How to say “king” in 48 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 Georgian, where მეფე is the 82nd most used word.
- Afrikaans koning #285
- Albanian mbreti #582
- Armenian արքա king, monarch #200
- Basque errege #422
- Bengali রাজা king; monarch #290
- Bosnian kralj #767
- Bulgarian крал #972
- Catalan rei #228
- Chinese 大王 #1,834
- Croatian kralj #776
- Czech král #971
- Danish konge #1,074
- Dutch koning a king, monarch #696
- English kingdom A realm having a king or queen as its actual… #2,468
- Esperanto reĝo #261
- Estonian kuningas #632
- Finnish kuningas #1,004
- French roi #649
- Galician rei #256
- Georgian მეფე #82
- German könig #674
- Greek βασιλιάς #911
- Hebrew מלך #976
- Hindi राजा king, monarch, sovereign, ruler #359
- Hungarian király #438
- Icelandic konungur #868
- Indonesian raja king, male monarch #384
- Italian re #610
- Korean 왕 king; monarch #828
- Latvian karalis #870
- Lithuanian karalius #476
- Macedonian крал #530
- Malayalam രാജാവ് #540
- Persian پادشاه king, monarch, sovereign #429
- Portuguese rei #588
- Romanian regele #897
- Russian король #1,210
- Serbian kralj #751
- Slovak kráľ #547
- Slovenian kralj #330
- Spanish rey #580
- Swedish kung a king #973
- Tagalog hari king; ruler #217
- Tamil இளவரசன் prince, son of a king or his close relative #981
- Telugu రాజు #785
- Turkish kral #726
- Ukrainian король #506
- Urdu بادشاہ king, monarch #307
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.