How to say “hour” 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.
- hora/ˈoɾa/ Spanish
- часов[t͡ɕɪˈsof] Russian
- ساعة/saː.ʕa/ Arabic
- 小時/ɕi̯ɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ ʂɻ̩³⁵/ Chinese
- 시[ɕʰi] Korean
- घंटे/ɡʱəɳ.ʈeː/ Hindi
“hour” in Spanish: hora · French: heure · German: stunden · Italian: ore · Portuguese: hora · Chinese: 小時 · Korean: 시 · Russian: часов
It is commonest in Persian, where ساعت is the 138th most used word.
Hour in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans uur/yr/ #265
- Albanian orë/ˈɔɾ(ə)/ #248
- Arabic ساعة/saː.ʕa/ #212
- Armenian ժամ/ʒɑm/ #233
- Basque ordu/ordu/ #215
- Bengali ঘণ্টা/ɡʱɔnʈa/ #516
- Bulgarian час[t͡ʃa̟s] #378
- Catalan hora[ˈɔ.ɾə] #244
- Chinese 小時/ɕi̯ɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ ʂɻ̩³⁵/ #1,401
- Czech hodin[ˈɦoɟɪn] #498
- Danish timer/tajmər/ #393
- Dutch uur/yr/ an hour, a period of time #201
- Esperanto horo/ˈhoro/ #331
- Estonian tundi/ˈtund̥i/ #471
- Finnish tuntia/ˈtuntɪa/ #524
- French heure/œʁ/ hour, time #287
- Galician hora[ˈɔɾɐ] #278
- Georgian საათი[säätʰi] #801
- German stunden/ˈʃtʊndn̩/ #465
- Greek ώρα/ˈo.ra/ #144
- Hebrew שעה/ʃaˈ(ʔ)a/ #434
- Hindi घंटे/ɡʱəɳ.ʈeː/ #369
- Icelandic klukkustund[ˈkʰlʏhkʏˌstʏnt] #967
- Indonesian jam/ˈd͡ʒam/ #207
- Italian ore/ˈo.re/ #401
- Korean 시[ɕʰi] #895
- Latvian stundas/ˈstuŋdas/ #473
- Lithuanian valanda/ʋɐɫɐnˈdɐ/ #777
- Macedonian час[t͡ʃas] #357
- Malay jam/ˈd͡ʒam/ #262
- Malayalam മണിക്കൂർ/mɐɳikkuːr/ #554
- Norwegian timer/ˈtiːmər/ an hour #424
- Persian ساعت[sɒː.ʔæt̪ʰ] hour; o’clock; time #138
- Polish godziny/ɡɔˈd͡ʑi.nɘ/ #566
- Portuguese hora/ˈɔ.ɾɐ/ #257
- Romanian ore/ˈoɾe/ #381
- Russian часов[t͡ɕɪˈsof] hour, o'clock, time, time of day #513
- Slovak hodina/ɦɔɟina/ #1,310
- Slovenian ura/ùːra/ #381
- Spanish hora/ˈoɾa/ #244
- Swedish timmar/ˈtɪmːˌar/ an hour #434
- Ukrainian година[ɦɔˈdɪnɐ] #1,476
- Urdu گھنٹہ/ɡʱən.ʈɑ(ː)/ #1,182
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 Slovenian (artur (sl_SI), CC BY 4.0).
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.