How to say “handsome” in 30 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 Chinese, where 漂亮 is the 110th most used word.
- Arabic وسيم handsome, pretty, goodly, elegant #1,164
- Basque ederra beautiful, pretty, handsome #159
- Bosnian zgodan handsome, pretty, attractive #1,556
- Chinese 漂亮 pretty; beautiful; handsome #110
- Croatian zgodan handsome, pretty, attractive #1,514
- Danish smuk beautiful, handsome, good-looking #530
- Dutch mooi beautiful, pretty, handsome #236
- Finnish komea #1,936
- French belle handsome, fine, attractive #398
- Galician aposto handsome, good-looking #1,597
- Georgian ლამაზი beautiful, handsome #197
- German hübsch pretty, handsome #1,079
- Greek όμορφη beautiful, pretty, handsome #547
- Hebrew נאה handsome, fair #1,487
- Hungarian jóképű #1,992
- Icelandic myndarlegur handsome, good-looking #1,159
- Indonesian tampan #997
- Malay tampan handsome; good-looking — usually of a man #1,629
- Persian خوشگل beautiful, handsome, good-looking #630
- Polish ładna pretty; handsome; nice-looking #1,774
- Russian красивый beautiful, handsome #2,204
- Serbian zgodan handsome, pretty, attractive #1,575
- Slovenian lep beautiful; handsome #299
- Spanish hermosa gorgeous, beautiful, handsome, lovely #850
- Swedish snygg good-looking; handsome #917
- Tagalog guwapo handsome; good-looking #347
- Turkish yakışıklı #1,080
- Ukrainian гарний beautiful, pretty, handsome #677
- Urdu حسین beautiful, handsome #2,492
- Vietnamese bảnh handsome and well-dressed #2,247
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.