How to say “knowledge” in 36 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.
- conocimiento/konoθiˈmjento/ Spanish
- معرفة/maʕ.ri.fa/ Arabic
- 所知/su̯ɔ²¹⁴⁻²¹ ʈ͡ʂɻ̩⁵⁵/ Chinese
- জ্ঞান/ɡæ̃n/ Bengali
- அறிவு/ɐrɪʋɯ/ Tamil
- വിദ്യ/ʋid̪jɐ/ Malayalam
“knowledge” in Spanish: conocimiento · French: connaissance · Italian: conoscenza · Chinese: 所知 · Arabic: معرفة
It is commonest in Tagalog, where alam is the 23rd most used word.
Knowledge in other languages, A to Z
- Albanian dije/dijɛ/ knowledge, learning #533
- Arabic معرفة/maʕ.ri.fa/ #266
- Bengali জ্ঞান/ɡæ̃n/ #654
- Bosnian poznato/ˈpoznɐto/ to know, have knowledge of #1,421
- Catalan sé[ˈse] to know, to have knowledge #58
- Chinese 所知/su̯ɔ²¹⁴⁻²¹ ʈ͡ʂɻ̩⁵⁵/ what is known; what one knows; knowledge #1,193
- Croatian poznato/ˈpoznɐto/ to know, have knowledge of #1,363
- Czech ponětí[ˈpoɲɛciː] acquaintance, knowledge, understanding, clue,… #1,350
- Dutch ken/kɛn/ to know, be acquainted with, to have… #290
- English secret/ˈsiː.kɹɪt/ A piece of knowledge that is hidden and… #658
- Esperanto scio/ˈst͡sio/ #2,050
- Estonian teadmine/ˈteɑ̯d̥mine/ #2,141
- Finnish tietoa/ˈtietoa/ #923
- French connaissance/kɔ.nɛ.sɑ̃s/ #1,802
- Galician coñecemento[koɲeθeˈmentʊ] #2,112
- German lernen/ˈlɛrnən/ to learn, to acquire knowledge #678
- Greek μάθω/ˈma.θo/ to learn, acquire knowledge #591
- Hebrew ידע/ˈjeda/ Knowledge: that which is known #514
- Hindi जानकारी/d͡ʒɑːn.kɑː.ɾiː/ information, knowledge, data #671
- Indonesian ilmu/ˈilmu/ #1,324
- Italian conoscenza/ko.noʃˈʃɛn.t͡sa/ knowledge, cognition #1,749
- Malay pengetahuan/pəŋeˈtahuan/ #1,218
- Malayalam വിദ്യ/ʋid̪jɐ/ #786
- Norwegian vet/ˈveːt/ to know; have knowledge of #42
- Persian دانش[d̪ɒː.néʃ] #915
- Portuguese aprender/a.pɾẽˈde(ʁ)/ to learn, to acquire knowledge #981
- Serbian poznato/ˈpoznɐto/ to know, have knowledge of #1,397
- Slovak veda/veda/ a system of knowledge of the laws of… #1,407
- Slovenian znanje/znáːnjɛ/ #841
- Spanish conocimiento/konoθiˈmjento/ #2,477
- Swedish vet/ˈveːt/ to know; to be certain about, to have… #36
- Tagalog alam/ʔaˈlam/ knowledge; learning; wisdom #23
- Tamil அறிவு/ɐrɪʋɯ/ knowledge, wisdom #914
- Telugu విద్య/ʋid̪ja/ knowledge, science, learning, education #1,205
- Urdu علم/ɪlm/ knowledge, learning #677
- Vietnamese trí[t͡ɕi˧˦] wisdom; knowledge; intelligence #427
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), Slovenian (artur (sl_SI), CC BY 4.0) and Vietnamese (vais1000 (vi_VN), CC BY 4.0).
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.