How to say “jail” in 30 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.
- 감옥[ka̠mo̞k̚] Korean
- जेल/d͡ʒeːl/ Hindi
- சிறை/tʃɪrɐɪ̯/ Tamil
- ജയിൽ/d͡ʒɐjil/ Malayalam
- زندان[zen̪.d̪ɒ́ːn] Persian
“jail” in Italian: prigione · Korean: 감옥 · Hindi: जेल
It is commonest in Persian, where زندان is the 385th most used word.
Jail in other languages, A to Z
- Albanian burg[buɹɡ] jail, prison #455
- Armenian բանտ/bɑnt/ prison, jail #1,682
- Basque espetxe/es̺ˈpetˌʃe/ jail, gaol; prison #1,261
- Bengali কারাগার/kaɾaɡaɾ/ prison, jail #1,751
- Bosnian zatvor/zǎːtʋor/ prison, jail #735
- Bulgarian затвор[zɐtˈvɔr] prison, jail #1,415
- Chinese 牢房/lɑʊ̯³⁵ fɑŋ³⁵/ prison cell; jail cell #1,739
- Croatian zatvor/zǎːtʋor/ prison, jail #756
- Czech vězení[ˈvjɛzɛɲiː] prison, jail #600
- Dutch gevangenis/ɣəˈvɑ.ŋəˌnɪs/ a jail, a prison; especially an institution… #653
- Estonian vangla/ˈvɑnɡ̊lɑ/ prison, jail #1,384
- Galician cárcere/ˈkaɾθeɾe/ jail, prison #1,154
- German gefängnis/ɡəˈfɛŋnɪs/ prison, jail #776
- Greek φυλακή/ˌfilaˈci/ prison, jail, gaol #481
- Hebrew כלא/ˈkele/ prison, jail #1,508
- Hindi जेल/d͡ʒeːl/ jail, the slammer #523
- Indonesian penjara/pənˈd͡ʒara/ prison, jail #492
- Italian prigione/priˈd͡ʒo.ne/ jail, prison #688
- Korean 감옥[ka̠mo̞k̚] jail, prison #929
- Macedonian затвор[ˈzatvɔr] prison, jail #355
- Malay penjara/pənˈd͡ʒara/ #408
- Malayalam ജയിൽ/d͡ʒɐjil/ #1,197
- Persian زندان[zen̪.d̪ɒ́ːn] jail, prison #385
- Romanian închisoare/ɨn.kiˈso̯a.re/ prison, jail #650
- Serbian zatvor/zǎːtʋor/ prison, jail #768
- Swedish fängelse/ˈfɛŋɛlsɛ/ a prison, a jail #816
- Tagalog bilangguan/bilaŋˈɡuʔan/ prison; jail #696
- Tamil சிறை/tʃɪrɐɪ̯/ jail, prison, imprisonment #1,162
- Turkish hapis/haˈpis/ prison, jail #2,238
- Urdu جیل/d͡ʒeːl/ jail, the slammer #488
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) and Estonian (news (et_EE), CC BY 4.0).
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.