How to say “king” in 48 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.
- rey/ˈrei/ Spanish
- король[kɐˈrolʲ] Russian
- 大王/tä⁵¹ wɑŋ³⁵/ Chinese
- 왕[wa̠ŋ] Korean
- राजा/ɾɑː.d͡ʒɑː/ Hindi
- βασιλιάς/va.siˈʎas/ Greek
“king” in Spanish: rey · French: roi · German: könig · Italian: re · Portuguese: rei · Chinese: 大王 · Korean: 왕 · Russian: король
It is commonest in Georgian, where მეფე is the 82nd most used word.
King in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans koning/ˈkʊə.nəŋ/ #285
- Albanian mbreti/mbɾɛti/ #582
- Armenian արքա/ɑɾˈkʰɑ/ king, monarch #200
- Basque errege/ereɡe/ #422
- Bengali রাজা/ˈrad͡ʒa/ king; monarch #290
- Bosnian kralj/krâːʎ/ #767
- Bulgarian крал[kraɫ] #972
- Catalan rei[ˈrej] #228
- Chinese 大王/tä⁵¹ wɑŋ³⁵/ #1,834
- Croatian kralj/krâːʎ/ #776
- Czech král[ˈkraːl] #971
- Danish konge/kɔnɡə/ #1,074
- Dutch koning/ˈkoː.nɪŋ/ a king, monarch #696
- English kingdom/ˈkɪŋdəm/ A realm having a king or queen as its actual… #2,468
- Esperanto reĝo/ˈred͡ʒo/ #261
- Estonian kuningas/ˈkuninɡ̊ɑs/ #632
- Finnish kuningas/ˈkuniŋːɑs/ #1,004
- French roi/ʁwa/ #649
- Galician rei/ˈrej/ #256
- Georgian მეფე[me̞pʰe̞] #82
- German könig/ˈkøː.nɪk/ #674
- Greek βασιλιάς/va.siˈʎas/ #911
- Hebrew מלך/malk/ #976
- Hindi राजा/ɾɑː.d͡ʒɑː/ king, monarch, sovereign, ruler #359
- Hungarian király[ˈkiraːj] #438
- Icelandic konungur[ˈkʰɔːnuŋkʏr] #868
- Indonesian raja/ˈrad͡ʒa/ king, male monarch #384
- Italian re/ˈre/ #610
- Korean 왕[wa̠ŋ] king; monarch #828
- Latvian karalis[ˈkaɾalis] #870
- Lithuanian karalius[kɐ²ˈrɑːlʲʊ̟s] #476
- Macedonian крал[kraɫ] #530
- Malayalam രാജാവ്/ɾaːd͡ʒaːʋɨ/ #540
- Persian پادشاه[pʰɒː.d̪e.ʃɒ́ːʰ] king, monarch, sovereign #429
- Portuguese rei/ˈʁej/ #588
- Romanian regele[ˈre.d͡ʒe.le] #897
- Russian король[kɐˈrolʲ] #1,210
- Serbian kralj/krâːʎ/ #751
- Slovak kráľ/kraːʎ/ #547
- Slovenian kralj/kràːl/ #330
- Spanish rey/ˈrei/ #580
- Swedish kung/kɵŋː/ a king #973
- Tagalog hari/ˈhaɾiʔ/ king; ruler #217
- Tamil இளவரசன்/ɪɭɐʋɐɾɐtʃɐn/ prince, son of a king or his close relative #981
- Telugu రాజు/ɾaːd͡ʑu/ #785
- Turkish kral[kɾɑɫ] #726
- Ukrainian король[kɔˈrɔlʲ] #506
- Urdu بادشاہ/bɑːd̪.ʃɑːɦ/ king, monarch #307
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.