How to say “guest” in 41 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.
- гости[ˈɡosʲtʲɪ] Russian
- ضيف/dˤajf/ Arabic
- 客人/kʰɤ⁵¹ ɻən³⁵/ Chinese
- 손님[sʰo̞nnim] Korean
- मेहमान/meːɦ.mɑːn/ Hindi
- אורח/ʔoːˈriχ/ Hebrew
“guest” in French: invités · German: gäste · Italian: invitato · Portuguese: convidado · Chinese: 客人 · Korean: 손님 · Russian: гости · Arabic: ضيف
It is commonest in Chinese, where 客人 is the 352nd most used word.
Guest in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans gaste/ˈxɐstə/ #490
- Arabic ضيف/dˤajf/ #2,338
- Armenian հյուր/hjuɾ/ guest, visitor #990
- Basque ostalari/os̺ˈtalaˌɾi/ #2,066
- Bengali অতিথি/ot̪it̪ʰi/ #1,083
- Bosnian gost/ɡôːst/ #2,133
- Bulgarian гост[ɡɔst] #1,910
- Catalan convidat[kum.biˈðat] #1,512
- Chinese 客人/kʰɤ⁵¹ ɻən³⁵/ guest; visitor #352
- Croatian gost/ɡôːst/ #2,196
- Czech hosty[ˈɦostɪ] #2,294
- Danish gæster/ˈɡɛsdɐ/ visitor, guest #1,586
- Dutch gast/ɣɑst/ #931
- Esperanto gastoj/ˈɡastoi̯/ #1,221
- French invités/ɛ̃.vi.te/ #1,828
- Georgian სტუმრები[stʼumɾe̞bi] #830
- German gäste/ˈɡɛstə/ #1,778
- Hebrew אורח/ʔoːˈriχ/ guest, visitor #1,691
- Hindi मेहमान/meːɦ.mɑːn/ guest, visitor #2,093
- Icelandic gestur[ˈcɛstʏr] #1,131
- Indonesian tamu/ˈtamu/ guest, visitor #851
- Italian invitato/in.viˈta.to/ #2,004
- Korean 손님[sʰo̞nnim] guest, visitor #804
- Latvian viesi/ˈʋiesi/ visitor, guest #1,920
- Lithuanian svečias/ˈsvæːt͡ʃʲɐs/ #1,329
- Macedonian гостин[ˈɡɔstin] #1,890
- Malay tetamu/təˈtamu/ guest; visitor #825
- Malayalam അതിഥി/ɐd̪it̪(ʰ)i/ #1,443
- Norwegian gjester/ˈjɛstər/ a guest #2,120
- Persian مهمون/mehmuːn/ #1,027
- Polish gość/ˈɡɔɕt͡ɕ/ #953
- Portuguese convidado/kõ.viˈda.du/ #2,353
- Romanian invitat/ˌinviˈtat/ guest, invitee #1,191
- Russian гости[ˈɡosʲtʲɪ] guest, visitor #2,250
- Serbian gost/ɡôːst/ #2,060
- Slovak hosť/ɦɔsc/ #1,629
- Slovenian gost/ɡɔ́st/ #940
- Swedish gäster/ˈjɛstɛr/ a guest #2,053
- Tagalog bisita/biˈsita/ visitor; guest #604
- Telugu అతిథులు/ˈatiˌtʰulu/ #1,184
- Urdu مہمان/meːɦ.mɑːn/ #885
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) 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.