How to say “grandmother” 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.
- abuela/aˈbwela/ Spanish
- бабушка[ˈbabʊʂkə] Russian
- 할머니[ha̠ɭmʌ̹ni] Korean
- γιαγιά/ʝaˈʝa/ Greek
- סבתא/ˈsavta/ Hebrew
- ბებია[b̥e̞biä] Georgian
“grandmother” in Spanish: abuela · French: grand-mère · German: großmutter · Italian: nonna · Portuguese: avó · Korean: 할머니 · Russian: бабушка · Turkish: büyükanne
It is commonest in Afrikaans, where ouma is the 377th most used word.
Grandmother in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans ouma/ˈəʊmɐ/ #377
- Albanian gjyshe/ɟyʃɛ/ #1,221
- Basque amona/amona/ #561
- Bengali দাদী/d̪ad̪i/ paternal grandmother #1,661
- Bosnian baka/bǎːka/ grandmother, grandma #1,223
- Bulgarian баба[ˈbabɐ] grandmother, grandma, granny, gran #759
- Catalan àvia[ˈa.βi.ə] #1,284
- Chinese 奶奶/naɪ̯²¹⁴ naɪ̯⁴/ paternal grandmother; nanna; gramma; granny #382
- Croatian baka/bǎːka/ grandmother, grandma #1,270
- Czech babička[ˈbabɪt͡ʃka] #1,637
- Danish bedstemor/ˈbɛsdəˌmoːɐ̯/ #1,525
- English grandma/ˈɡɹænmɑː/ #1,406
- Esperanto avino/aˈvino/ #677
- Estonian vanaema/ˈvɑnɑˌemɑ/ #724
- French grand-mère/ɡʁɑ̃.mɛʁ/ #1,200
- Galician avoa/aˈboa/ #906
- Georgian ბებია[b̥e̞biä] grandmother, grannie, granny #454
- German großmutter/ˈɡʁoːsˌmʊtɐ/ #1,866
- Greek γιαγιά/ʝaˈʝa/ grandmother, grandma, granny, nan, nanna #852
- Hebrew סבתא/ˈsavta/ #749
- Hindi दादी/d̪ɑː.d̪iː/ paternal grandmother #1,120
- Icelandic amma[ˈam(ː)a] grandmother, grandma, granny #623
- Indonesian nenek/ˈnɛnɛʔ/ grandmother; gramma; granny #739
- Italian nonna/ˈnɔn.na/ grandmother, granny #921
- Korean 할머니[ha̠ɭmʌ̹ni] grandmother; elderly female #477
- Lithuanian močiutė[moːˈt͡ʃʲʊ̟tʲeː] #1,181
- Macedonian баба[ˈbaba] grandmother, grandma, granny, gran #669
- Malay nenek/ˈnenek/ #581
- Malayalam മുത്തശ്ശി/mut̪t̪ɐʃʃi/ #579
- Norwegian bestemor/ˈbɛs.təˌmuːr/ a grandmother; the mother of one's parent #1,159
- Persian مادربزرگ[mɒː.d̪æɹ bo.zoɹɡʲ̥] #1,656
- Polish babcia/ˈbap.t͡ɕa/ #2,023
- Portuguese avó/aˈvɔ/ grandmother, female grandparent #1,013
- Romanian bunica/ˈbuniˌka/ #1,165
- Russian бабушка[ˈbabʊʂkə] grandmother, grandma, granny #1,458
- Serbian baka/bǎːka/ grandmother, grandma #1,309
- Slovak babička/babit͡ʃka/ #1,616
- Spanish abuela/aˈbwela/ grandmother, female equivalent of abuelo #872
- Swedish mormor/ˈmuːrmuːr/ a maternal grandmother #1,385
- Tagalog lola/ˈlola/ honorific used before the name of a… #809
- Tamil பாட்டி/pɑːʈːiː/ #1,149
- Telugu అమ్మమ్మ/amːamːa/ maternal grandmother #1,143
- Turkish büyükanne/by.jy.kanˈne/ #1,740
- Ukrainian бабуся[bɐˈbusʲɐ] #1,781
- Urdu دادی/d̪ɑː.d̪iː/ paternal grandmother #261
- Vietnamese bà[ʔɓaː˨˩] you, my grandmother #110
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 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.