How to say “hole” in 43 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 Tagalog, where butas is the 601st most used word.
- Afrikaans gat hole; perforation #749
- Albanian vrimë #1,147
- Arabic حفرة #1,620
- Basque zulo #604
- Bengali বিল hole, cave, pit, cavity #690
- Bosnian rupu pit, hole #1,418
- Bulgarian дупка hole, pit #1,045
- Catalan forat #1,249
- Chinese 黑洞 black hole #2,358
- Croatian rupu pit, hole #1,416
- Czech díry #2,156
- Danish hul #1,021
- Dutch gaten gap, hole #857
- English tears A hole or break caused by tearing #1,948
- Esperanto truo #1,425
- Estonian ava hole, opening #839
- French trou #1,036
- German loch hole; perforation #1,537
- Greek τρύπα #1,293
- Hebrew חור #1,097
- Hindi छेद #1,072
- Icelandic opin an opening, an orifice, a hole #1,334
- Indonesian lubang #852
- Italian buco #1,741
- Korean 구멍 hole, aperture, opening #1,693
- Latvian caurumu #2,177
- Lithuanian skylę hole; opening #1,124
- Macedonian дупка hole, cavity, gap #731
- Malay lubang hole, hollow, orifice, perforation #725
- Malayalam ദ്വാരം a hole or door #1,704
- Norwegian hull a hole #1,258
- Persian سوراخ hole, cavity, bore, orifice, slot #860
- Portuguese buraco pit; hole #1,358
- Romanian gaură #1,813
- Serbian rupu pit, hole #1,444
- Slovak dieru #1,115
- Slovenian luknja #917
- Spanish agujero #1,864
- Swedish hål a hole #1,425
- Tagalog butas hole; pit #601
- Tamil இடைவெளி lacuna, hole, cleft #725
- Telugu రంధ్రాలు hole, orifice, pore #1,284
- Vietnamese lỗ hole made through a layer of material, by… #1,029
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.