How to say “joke” 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.
- broma/ˈbɾoma/ Spanish
- шутка[ˈʂutkə] Russian
- 玩笑/wän³⁵ ɕi̯ɑʊ̯⁵¹/ Chinese
- 농담[ˈno̞(ː)ŋda̠m] Korean
- αστείο[a.ˈsti.ɔ] Greek
- בדיחה/b(e)diˈχa/ Hebrew
“joke” in Spanish: broma · French: plaisante · German: witz · Italian: scherzando · Portuguese: piada · Chinese: 玩笑 · Korean: 농담 · Russian: шутка
It is commonest in Icelandic, where grínast is the 333rd most used word.
Joke in other languages, A to Z
- Albanian shaka/ʃaka/ joke, prank #457
- Armenian կատակ/kɑˈtɑk/ #492
- Basque txantxa/t͡ʃant͡ʃa/ joke, practical joke #490
- Bosnian šališ/ˈʃalɪʃ/ to joke; to joke around #1,021
- Bulgarian шега[ʃɛˈɡa] joke, jest #1,046
- Catalan broma[ˈbɾo.mə] joke, practical joke #669
- Chinese 玩笑/wän³⁵ ɕi̯ɑʊ̯⁵¹/ #413
- Croatian šališ/ˈʃalɪʃ/ to joke; to joke around #953
- Czech vtip[ˈfcɪp] #1,191
- Danish spøg[ˈsb̥ʌjˀ] joke, jest #1,758
- Dutch grapje/ˈɣrɑpjə/ #971
- Esperanto ŝerco/ˈʃert͡so/ #1,482
- Estonian nali/ˈnɑli/ #796
- Finnish vitsi/ˈʋitsi/ #1,167
- French plaisante/plɛˈzɑ̃t/ to joke #2,135
- Georgian ხუმრობა[χumɾo̞bä] #545
- German witz/vɪt͡s/ #1,107
- Greek αστείο[a.ˈsti.ɔ] #529
- Hebrew בדיחה/b(e)diˈχa/ #819
- Hungarian vicc[ˈvit͡sː] #1,375
- Icelandic grínast/ˈkriːnast/ to joke, to jest #333
- Indonesian bercanda[bərˈt͡ʃanda] to joke, to tell a joke, to make a joke #498
- Italian scherzando/skertˈsando/ to joke, to kid, to jest, to be funny #1,060
- Korean 농담[ˈno̞(ː)ŋda̠m] joke, jest #742
- Latvian joko/ˈjuokuo/ to joke, to jest, to make fun of something #899
- Lithuanian pokštas[¹ˈpoːkʃtɐs] trick, prank, joke #863
- Macedonian шега[ˈʃɛɡa] joke, jest #885
- Malay sumpah/ˈsumpah/ seriously, no joke, I swear, on God -… #1,106
- Norwegian spøk/ˈspøːk/ a joke #1,469
- Persian شوخی[ʃuː.xíː] joke; humour #1,076
- Polish żartujesz/ʐarˈtu.jɛʂ/ to joke, to kid #1,048
- Portuguese piada/piˈa.dɐ/ #933
- Romanian glumă/ˈɡlu.mə/ joke, jest #1,118
- Russian шутка[ˈʂutkə] #1,504
- Serbian šališ/ˈʃalɪʃ/ to joke; to joke around #958
- Slovak vtip/fcip/ #692
- Spanish broma/ˈbɾoma/ joke, prank, practical joke #892
- Swedish skojar/ˈskuːjar/ to joke, to play jokes, to prank #912
- Tagalog biro/ˈbiɾoʔ/ joke; jest #786
- Turkish şaka/ʃaˈka/ #466
- Ukrainian жарт[ʒart] #1,254
- Urdu مذاق/mə.zɑːq/ fun, joke #316
- Vietnamese đùa[ʔɗuə˨˩] to joke; to jest; to tease #613
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 Catalan (upc_ona (ca_ES), CC BY-SA 4.0), Estonian (news (et_EE), 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.