How to say “god” in 51 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.
- dios/ˈdjos/ Spanish
- боже[ˈboʐɨ] Russian
- إل/ʔill/ Arabic
- 老天/lɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ tʰi̯ɛn⁵⁵/ Chinese
- भगवान/bʱəɡ.ʋɑːn/ Hindi
- θεέ/θeˈe/ Greek
“god” in Spanish: dios · French: dieu · German: gott · Italian: dio · Portuguese: deus · Chinese: 老天 · Russian: боже · Arabic: إل
It is commonest in Tagalog, where diyos is the 68th most used word.
God in other languages, A to Z
- Albanian perëndi/pɛɾəndi/ #1,569
- Arabic إل/ʔill/ god, deity, God, El #1,285
- Armenian աստված/ɑstˈvɑt͡s/ #119
- Basque jainko/ɟai̯nko/ god, deity #419
- Bengali খোদা/kʰod̪a/ God, Lord #289
- Bosnian bog/bôːɡ/ god, deity #437
- Bulgarian боже[ˈbɔʒɛ] god → the God / male deity #176
- Catalan déu[ˈdew] #123
- Chinese 老天/lɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ tʰi̯ɛn⁵⁵/ God; Heavens #314
- Croatian bog/bôːɡ/ god, deity #411
- Czech bože[ˈboʒɛ] #171
- Danish gud[ˈɡ̊uð] god, God #181
- Dutch god/ɣɔt/ god, deity #208
- English heaven/ˈhɛvən/ The abode of God and of the angels and saints… #1,150
- Esperanto dio/ˈdio/ a god #94
- Estonian jumal/ˈjumɑl/ #136
- Finnish jumala/ˈjumɑlɑ/ god, deity #519
- French dieu/djø/ a god, male divinity #148
- Galician deus/ˈdews/ god, deity #159
- Georgian ღმერთი[ʁme̞ɾtʰi] #212
- German gott/ɡɔt/ #164
- Greek θεέ/θeˈe/ #185
- Hebrew אלוהים/ʔiloːˈhiːm/ a god #92
- Hindi भगवान/bʱəɡ.ʋɑːn/ a god; male deity, lord #146
- Hungarian isten[ˈiʃtɛn] god, deity #240
- Icelandic guð[ˈkvʏːð] #547
- Indonesian tuhan/ˈtuhan/ #146
- Italian dio/ˈdi.o/ god, deity #152
- Korean 세상에[ˈsʰe̞(ː)sʰa̠ŋe̞] oh my God! oh no! #140
- Latvian dievs[ˈdìɛws] #109
- Lithuanian dievas[²ˈdʲiɛʋɐs] a god #347
- Macedonian боже[ˈbɔʒɛ] #140
- Malay tuhan/tuhan/ #142
- Malayalam ദൈവം/d̪ɐi̯ʋɐm/ #112
- Norwegian gud/ɡʉːd/ #251
- Persian خدا[xo.d̪ɒ́ː] #115
- Polish boże/ˈbɔ.ʐɛ/ #145
- Portuguese deus/ˈdews/ god; deity #123
- Russian боже[ˈboʐɨ] #152
- Serbian bog/bôːɡ/ god, deity #425
- Slovak bože/bɔʒɛ/ #116
- Slovenian bog/bóːk/ #110
- Spanish dios/ˈdjos/ #114
- Swedish gud/ɡʉːd/ a god #216
- Tagalog diyos/diˈos/ #68
- Tamil கடவுள்/kɐɖɐʋʊɭ/ god, deity #124
- Telugu దేవుడు/d̪eːʋuɖu/ #207
- Turkish tanrım/tanˈɾɯm/ god, deity, divinity #100
- Ukrainian боже[ˈbɔʒe] #107
- Urdu خدا/xʊ.d̪ɑː/ #111
- Vietnamese thần[tʰən˨˩] deity; god #286
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.