How to say “hole” 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.
- agujero/aɡuˈxeɾo/ Spanish
- حفرة/ħuf.ra/ Arabic
- 구멍[kumʌ̹ŋ] Korean
- छेद/t͡ʃʰeːd̪/ Hindi
- τρύπα/ˈtɾi.pa/ Greek
- חור/ˈχoʁ/ Hebrew
“hole” in Spanish: agujero · French: trou · German: loch · Italian: buco · Korean: 구멍 · Arabic: حفرة · Hindi: छेद · Greek: τρύπα
It is commonest in Tagalog, where butas is the 601st most used word.
Hole in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans gat/χat/ hole; perforation #749
- Albanian vrimë/ˈvɾimə/ #1,147
- Arabic حفرة/ħuf.ra/ #1,620
- Basque zulo/s̻ulo/ #604
- Bengali বিল/bil/ hole, cave, pit, cavity #690
- Bosnian rupu/ˈrupʊ/ pit, hole #1,418
- Bulgarian дупка[ˈdupkɐ] hole, pit #1,045
- Catalan forat[fuˈɾat] #1,249
- Chinese 黑洞/xeɪ̯⁵⁵ tʊŋ⁵¹/ black hole #2,358
- Croatian rupu/ˈrupʊ/ pit, hole #1,416
- Czech díry[ˈɟiːrɪ] #2,156
- Danish hul/hol/ #1,021
- Dutch gaten/ˈɣaːtən/ gap, hole #857
- English tears/tɪɹz/ A hole or break caused by tearing #1,948
- Esperanto truo/ˈtruo/ #1,425
- Estonian ava/ˈɑvɑ/ hole, opening #839
- French trou/tʁu/ #1,036
- German loch/lɔx/ hole; perforation #1,537
- Greek τρύπα/ˈtɾi.pa/ #1,293
- Hebrew חור/ˈχoʁ/ #1,097
- Hindi छेद/t͡ʃʰeːd̪/ #1,072
- Icelandic opin/ˈɔːpɪn/ an opening, an orifice, a hole #1,334
- Indonesian lubang/ˈlubaŋ/ #852
- Italian buco/ˈbu.ko/ #1,741
- Korean 구멍[kumʌ̹ŋ] hole, aperture, opening #1,693
- Latvian caurumu/ˈt͡saurumu/ #2,177
- Lithuanian skylę[ˈsʲkʲiːlʲæː] hole; opening #1,124
- Macedonian дупка[ˈdupka] hole, cavity, gap #731
- Malay lubang/lubaŋ/ hole, hollow, orifice, perforation #725
- Malayalam ദ്വാരം/d̪ʋaːɾɐm/ a hole or door #1,704
- Norwegian hull/ˈhœl/ a hole #1,258
- Persian سوراخ[suː.ɹɒ́ːx] hole, cavity, bore, orifice, slot #860
- Portuguese buraco/buˈɾa.ku/ pit; hole #1,358
- Romanian gaură/ɡaˈuɾə/ #1,813
- Serbian rupu/ˈrupʊ/ pit, hole #1,444
- Slovak dieru/dʲiˈeru/ #1,115
- Slovenian luknja/lúːknja/ #917
- Spanish agujero/aɡuˈxeɾo/ #1,864
- Swedish hål/ˈhoːl/ a hole #1,425
- Tagalog butas/ˈbutas/ hole; pit #601
- Tamil இடைவெளி/ɪɖɐɪ̯ʋɛɭiː/ lacuna, hole, cleft #725
- Telugu రంధ్రాలు/ˈrandʰraːlu/ hole, orifice, pore #1,284
- Vietnamese lỗ[lo˦ˀ˥] hole made through a layer of material, by… #1,029
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.