How to say “happy” in 49 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.
- feliz/feˈliθ/ Spanish
- سعيد/sa.ʕiːd/ Arabic
- שמח/saˈmeaχ/ Hebrew
- ბედნიერი[b̥e̞dnie̞ɾi] Georgian
- ուրախ/uˈɾɑχ/ Armenian
- ഹാപ്പി/haːppi/ Malayalam
“happy” in Spanish: feliz · French: heureux · German: glücklich · Italian: felice · Portuguese: feliz · Arabic: سعيد · Turkish: mutlu
It is commonest in Persian, where خوش is the 145th most used word.
Happy in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans gelukkig/χəˈlœ.kəχ/ #155
- Albanian lumtur/lumtuɾ/ happy, joyous #278
- Arabic سعيد/sa.ʕiːd/ happy, cheerful, joyous #196
- Armenian ուրախ/uˈɾɑχ/ happy, glad, cheerful #251
- Basque zoriontsu/s̻oɾiont͡s̺u/ #486
- Bengali আনন্দিত/anɔnd̪it̪o/ delighted, happy, glad, merry #860
- Bosnian sretan/srêtan/ happy, merry #632
- Bulgarian радвам[ˈradvɐm] to please, to make happy #277
- Catalan feliç[fəˈlis] #534
- Chinese 舒服/ʂu⁵⁵ fu²/ comfortable; relaxed and happy; providing… #281
- Croatian sretan/srêtan/ happy, merry #460
- Czech šťastný[ˈʃcastniː] #898
- Danish glad/ˈɡlað/ happy, glad #303
- Dutch blij/blɛi̯/ happy; momentarily. For generally in life,… #349
- English glad/ɡlæd/ Pleased; happy; gratified #598
- Esperanto feliĉa/feˈlit͡ʃa/ full of well-being, happy #506
- Estonian õnnelik/ˈɤnˑelik/ #476
- Finnish iloinen/ˈiloi̯nen/ happy, merry, cheerful, joyful, joyous,… #787
- French heureux/œ.ʁø/ #531
- Galician feliz/feˈliθ/ #405
- Georgian ბედნიერი[b̥e̞dnie̞ɾi] #177
- German glücklich/ˈɡlʏklɪç/ happy; both momentarily and generally in life #586
- Greek χαίρομαι/ˈçe.ɾo.me/ to be happy, to be glad #385
- Hebrew שמח/saˈmeaχ/ happy, glad, pleased #289
- Hungarian örülök[ˈøryløk] to be happy or glad, to rejoice #299
- Icelandic feginn[ˈfeijɪn(ː)] happy, pleased, relieved #1,198
- Indonesian senang/səˈnaŋ/ #198
- Italian felice/feˈli.t͡ʃe/ #381
- Korean 반갑다[pa̠nɡa̠p̚t͈a̠] to be glad, happy; pleasant; welcome #1,444
- Latvian jautri/ˈjautri/ cheerful, merry, happy, cheerfully, merrily,… #628
- Lithuanian laimingas[lɐɪ¹ˈmʲɪŋɡɐs] #600
- Macedonian среќен[ˈsrɛcɛn] #305
- Malay bahagia/ba.ha.ɡi.a/ happy and content #715
- Malayalam ഹാപ്പി/haːppi/ #563
- Norwegian glad/ɡɽɑː/ happy, glad #263
- Persian خوش[xoʃ] #145
- Polish szczęśliwy/ʂt͡ʂɛw̃ɕˈli.vɘ/ #1,110
- Portuguese feliz/feˈlis/ #332
- Romanian fericit/fe.riˈt͡ʃit/ #548
- Serbian srećan/srêt͡ɕan/ #577
- Slovak šťastný/ʃcastniː/ #437
- Slovenian vesel/ʋɛséːʋ/ happy, cheerful, glad #279
- Spanish feliz/feˈliθ/ happy, merry #337
- Swedish glad/ɡlɑː(d)/ happy, glad #398
- Tagalog masaya/masaˈja/ joyful; happy #281
- Turkish mutlu/mutˈɫu/ #268
- Ukrainian щасливий[ʃt͡ʃɐsˈɫɪʋei̯] happy; lucky #1,379
- Urdu خوش/xʊʃ/ #154
- Vietnamese mừng[mɨŋ˨˩] glad, happy #415
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.