How to say “idea” in 43 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 Urdu, where خیال is the 105th most used word.
- Afrikaans idee #302
- Arabic مفهوم concept; notion; idea #446
- Bengali ধারণা idea, thought, perception #371
- Bosnian ideja #449
- Bulgarian идея idea, notion #320
- Catalan idea An idea, a mental representation of a real or… #265
- Chinese 主意 idea; plan #173
- Croatian ideja #477
- Czech nápad #434
- Danish idé #507
- Dutch idee #230
- Esperanto ideo idea, thought, concept #482
- Estonian mõte thought, idea #421
- Finnish idea #829
- French idée #260
- Galician ideas #1,090
- Georgian იდეა #698
- German idee #426
- Greek ιδέα idea, concept, notion #237
- Hebrew רעיון #359
- Hungarian ötlet #524
- Icelandic hugmynd #250
- Indonesian ide #424
- Italian idee #1,512
- Korean 아이디어 #2,095
- Latvian ideja #601
- Lithuanian idėja #679
- Macedonian идеја #345
- Malay idea #404
- Norwegian idé idea, theory #567
- Persian ایده #1,155
- Polish pomysł #378
- Portuguese ideia #256
- Romanian idee #333
- Russian идея idea, thought, notion #495
- Serbian ideja #445
- Spanish ideas #1,538
- Swedish idé an idea #481
- Tagalog ideya alternative form of idea #530
- Tamil யோசனை thought, idea #691
- Turkish fikir thought, idea #487
- Ukrainian ідея idea, notion, concept #583
- Urdu خیال thought, idea, opinion; reasoning,… #105
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.