How to say “kid” in 30 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 Chinese, where 孩子 is the 18th most used word.
- Basque mutiko kid, young boy #372
- Bosnian dijete child, kid #431
- Bulgarian дете child, kid #317
- Chinese 孩子 child; children; kid #18
- Croatian dijete child, kid #314
- Dutch kinderen child, kid, non-adult human #261
- Esperanto geknaboj #1,132
- Estonian lapsed child, kid #385
- French gamin #920
- Galician cativos child, kid #1,082
- German kinder kid; child #278
- Greek παιδιά child; kid #125
- Hebrew ילד a child, a kid, a boy #220
- Icelandic krakkar kid, child #476
- Indonesian bocah child; kid #1,190
- Italian scherzando to joke, to kid, to jest, to be funny #1,060
- Korean 아이 child, kid #301
- Macedonian дете child, kid #215
- Persian بچه child, kid #46
- Polish żartujesz to joke, to kid #1,048
- Russian ребята child, kid, baby: children, kids, babies #322
- Serbian dete child, kid #348
- Spanish chica boy; kid #258
- Swedish skämtar to joke, to kid #1,311
- Tagalog bata child; kid #144
- Tamil பையன் boy, kid, little fellow #99
- Telugu మేకపిల్ల a young goat kid #613
- Ukrainian пацан boy, kid, lad, fella #1,912
- Urdu بچہ baby; kid, child #367
- Vietnamese nhóc kid, child, brat #558
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.