How to say “joy” in 32 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 Turkish, where oh is the 162nd most used word.
- Albanian gaz #1,744
- Arabic سرور joy, pleasure, satisfaction #2,262
- Armenian ուրախություն #1,022
- Bengali আনন্দ joy, pleasure, delight, glee, enjoyment, fun #624
- Bulgarian радост joy, delight #1,533
- Catalan alegria joy, happiness #2,331
- Czech radost #1,149
- Danish glæder #1,124
- English welcome Whose arrival is a cause of joy; received… #490
- Estonian rõõm joy, happiness #786
- Finnish ilo joy, happiness, delight, merriment, mirth #1,785
- French joie #1,588
- Galician alegría #1,959
- Georgian სიხარული #1,171
- German glück happiness, joy, bliss #376
- Greek χαρά joy; pleasure #269
- Hebrew שמחה joy, happiness, glee #532
- Hindi मज़ा joy, pleasure #1,099
- Hungarian öröm joy, pleasure #2,482
- Italian gioia joy, delight #2,182
- Latvian prieks joy, delight #394
- Macedonian радост #1,963
- Norwegian glede happiness, joy, delight, gladness, pleasure #1,015
- Portuguese alegria joy, happiness #2,355
- Romanian fericire happiness, joy, felicity #1,365
- Slovak radosť joy, delight #821
- Slovenian radost #1,758
- Spanish alegría joy, happiness #2,229
- Swedish lycka joy, happiness #666
- Tamil மகிழ்ச்சி happiness, joy #213
- Turkish oh exclamation of relief, joy, admiration,… #162
- Urdu سرور exhilaration, delight, joy, cheerfulness #235
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.