How to say “hungry” in 32 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.
- جائع/d͡ʒaː.ʔiʕ/ Arabic
- भूखा/bʱuː.kʰɑː/ Hindi
- רעב/ʁaˈ(ʔ)ev/ Hebrew
- քաղցած/kʰɑχˈt͡sʰɑt͡s/ Armenian
- ক্ষুধার্ত/kʰud̪ʱaɾt̪o/ Bengali
- голодний[ɦɔˈɫɔdnei̯] Ukrainian
“hungry” in Arabic: جائع · Hindi: भूखा
It is commonest in Slovenian, where lačen is the 491st most used word.
Hungry in other languages, A to Z
- Arabic جائع/d͡ʒaː.ʔiʕ/ #975
- Armenian քաղցած/kʰɑχˈt͡sʰɑt͡s/ #1,820
- Bengali ক্ষুধার্ত/kʰud̪ʱaɾt̪o/ #812
- Bosnian gladan/ɡlǎːdan/ #1,184
- Bulgarian гладен[ˈɡɫadɛn] #1,264
- Croatian gladan/ɡlǎːdan/ #1,254
- Danish sulten[ˈsuld̥ən] hungry, wanting to eat #889
- Esperanto malsatas/malˈsatas/ to be hungry, to hunger #948
- Estonian näljane/ˈnæljɑne/ #979
- Georgian მშია[mʃiä] to be hungry #1,094
- German satt/zat/ not hungry, satiated, full, done #1,950
- Greek πεινάω/piˈna.o/ to be hungry, be famished #1,827
- Hebrew רעב/ʁaˈ(ʔ)ev/ #898
- Hindi भूखा/bʱuː.kʰɑː/ hungry, starving #1,904
- Hungarian éhes[ˈeːɦɛʃ] #1,042
- Icelandic svangur[ˈsvauŋkʏr] hungry, peckish #847
- Indonesian lapar/ˈlapar/ #776
- Latvian izsalcis/ˈizsalt͡sis/ hungry, famished, starving, starved;… #1,564
- Lithuanian alkana/ɐlkɐˈnɐ/ #1,789
- Macedonian гладен[ˈɡɫadɛn] #858
- Malay lapar/ˈlapa(r)/ #708
- Norwegian sulten/ˈsʉltn̩/ #879
- Persian گرسنه[ɡ̥o.ɹos.né] #937
- Polish głodny/ˈɡwɔd.nɘ/ #1,777
- Serbian gladan/ɡlǎːdan/ #1,135
- Slovak hladný/ɦladniː/ #790
- Slovenian lačen/làːt͡ʃən/ #491
- Swedish hungrig/ˈhɵŋˌrɪ(ɡ)/ #994
- Turkish aç[ɑt͡ʃ] hungrily, in a hungry state #407
- Ukrainian голодний[ɦɔˈɫɔdnei̯] #1,800
- Urdu بھوکا/bʱuː.kɑː/ #856
- Vietnamese đói[ʔɗɔj˧˦] #966
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), 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.