czech holka[ˈɦolka] #523
- Danish pige/ˈpiːə/ #262
- Dutch meisje/ˈmɛi̯.ʃə/ girl, lass #299
- Esperanto knabino/knaˈbino/ #362
- Estonian tüdruk/ˈtyd̥ruk/ #295
- Finnish tyttö/ˈtytːø/ #283
- French fille/fij/ #176
- Galician rapaza/raˈpaθa/ #449
- Georgian გოგო[ɡ̊o̞ɡo̞] #220
- German mädchen/ˈmeːtçɛn/ #247
- Greek κορίτσι/koˈɾi.t͡si/ girl, daughter #318
- Hebrew ילדה/jalˈda/ #407
- Hindi लड़की/ləɽ.kiː/ #248
- Hungarian lány[ˈlaːɲ] #280
- Icelandic stelpa[ˈstɛl̥pa] #462
- Indonesian gadis/ˈɡadis/ #204
- Italian ragazza/raˈɡat.t͡sa/ girl, young woman #272
- Korean 아가씨[a̠ɡa̠ɕ͈i] Miss, girl, young lady #400
- Latvian meitene[ˈmɛî̯tɛnɛ] #387
- Lithuanian mergina/mʲɛɾʲɡʲɪˈnɐ/ young woman, girl, lass #263
- Macedonian девојка[ˈdɛvɔjka] girl, young female, maiden #222
- Malay gadis/ˈɡadis/ maiden, young girl #247
- Malayalam സ്ത്രീ/st̪riː/ #221
- Norwegian jente/²jɛntə/ girl; young woman #398
- Polish dziewczyna/d͡ʑɛfˈt͡ʂɘ.na/ #488
- Portuguese menina/miˈnĩ.nɐ/ #526
- Romanian fata[ˈfata] #285
- Russian девушка[ˈdʲeʂkə] girl, lass #537
- Serbian treba/trěːba/ girl, chick #74
- Slovak dievča/ɟɪ̯evt͡ʃa/ #203
- Slovenian dekle/dɛklɛ́/ #226
- Spanish niña/ˈniɲa/ girl, female equivalent of niño #587
- Swedish flicka/ˈflɪkːˌa/ a girl #543
- Tagalog babae/baˈbaʔe/ woman; girl; female #211
- Tamil சிறுமி/tʃɪrʊmiː/ girl, lass #2,038
- Telugu అమ్మాయి/ˈamːaːji/ a little girl #121
- Turkish kız/kɯz/ #133
- Ukrainian дівчина[ˈdʲiu̯t͡ʃenɐ] young girl, girl #647
- Urdu لڑکی/ləɽ.kiː/ #212
- Vietnamese nhỏ[ɲɔ˧˩] she/her, that girl #323
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.