How to say “grandfather” in 46 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.
- abuelo/aˈbwelo/ Spanish
- дедушка[ˈdʲedʊʂkə] Russian
- 할아버지[ha̠ɾa̠bʌ̹d͡ʑi] Korean
- παππού/paˈpu/ Greek
- סבא/ˈsaba/ Hebrew
- պապ/pɑp/ Armenian
“grandfather” in Spanish: abuelo · French: grand-père · German: großvater · Italian: nonno · Portuguese: avô · Korean: 할아버지 · Russian: дедушка · Turkish: büyükbaba
It is commonest in Afrikaans, where oupa is the 240th most used word.
Grandfather in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans oupa/ˈəʊpɐ/ #240
- Albanian gjyshi/ɟyʃi/ #1,132
- Armenian պապ/pɑp/ #1,510
- Basque aitona/ai̯tona/ #522
- Bengali দাদা/d̪ad̪a/ paternal grandfather #739
- Bosnian deda/dêda/ #1,241
- Bulgarian дядо[ˈdʲa̟do] grandfather, grandpa, grandpapa, granddad #579
- Catalan avi[ˈa.βi] #1,119
- Chinese 祖父/t͡su²¹⁴⁻²¹ fu⁵¹/ paternal grandfather #1,395
- Croatian djed/djêd/ #1,306
- Czech děda[ˈɟɛda] #2,347
- Danish bedstefar/ˈbɛsdəˌfɑː/ #1,502
- English grandpa/ˈɡɹæm.pɑː/ #1,525
- Esperanto avo/ˈavo/ #833
- Estonian vanaisa/ˈvɑnɑˌisɑ/ #794
- French grand-père/ɡʁɑ̃.pɛʁ/ #1,321
- Galician avó/aˈbo/ #1,085
- German großvater/ˈɡʁoːsfatɐ/ #1,697
- Greek παππού/paˈpu/ grandfather, grandad, grandpa #1,253
- Hebrew סבא/ˈsaba/ #849
- Hindi दादा/d̪ɑː.d̪ɑː/ paternal grandfather #2,306
- Hungarian nagyapa[ˈnɒɟɒpɒ] #2,347
- Icelandic afi/ˈaːvɪ/ #615
- Indonesian kakek/ˈkakɛʔ/ #980
- Italian nonno/ˈnɔn.no/ #1,127
- Korean 할아버지[ha̠ɾa̠bʌ̹d͡ʑi] grandfather; elderly male #545
- Latvian vectēvs/ˈʋæt͡stæːʋs/ #1,096
- Lithuanian senelis[sʲɛ²ˈnʲæːlʲɪs] #670
- Macedonian дедо[ˈdɛdɔ] #460
- Malay atuk/ˈatok/ #1,509
- Malayalam മുത്തച്ഛൻ/mut̪t̪ɐt͡ʃt͡ʃʰɐn/ #1,453
- Norwegian bestefar/ˈbɛstəˌfɑːr/ a grandfather #1,390
- Persian پدربزرگ[pʰæ.d̪æɹ.bo.zoɹɡʲ̥] #1,975
- Polish dziadek/ˈd͡ʑa.dɛk/ #2,151
- Portuguese avô/aˈvo/ grandfather, male grandparent #1,136
- Russian дедушка[ˈdʲedʊʂkə] #1,779
- Serbian deda/dêda/ #849
- Slovak dedko/ɟetkɔ/ #1,195
- Slovenian ded/déːt/ #1,202
- Spanish abuelo/aˈbwelo/ #961
- Tagalog lolo/ˈlolo/ #936
- Tamil தாத்தா/t̪ɑːt̪ːɑː/ grandfather, the father of one's parent #488
- Telugu తాత/t̪aːt̪a/ #923
- Turkish büyükbaba/byˈjyc.ba.ba/ #2,175
- Urdu دادا/d̪ɑː.d̪ɑː/ paternal grandfather #1,081
- Vietnamese ông[ʔəwŋ͡m˧˧] you, my grandfather #29
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.