How to say “left” in 47 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.
- izquierda/iθˈkjeɾda/ Spanish
- αριστερά/ˌaristeˈra/ Greek
- שמאל/ˈsmol/ Hebrew
- বাম/bam/ Bengali
- இடது/ɪɖɐd̪ɯ/ Tamil
- డా/ɖaː/ Telugu
“left” in Spanish: izquierda · French: gauche · Greek: αριστερά
It is commonest in Swedish, where kvar is the 233rd most used word.
Left in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans oorbly/ˈʊə̯r.bləi̯/ to remain, to be left #1,124
- Albanian majtë/majtə/ left hand #850
- Arabic شمال/ʃi.maːl/ left hand #1,332
- Armenian ձախ/d͡zɑχ/ to the left #1,419
- Bengali বাম/bam/ #711
- Bosnian lijevo/ˈlijevo/ #1,492
- Bulgarian ляво[ˈlʲa̟vo] #1,858
- Catalan queda/ˈkeðə/ to remain, to be left #333
- Chinese 剩下/ʂɤŋ⁵¹⁻⁵³ ɕi̯ä⁵¹/ to be left over; to remain #308
- Croatian lijevo/ˈlijevo/ #1,143
- Czech doleva[ˈdolɛva] #2,179
- Danish venstre/ˈvɛnsdʁɐ/ #681
- Dutch links/lɪŋks/ on the left #1,180
- English left/ˈɫɛft/ On the left side #216
- Esperanto maldekstre/malˈdekstre/ on the left #1,538
- Estonian vasak/ˈvɑsɑk/ #1,451
- Finnish jäljellä/ˈjæljelːæ/ left, remaining #965
- French gauche/ɡoʃ/ #839
- Galician esquerda/esˈkeɾda/ left, left-hand #565
- German links/lɪŋks/ on the left #1,140
- Greek αριστερά/ˌaristeˈra/ #1,031
- Hebrew שמאל/ˈsmol/ #1,252
- Hungarian bal[ˈbɒl] #1,425
- Icelandic vinstri[ˈvɪnstrɪ] #430
- Indonesian kiri/ˈki.ri/ #728
- Italian manca/ˈman.ka/ left hand #962
- Korean 나머지[na̠mʌ̹d͡ʑi] the rest, remainder, what is left over #589
- Latvian kreisi/ˈkreisi/ left, in, to the left; adverbial form of… #666
- Lithuanian likti/lʲɪk.tʲɪ/ stay, remain, be left #464
- Macedonian лево[ˈlɛvɔ] to the left #658
- Malay kiri/kiri/ #534
- Malayalam ബാക്കി/baːkki/ remaining, what's left #207
- Norwegian venstre/ˈvɛnstrə/ #715
- Persian چپ[t͡ʃʰæpʰ] #634
- Portuguese esquerda/isˈkeʁ.dɐ/ the left side, part, half or direction #1,012
- Romanian rămâne/rəˈmɨ.ne/ to remain, be left, stay behind #498
- Serbian levo/ˈlɛvo/ #1,276
- Slovak ľavá/ʎavaː/ #1,763
- Spanish izquierda/iθˈkjeɾda/ #1,031
- Swedish kvar/kvɑːr/ left, remaining #233
- Tagalog hayaan/haˈjaʔan/ to be left alone #235
- Tamil இடது/ɪɖɐd̪ɯ/ #393
- Telugu డా/ɖaː/ left, left-hand, sinister #1,494
- Turkish kal/kaɫ/ to remain, be left; to be left over #373
- Ukrainian залишитися[zɐɫeˈʃɪtesʲɐ] to remain, to stay; to be left #1,103
- Urdu باقی/bɑː.qiː/ remaining, left over #304
- Vietnamese sót[sɔt̚˧˦] to be left over, to remain, remaindered #928
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 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.