How to say “goodbye” in 38 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.
- adiós/aˈdjos/ Spanish
- 再見/t͡saɪ̯⁵¹⁻⁵³ t͡ɕi̯ɛn⁵¹/ Chinese
- αντίο/aˈdio/ Greek
- להתראות/le(h)itʁaˈ(ʔ)ot/ Hebrew
- ნახვამდის[näχʷämdis] Georgian
- ցտեսություն/stesˈt͡sʰjun/ Armenian
“goodbye” in Spanish: adiós · Italian: addio · Portuguese: adeus · Chinese: 再見 · Greek: αντίο
It is commonest in Basque, where agur is the 140th most used word.
Goodbye in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans totsiens/tɔt͡siːns/ Goodbye, farewell #209
- Albanian përshëndetje/pəɾʃəndɛtjɛ/ hello, greetings, goodbye #220
- Arabic وداعا/wa.daː.ʕan/ farewell, adieu, goodbye #671
- Armenian ցտեսություն/stesˈt͡sʰjun/ #671
- Basque agur/aɡur/ #140
- Bengali বিদায়/bid̪ae̯/ #1,148
- Bosnian zbogom/zbôɡom/ goodbye, farewell #712
- Bulgarian довиждане[doˈviʒdɐnɛ] #597
- Chinese 再見/t͡saɪ̯⁵¹⁻⁵³ t͡ɕi̯ɛn⁵¹/ goodbye; see you later #755
- Croatian zbogom/zbôɡom/ goodbye, farewell #733
- Danish farvel/fɑːˈvɛl/ goodbye, farewell #308
- Dutch doei/dui̯/ bye, goodbye #2,223
- English good-bye/ˈɡʊdˈbaɪ/ Alternative form of goodbye #1,797
- Esperanto adiaŭ/aˈdiau̯/ goodbye, farewell #500
- Estonian nägemist/ˈnæɡ̊emist/ #596
- Finnish näkemiin/ˈnækemiːn/ see you later, see you, goodbye #1,180
- Galician adeus[aˈðeʊ̯s] a goodbye #323
- Georgian ნახვამდის[näχʷämdis] #607
- Greek αντίο/aˈdio/ goodbye, bye, adieu, farewell #444
- Hebrew להתראות/le(h)itʁaˈ(ʔ)ot/ Goodbye, bye, see you later #399
- Hindi अलविदा/əl.ʋɪ.d̪ɑː/ bye, goodbye #443
- Hungarian viszlát[ˈvislaːt] goodbye, so long, see you later, next time,… #464
- Icelandic bless[ˈplɛs(ː)] goodbye, bye #243
- Italian addio/adˈdi.o/ goodbye, farewell #907
- Korean 작별[t͡ɕa̠k̚p͈jʌ̹ɭ] farewell; goodbye #1,490
- Latvian atā/ˈataː/ goodbye, bye-bye #393
- Lithuanian ate goodbye, ta-ta #1,121
- Macedonian збогум[ˈzbɔɡum] goodbye, farewell soon #687
- Norwegian farvel/fɑrˈvɛl/ goodbye, or more formally, farewell #772
- Persian خداحافظ[xo.d̪ɒː.ɦɒː.féz] goodbye, God be with you #410
- Polish żegnaj/ˈʐɛɡ.naj/ to bid farewell, to bid goodbye #1,879
- Portuguese adeus/aˈdews/ #363
- Serbian zbogom/zbôɡom/ goodbye, farewell #705
- Slovak zbohom/ˈzbɔɦɔm/ #540
- Slovenian adijo/adíːjɔ/ #234
- Spanish adiós/aˈdjos/ goodbye, farewell #296
- Swedish adjö/aˈjøː/ #1,048
- Turkish veda/veˈdɑː/ farewell, goodbye #1,459
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), 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.