How to say “gold” in 48 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.
- oro/ˈoɾo/ Spanish
- 金子/t͡ɕin⁵⁵ d͡z̥ɹ̩²/ Chinese
- 금[kɯm] Korean
- सोना/soː.nɑː/ Hindi
- זהב/zaˈhav/ Hebrew
- ოქროს[o̞kʰɾo̞s] Georgian
“gold” in Spanish: oro · German: gold · Italian: oro · Portuguese: ouro · Chinese: 金子 · Korean: 금 · Hindi: सोना · Turkish: altına
It is commonest in Bengali, where সোনা is the 270th most used word.
Gold in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans goud[χœu̯t] #1,052
- Albanian artë/aɾtə/ made of gold, of gold #1,256
- Armenian ոսկի/vosˈki/ #849
- Basque urrezko/uˈres̻ˌko/ #617
- Bengali সোনা/ʃona/ #270
- Bosnian zlato/zlâːto/ #1,112
- Bulgarian злато[ˈzɫato] #1,506
- Catalan or[ˈɔr] #712
- Chinese 金子/t͡ɕin⁵⁵ d͡z̥ɹ̩²/ #1,399
- Croatian zlato/zlâːto/ #1,086
- Czech zlato[ˈzlato] #313
- Danish guld[ˈɡ̊ul] #1,350
- Dutch goud/ɣɑu̯t/ #1,306
- English gold/ɡoʊld/ of or referring to a gold version of something #874
- Esperanto oro/ˈoro/ #569
- Estonian kulla/ˈkulːɑ/ #1,584
- Finnish kulta/ˈkultɑ/ #303
- French louis/lwi/ a louis: various gold and silver coins issued… #2,100
- Galician ouro/ˈowɾo/ #698
- Georgian ოქროს[o̞kʰɾo̞s] #713
- German gold/ɡɔlt/ #1,205
- Greek χρυσό/xriˈso/ golden, gold #1,282
- Hebrew זהב/zaˈhav/ #992
- Hindi सोना/soː.nɑː/ #1,689
- Hungarian arany[ˈɒrɒɲ] #1,777
- Icelandic gull[ˈkʏtl̥] #1,243
- Indonesian emas/əˈmas/ #781
- Italian oro/ˈɔ.ro/ #1,106
- Korean 금[kɯm] gold; golden #1,700
- Latvian zelta/ˈzælta/ #704
- Lithuanian aukso[¹ˈɑˑʊksoː] #794
- Macedonian злато[ˈzɫatɔ] #746
- Malay emas/ə.mas/ #555
- Malayalam സ്വർണ്ണം/sʋɐrɳɳɐm/ #1,308
- Norwegian gull/ɡʉlː/ #1,288
- Persian طلا[t̪ʰæ.lɒː] #1,099
- Portuguese ouro/ˈo(w).ɾu/ #992
- Romanian aur/ˈa.ur/ #958
- Serbian zlato/zlâːto/ #1,148
- Slovak zlato/zlatɔ/ #284
- Slovenian zlato/zlatóː/ #541
- Spanish oro/ˈoɾo/ #946
- Swedish guld/ɡɵld/ #1,485
- Tagalog ginto/ɡinˈtoʔ/ #854
- Tamil தங்கம்/t̪ɐŋɡɐm/ gold, pure gold #1,008
- Telugu బంగారు/ˈbanɡaːru/ of or pertaining to gold #908
- Turkish altına/aɫ.tɯˈna/ gold, a yellow, elemental metal of great… #735
- Ukrainian золото[ˈzɔɫɔtɔ] #1,287
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) and Slovenian (artur (sl_SI), CC BY 4.0).
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.