How to say “holy” in 37 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.
- santo/ˈsanto/ Spanish
- святой[svʲɪˈtoj] Russian
- पवित्र/pə.ʋɪt̪.ɾᵊ/ Hindi
- קדוש/kaˈdoʃ/ Hebrew
- წმინდა[t͡sʼmindä] Georgian
- սուրբ/suɾpʰ/ Armenian
“holy” in Spanish: santo · German: heilige · Italian: santo · Russian: святой · Hindi: पवित्र · Turkish: kutsal
It is commonest in Armenian, where սուրբ is the 131st most used word.
Holy in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans heilig/ˈɦəi̯.ləχ/ #1,146
- Albanian shenjtë/ˈʃeɲt(ə)/ holy, sacred #824
- Armenian սուրբ/suɾpʰ/ holy, sacred #131
- Bengali পবিত্র/pobit̪ɾo/ holy, sacred #572
- Bosnian svetu/ˈsvɛtʊ/ holy, saint #713
- Catalan santa[ˈsan.tə] holy; saintly #2,397
- Croatian jebote/ˈjebotɛ/ fuck, holy shit, for fuck's sake #966
- English angel/ˈeɪ̯n.d͡ʒəl/ An incorporeal and holy or semidivine… #1,448
- Esperanto sankta/ˈsankta/ holy, sacred #315
- Estonian püha/ˈpyhɑ/ holy, sacred #546
- Finnish pyhä/ˈpyhæ/ holy, sacred #2,090
- French sacré/sa.kʁe/ sacred, holy #1,490
- Galician santo/ˈsanto/ holy, sacred #1,311
- Georgian წმინდა[t͡sʼmindä] #302
- German heilige[ˈhaɪ̯lɪɡə] #1,641
- Hebrew קדוש/kaˈdoʃ/ #1,966
- Hindi पवित्र/pə.ʋɪt̪.ɾᵊ/ holy, sacred #1,364
- Hungarian szent[ˈsɛnt] #714
- Icelandic heilagur[ˈheiːlaɣʏr] #2,280
- Indonesian suci/ˈsut͡ʃi/ #1,156
- Italian santo/ˈsan.to/ #1,037
- Lithuanian šventas[ˈɕʋʲɛn̪ˑ.t̪ɐs̪] holy, sacred #858
- Macedonian свети[ˈsvɛti] sacred, holy #1,746
- Malayalam വിശുദ്ധ/ʋiʃud̪d̪(ʱ)ɐ/ #774
- Persian مقدس[mo.ʁæd̪.d̪æs] holy, sacred #714
- Romanian sfânt[sfɨnt] holy, sacred; saintly #2,279
- Russian святой[svʲɪˈtoj] holy, sacred #2,141
- Serbian svet/sʋêːt/ holy, saint #455
- Slovak svätý/ˈsvætiː/ holy, sacred #1,357
- Spanish santo/ˈsanto/ holy, godly #1,205
- Swedish heliga/ˈheːliːˌɡa/ #1,860
- Tagalog banal/baˈnal/ holy; sacred; blessed #727
- Tamil பரிசுத்த/pɐɾɪtʃʊt̪ːɐ/ holy, sacred, pure #1,055
- Turkish kutsal/kutˈsaɫ/ holy, sacred #881
- Ukrainian святий[sʲʋʲɐˈtɪi̯] holy, sacred #1,564
- Urdu مقدس/mʊqəd̪d̪əs/ holy, sacred #531
- Vietnamese thánh[tʰajŋ̟˧˦] holy; sacred; saintly #819
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) 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.