How to say “knee” in 31 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 Lithuanian, where kelis is the 458th most used word.
- Afrikaans knieë #956
- Albanian gjunjë #1,472
- Basque belaun #2,145
- Bengali জানু #994
- Catalan genolls #2,347
- Czech kolena #2,129
- Danish knæ #1,614
- Dutch knieën a knee #2,145
- French genoux #1,945
- Galician xeonllos #1,873
- German knie #1,890
- Hebrew ברך #2,203
- Hindi घुटने #1,990
- Icelandic hné a knee #2,444
- Indonesian berlutut to knee, to kneel to #1,814
- Korean 무릎 #777
- Lithuanian kelis #458
- Macedonian колена #1,481
- Malay lutut #1,579
- Malayalam മുട്ട് #1,252
- Norwegian legger lower leg from the knee to the ankle,… #675
- Persian زانو #1,237
- Romanian genunchi #1,786
- Serbian kolena #1,997
- Slovak koleno #2,039
- Slovenian koleno #1,270
- Swedish knä a knee #1,986
- Tagalog tuhod #1,807
- Tamil முழங்கால் #1,777
- Telugu మోకాలు #587
- Turkish diz #2,085
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.