How to say “history” in 43 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.
- historia/isˈtoɾja/ Spanish
- история[ɪˈstorʲɪjə] Russian
- 역사[jʌ̹ks͈a̠] Korean
- इतिहास/ɪ.t̪ɪ.ɦɑːs/ Hindi
- ιστορία[i.stoˈɾi.a] Greek
- היסטוריה/hisˈtoʁia/ Hebrew
“history” in Spanish: historia · German: geschichte · Italian: storia · Portuguese: história · Korean: 역사 · Russian: история · Hindi: इतिहास · Greek: ιστορία
It is commonest in Polish, where dzieje is the 208th most used word.
History in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans geskiedenis/χəˈski.də.nəs/ #590
- Albanian histori/histɔɾi/ #475
- Armenian պատմություն/pɑtmuˈtʰjun/ #508
- Basque historia/his̺toɾia/ #420
- Bengali ইতিহাস/it̪ihaʃ/ #747
- Bosnian prošlost/ˈproʃlost/ past, history #1,308
- Bulgarian история[iˈstɔrijɐ] #434
- Catalan història[isˈtɔ.ɾi.ə] #349
- Chinese 史上/ʂɻ̩²¹⁴⁻²¹ ʂɑŋ⁵¹/ in history #2,149
- Croatian prošlost/ˈproʃlost/ past, history #1,208
- Czech historie[ˈɦɪstorɪjɛ] #1,870
- Danish historie/histoːˀriɘ/ #470
- Dutch geschiedenis/ɣəˈsxi.də.nɪs/ #1,136
- Esperanto historio/histoˈrio/ #685
- Galician historia/isˈtɔɾja/ #257
- Georgian ისტორიის[istʼo̞ɾiis] #908
- German geschichte/ɡ̊eˈʃɪçtɛ/ #490
- Greek ιστορία[i.stoˈɾi.a] #352
- Hebrew היסטוריה/hisˈtoʁia/ #1,339
- Hindi इतिहास/ɪ.t̪ɪ.ɦɑːs/ #979
- Italian storia/ˈstɔ.rja/ #306
- Korean 역사[jʌ̹ks͈a̠] #1,612
- Latvian vēsturē/ˈʋeːstureː/ #1,615
- Lithuanian istorija[ɪˈstɔrʲɪjɛ] #406
- Macedonian историја[isˈtɔɾi(j)a] #1,051
- Malay sejarah/sədʒarah/ #679
- Malayalam ചരിത്രം/t͡ʃɐɾit̪ɾɐm/ #628
- Norwegian historie/hɪˈstuːrɪə/ #619
- Persian سابقه[sɒː.be.ʁé] personal history; a record #1,046
- Polish dzieje/ˈd͡ʑɛ.jɛ/ #208
- Portuguese história/isˈtɔ.ɾjɐ/ #311
- Romanian istoria[iˈstori.a] #1,420
- Russian история[ɪˈstorʲɪjə] #733
- Serbian prošlost/ˈproʃlost/ past, history #1,179
- Slovak história/ɦistɔːria/ #1,512
- Slovenian zgodovina/zɡɔdɔʋìːna/ #880
- Spanish historia/isˈtoɾja/ #313
- Swedish historia/ˈhɪstuːˌriːa/ #667
- Tagalog kasaysayan/kasajˈsajan/ history; record or aggregate of past events #736
- Tamil வரலாறு/ʋɐɾɐlɑːrɯ/ #748
- Telugu చరిత్ర/ˈcaritra/ history, tale, story, account, narrative #486
- Ukrainian історія[iˈstɔrʲijɐ] #795
- Vietnamese sử[sɨ˧˩] #542
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), 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.