How to say “leg” in 42 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.
- piernas/ˈpjeɾnas/ Spanish
- πόδια/ˈpoðja/ Greek
- ფეხი[pʰe̞χi] Georgian
- காலை/kɑːlɐɪ̯/ Tamil
- കാൽ/kaːl/ Malayalam
- కాళ్లు/kaːɭːu/ Telugu
“leg” in Spanish: piernas · French: jambes · Italian: gamba · Portuguese: pernas · Greek: πόδια
It is commonest in Tamil, where காலை is the 221st most used word.
Leg in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans bene/ˈbiənə/ leg of a human or humanoid #774
- Albanian tu/ˈtu/ pant leg #200
- Basque hanka/ˈanka/ #394
- Bosnian noge/ˈnoɡɛ/ #679
- Bulgarian краката/krɐˈkatɐ/ #736
- Catalan cames[ˈka.məs] #1,267
- Croatian noge/ˈnoɡɛ/ #714
- Czech nohy[ˈnoɦɪ] #813
- Danish ben/beːˀn/ #472
- Dutch benen/ˈbeːnə(n)/ leg, limb of a person, horse and certain… #1,164
- Esperanto krurojn/ˈkruroi̯n/ #2,029
- Estonian jalga/ˈjɑlɡ̊ɑ/ foot, leg #578
- Finnish jalat/ˈjalat/ foot, leg; a lower supporting limb of a human… #2,366
- French jambes/ˈʒɑ̃b/ #1,357
- Galician perna/ˈpɛɾna̝/ #1,671
- Georgian ფეხი[pʰe̞χi] #581
- German beine/ˈbaɪnə/ leg of a person, animal, or object #1,429
- Greek πόδια/ˈpoðja/ #542
- Hebrew רגל/riɡl/ foot, leg #934
- Hindi पाए/pɑː.eː/ foot or leg of an object #2,193
- Icelandic leggur[ˈlɛk(ː)ʏr] leg, shank #966
- Italian gamba/ˈɡam.ba/ #1,316
- Latvian kājas/ˈkaːjas/ leg, foot #706
- Lithuanian koja[¹ˈkoːjɛ] #955
- Macedonian нога[ˈnɔɡa] #1,139
- Malay kaki/ˈkaki/ foot, leg #308
- Malayalam കാൽ/kaːl/ leg, a lower limb of humans, animals and… #1,017
- Norwegian legger/ˈlɛɡər/ lower leg from the knee to the ankle,… #675
- Persian پا[pʰɒː] #411
- Polish nogi/ˈnɔ.ɡi/ #1,049
- Portuguese pernas/ˈpɛʁ.nɐs/ #1,256
- Romanian picioare/piˈt͡ʃo̯a.re/ #709
- Serbian noge/ˈnoɡɛ/ #683
- Slovak nohy/nɔɦi/ #473
- Slovenian nogo/ˈnɔːɡɔ/ #486
- Spanish piernas/ˈpjeɾnas/ #1,352
- Swedish ben/ˈbeːn/ #528
- Tagalog binti/binˈtiʔ/ #1,690
- Tamil காலை/kɑːlɐɪ̯/ #221
- Telugu కాళ్లు/kaːɭːu/ #557
- Ukrainian нога[nɔˈɦa] #1,887
- Urdu ٹانگ/ʈɑːŋɡ/ #1,057
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 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.