How to say “head” in 52 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.
- cabeza/kaˈbeθa/ Spanish
- голова[ɡəɫɐˈva] Russian
- رأس/raʔs/ Arabic
- 머리[mʌ̹ɾi] Korean
- सर/səɾ/ Hindi
- κεφάλι/ceˈfa.li/ Greek
“head” in Spanish: cabeza · French: tête · German: kopf · Italian: testa · Portuguese: cabeça · Korean: 머리 · Russian: голова · Arabic: رأس
It is commonest in Georgian, where თავს is the 83rd most used word.
Head in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans kop/kɔp/ #233
- Albanian sheh/ʃɛh/ head of a Muslim religious group. sheik #330
- Arabic رأس/raʔs/ #628
- Armenian դիմել/diˈmel/ to go to, head in the direction of #396
- Basque burua/buˈɾuˌa/ #134
- Bengali মাথা/mat̪ʰa/ #218
- Bosnian glava/ɡlǎːʋa/ #962
- Bulgarian глава[ɡɫɐˈva] #903
- Catalan caps[ˈkaps] #1,341
- Chinese 首席/ʂoʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ ɕi³⁵/ head of the table; top seat #1,514
- Croatian glava/ɡlǎːʋa/ #954
- Czech hlavu[ˈɦlavu] #551
- Danish hovedet/ˈhoːəðəð/ #460
- Dutch hoofd/ɦoːft/ #333
- English president/ˈpɹɛz.ɪ.dənt/ The head of state of a republic, sometimes… #700
- Esperanto kapo/ˈkapo/ #366
- Estonian pead/peɑ̯d̥/ #126
- Finnish pää/ˈpæː/ #1,158
- French tête/tɛt/ #242
- Galician cabeza/kaˈbeθa/ #262
- Georgian თავს[tʰäfs] #83
- German kopf/kɔpf/ #371
- Greek κεφάλι/ceˈfa.li/ #386
- Hebrew ראש/ʁoʃ/ #397
- Hindi सर/səɾ/ #162
- Hungarian indul[ˈindul] to set off, set out, head somewhere #1,573
- Icelandic forskot[ˈfɔr̥.skɔːt] advantage, head start #1,875
- Indonesian kepala/kəˈpala/ head: the part of the body of an animal or… #313
- Italian testa/ˈtɛs.ta/ #287
- Korean 머리[mʌ̹ɾi] #310
- Latvian galvu/ˈɡallʋu/ #465
- Lithuanian galva[ɡɐɫ̪ˈvɐ] #484
- Macedonian глава[ˈɡɫava] #400
- Malay kepala/kəˈpalə/ #305
- Malayalam തല/t̪ɐlɐ/ #182
- Norwegian hodet/ˈhuːdə/ #359
- Persian کله[kʰʲæl.lé] #576
- Polish głowy/ˈɡwɔ.vɘ/ #656
- Portuguese cabeça/kaˈbe.sɐ/ #276
- Romanian cap/ˈkap/ #395
- Russian голова[ɡəɫɐˈva] #1,350
- Serbian glava/ɡlǎːʋa/ #886
- Slovak hlavu/ɦlavu/ #351
- Slovenian glava/ɡlàːʋa/ #553
- Spanish cabeza/kaˈbeθa/ #273
- Swedish tänker/ˈtɛŋkɛr/ to think in one's head #168
- Tagalog ulo/ˈʔulo/ #294
- Tamil தலையில்/t̪ɐlɐɪ̯jɪl/ #405
- Telugu తల/t̪ala/ #167
- Turkish başına/baʃɯˈna/ #356
- Ukrainian голова[ɦɔɫɔˈʋa] #700
- Vietnamese đầu[ʔɗəw˨˩] #100
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.