How to say “grandmother” in 46 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.
It is commonest in Vietnamese, where bà is the 110th most used word.
- Afrikaans ouma #377
- Albanian gjyshe #1,221
- Basque amona #561
- Bengali দাদী paternal grandmother #1,661
- Bosnian baka grandmother, grandma #1,223
- Bulgarian баба grandmother, grandma, granny, gran #759
- Catalan àvia #1,284
- Chinese 奶奶 paternal grandmother; nanna; gramma; granny #382
- Croatian baka grandmother, grandma #1,270
- Czech babička #1,637
- Danish bedstemor #1,525
- English grandma #1,406
- Esperanto avino #677
- Estonian vanaema #724
- French grand-mère #1,200
- Galician avoa #906
- Georgian ბებია grandmother, grannie, granny #454
- German großmutter #1,866
- Greek γιαγιά grandmother, grandma, granny, nan, nanna #852
- Hebrew סבתא #749
- Hindi दादी paternal grandmother #1,120
- Icelandic amma grandmother, grandma, granny #623
- Indonesian nenek grandmother; gramma; granny #739
- Italian nonna grandmother, granny #921
- Korean 할머니 grandmother; elderly female #477
- Lithuanian močiutė #1,181
- Macedonian баба grandmother, grandma, granny, gran #669
- Malay nenek #581
- Malayalam മുത്തശ്ശി #579
- Norwegian bestemor a grandmother; the mother of one's parent #1,159
- Persian مادربزرگ #1,656
- Polish babcia #2,023
- Portuguese avó grandmother, female grandparent #1,013
- Romanian bunica #1,165
- Russian бабушка grandmother, grandma, granny #1,458
- Serbian baka grandmother, grandma #1,309
- Slovak babička #1,616
- Spanish abuela grandmother, female equivalent of abuelo #872
- Swedish mormor a maternal grandmother #1,385
- Tagalog lola honorific used before the name of a… #809
- Tamil பாட்டி #1,149
- Telugu అమ్మమ్మ maternal grandmother #1,143
- Turkish büyükanne #1,740
- Ukrainian бабуся #1,781
- Urdu دادی paternal grandmother #261
- Vietnamese bà you, my grandmother #110
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.