How to say “key” in 46 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.
- llave/ˈʝabe/ Spanish
- ключ[klʲʉt͡ɕ] Russian
- مفتاح/mif.taːħ/ Arabic
- 열쇠[ˈjɘ(ː)ɭs͈we̞] Korean
- कुंजी/kʊn.d͡ʒiː/ Hindi
- κλειδί/kliˈði/ Greek
“key” in Spanish: llave · French: clé · German: schlüssel · Italian: chiave · Portuguese: chave · Korean: 열쇠 · Russian: ключ · Arabic: مفتاح
It is commonest in Slovenian, where ključ is the 400th most used word.
Key in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans sleutel/ˈslɪø.təl/ #807
- Albanian çelësat/t͡ʃɛləsat/ #943
- Arabic مفتاح/mif.taːħ/ #896
- Basque giltza/ɡilt͡s̻a/ #464
- Bengali চাবি/t͡ʃabi/ #537
- Bosnian ključ/kʎûːt͡ʃ/ #905
- Bulgarian ключовете/klˈʲut͡ʃovɛtɛ/ #1,255
- Catalan clau[ˈklaw] #804
- Croatian ključ/kʎûːt͡ʃ/ #824
- Czech klíč[ˈkliːt͡ʃ] #1,093
- Danish nøglen/ˈnʌjlən/ #1,278
- Dutch sleutel/ˈsløː.təl/ a key #976
- Esperanto ŝlosilon/ʃloˈsilon/ #874
- Estonian võti/ˈvɤti/ #982
- Finnish avain/ˈɑʋɑi̯n/ #1,637
- French clé/kle/ #984
- Galician chave/ˈt͡ʃabe/ #1,277
- German schlüssel/ˈʃlʏsl̩/ a key #771
- Greek κλειδί/kliˈði/ #882
- Hebrew מפתח/maf.ˈte.aχ/ #1,137
- Hindi कुंजी/kʊn.d͡ʒiː/ #1,314
- Hungarian fő[ˈføː] main, principal, key, chief, cardinal, core,… #1,701
- Icelandic lykil/ˈlɪːcɪl/ a key #1,774
- Italian chiave/ˈkja.ve/ #967
- Korean 열쇠[ˈjɘ(ː)ɭs͈we̞] #668
- Latvian atslēgas/ˈatslæːɡas/ #809
- Lithuanian raktas[ˈɾaːktɐs] #1,007
- Macedonian клуч[kɫut͡ʃ] #1,197
- Malay kunci/ˈkunt͡ʃi/ #463
- Malayalam താക്കോൽ/t̪aːkkoːl/ a key #481
- Norwegian nøkkelen/ˈnœkəln̩/ a key #1,170
- Persian کلید[kʰʲæ.liːd̪̥] #1,659
- Polish klucz/ˈklut͡ʂ/ #1,349
- Portuguese chave/ˈʃa.vi/ #928
- Romanian cheia/ˈke.ja/ #1,100
- Russian ключ[klʲʉt͡ɕ] #1,169
- Serbian ključ/kʎûːt͡ʃ/ #844
- Slovak kľúč/kʎuːt͡ʃ/ #618
- Slovenian ključ/kljùːt͡ʃ/ #400
- Spanish llave/ˈʝabe/ #1,107
- Swedish nyckeln/ˈnykːɛln/ a key #1,274
- Tagalog susi/ˈsusiʔ/ #413
- Tamil சாவிகள்/tʃɑːʋɪɡɐɭ/ #955
- Turkish anahtarı/anahˈtaɾɯ/ #1,381
- Ukrainian ключ[klʲut͡ʃ] #828
- Urdu چابی/t͡ʃɑː.biː/ #1,408
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), Catalan (upc_ona (ca_ES), CC BY-SA 4.0), Estonian (news (et_EE), CC BY 4.0) and Slovenian (artur (sl_SI), CC BY 4.0).
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.