How to say “joke” 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 مذاق is the 316th most used word.
- Albanian shaka joke, prank #457
- Armenian կատակ #492
- Basque txantxa joke, practical joke #490
- Bosnian šališ to joke; to joke around #1,021
- Bulgarian шега joke, jest #1,046
- Catalan broma joke, practical joke #669
- Chinese 玩笑 #413
- Croatian šališ to joke; to joke around #953
- Czech vtip #1,191
- Danish spøg joke, jest #1,758
- Dutch grapje #971
- Esperanto ŝerco #1,482
- Estonian nali #796
- Finnish vitsi #1,167
- French plaisante to joke #2,135
- Georgian ხუმრობა #545
- German witz #1,107
- Greek αστείο #529
- Hebrew בדיחה #819
- Hungarian vicc #1,375
- Icelandic grínast to joke, to jest #333
- Indonesian bercanda to joke, to tell a joke, to make a joke #498
- Italian scherzando to joke, to kid, to jest, to be funny #1,060
- Korean 농담 joke, jest #742
- Latvian joko to joke, to jest, to make fun of something #899
- Lithuanian pokštas trick, prank, joke #863
- Macedonian шега joke, jest #885
- Malay sumpah seriously, no joke, I swear, on God -… #1,106
- Norwegian spøk a joke #1,469
- Persian شوخی joke; humour #1,076
- Polish żartujesz to joke, to kid #1,048
- Portuguese piada #933
- Romanian glumă joke, jest #1,118
- Russian шутка #1,504
- Serbian šališ to joke; to joke around #958
- Slovak vtip #692
- Spanish broma joke, prank, practical joke #892
- Swedish skojar to joke, to play jokes, to prank #912
- Tagalog biro joke; jest #786
- Turkish şaka #466
- Ukrainian жарт #1,254
- Urdu مذاق fun, joke #316
- Vietnamese đùa to joke; to jest; to tease #613
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.