How to say “holy” in 37 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 Armenian, where սուրբ is the 131st most used word.
- Afrikaans heilig #1,146
- Albanian shenjtë holy, sacred #824
- Armenian սուրբ holy, sacred #131
- Bengali পবিত্র holy, sacred #572
- Bosnian svetu holy, saint #713
- Catalan santa holy; saintly #2,397
- Croatian jebote fuck, holy shit, for fuck's sake #966
- English angel An incorporeal and holy or semidivine… #1,448
- Esperanto sankta holy, sacred #315
- Estonian püha holy, sacred #546
- Finnish pyhä holy, sacred #2,090
- French sacré sacred, holy #1,490
- Galician santo holy, sacred #1,311
- Georgian წმინდა #302
- German heilige #1,641
- Hebrew קדוש #1,966
- Hindi पवित्र holy, sacred #1,364
- Hungarian szent #714
- Icelandic heilagur #2,280
- Indonesian suci #1,156
- Italian santo #1,037
- Lithuanian šventas holy, sacred #858
- Macedonian свети sacred, holy #1,746
- Malayalam വിശുദ്ധ #774
- Persian مقدس holy, sacred #714
- Romanian sfânt holy, sacred; saintly #2,279
- Russian святой holy, sacred #2,141
- Serbian svet holy, saint #455
- Slovak svätý holy, sacred #1,357
- Spanish santo holy, godly #1,205
- Swedish heliga #1,860
- Tagalog banal holy; sacred; blessed #727
- Tamil பரிசுத்த holy, sacred, pure #1,055
- Turkish kutsal holy, sacred #881
- Ukrainian святий holy, sacred #1,564
- Urdu مقدس holy, sacred #531
- Vietnamese thánh holy; sacred; saintly #819
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.