How to say “hand” in 51 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.
- हाथ/ɦɑːt̪ʰ/ Hindi
- ხელი[χe̞li] Georgian
- ձեռք/d͡zerkʰ/ Armenian
- হাত/hat̪/ Bengali
- கை/kɐɪ̯/ Tamil
- കൈ/kɐi̯/ Malayalam
“hand” in French: main · Italian: mano · Portuguese: mãos · Hindi: हाथ · Turkish: el
It is commonest in Persian, where دست is the 50th most used word.
Hand in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans hand/ɦant/ A hand #260
- Albanian duart/duaɾt/ #270
- Arabic خمس/alxams/ the five digits of the hand #390
- Armenian ձեռք/d͡zerkʰ/ hand; arm #340
- Basque esku/es̺ku/ #326
- Bengali হাত/hat̪/ #163
- Bosnian predati/prědati/ to deliver, hand over #1,769
- Bulgarian ръка[rɐˈka] #575
- Catalan mà[ˈma] #327
- Chinese 方面/fɑŋ⁵⁵ mi̯ɛn⁵¹/ aspect; side; hand; facet; respect #437
- Croatian predati/prědati/ to deliver, hand over #1,560
- Czech ruce[ˈrut͡sɛ] #448
- Danish hånd/hɔnˀ/ #462
- Dutch hand/ɦɑnt/ a hand of a human, other simian or other… #263
- Esperanto manojn/ˈmanoɪn/ #463
- Estonian kätte/ˈkætːe/ #282
- Finnish kädet/ˈkædet/ hand, arm; an upper limb of a human or… #900
- French main/mɛ̃/ #369
- Galician man/man/ #276
- Georgian ხელი[χe̞li] #249
- German übergeben/ˌyːbɐˈɡeːbən/ to hand over #2,467
- Greek δε/ˈðe/ on the other hand used together with μεν #54
- Hebrew ימין/jɔːˈmiːn/ the right hand #1,022
- Hindi हाथ/ɦɑːt̪ʰ/ #243
- Hungarian kézzel[ˈkeːzːɛl] by hand #2,034
- Icelandic hendur/ˈhɛntʏr/ #454
- Indonesian menyerahkan/məɲərahkan/ to hand over #1,130
- Italian mano/ˈma.no/ #350
- Korean 그런데[kɯɾʌ̹nde̞] but, however, on the other hand #138
- Latvian rokas/ˈruokas/ hand, arm #279
- Lithuanian rankas[rɐŋˈkɐs] hand; arm #293
- Malay tangan/ˈtaŋan/ #211
- Malayalam കൈ/kɐi̯/ #124
- Norwegian hendene/ˈhɛnn̩nə/ a hand #574
- Persian دست[d̪æst̪ʰ] #50
- Polish podaj/ˈpɔ.daj/ to hand, to pass #1,492
- Portuguese mãos/ˈmɐ̃w̃s/ #374
- Romanian mâna/mɨˈna/ #455
- Russian передать[pʲɪrʲɪˈdatʲ] to hand over, to deliver, to give #1,580
- Serbian međutim/med͡ʑǔtiːm/ however, on the other hand #1,822
- Slovak ruky/ruki/ hand, arm #289
- Slovenian rok/ˈroːk/ hand, arm #442
- Spanish pasa/ˈpasa/ to pass, to hand, to slip #158
- Swedish händer/ˈhɛndɛr/ a hand #190
- Tagalog kunin/ˈkunin/ to take something by the hand; to fetch; to… #173
- Tamil கை/kɐɪ̯/ #329
- Telugu దాదాపు/ˈdaːdaːpu/ close at hand #230
- Turkish el/ˈel/ #464
- Ukrainian рука[rʊˈka] #1,060
- Urdu ہاتھ/ɦɑːt̪ʰ/ #186
- Vietnamese tay[taj˧˧] #164
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.