How to say “letter” in 46 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.
- carta/ˈkaɾta/ Spanish
- رسالة/ri.saː.la/ Arabic
- 字母/t͡sɹ̩⁵¹ mu²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/ Chinese
- 문자[muɲt͡ɕ͈a̠] Korean
- γράμμα/ˈɣra.ma/ Greek
- წერილი[t͡sʼe̞ɾili] Georgian
“letter” in Spanish: carta · French: lettre · Italian: lettera · Portuguese: carta · Chinese: 字母 · Korean: 문자 · Arabic: رسالة · Greek: γράμμα
It is commonest in Persian, where حرف is the 54th most used word.
Letter in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans brief/brif/ #268
- Arabic رسالة/ri.saː.la/ #311
- Armenian թո/tʰo/ the name of the Armenian letter թ #665
- Basque gutun/ɡutun/ #511
- Bengali চিঠি/t͡ʃiʈʰi/ #559
- Bulgarian писмо[piˈsmɔ] letter, epistle #1,024
- Catalan carta[ˈkar.tə] letter, card #1,008
- Chinese 字母/t͡sɹ̩⁵¹ mu²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/ #1,538
- Czech dopis[ˈdopɪs] #1,064
- Danish brev/breːˀv/ #1,321
- Dutch brief/brif/ #1,023
- English san/ˈsæn/ An Ancient Greek letter representing /s/,… #1,743
- Esperanto leteron/leˈteron/ #1,081
- Estonian b/ˈb̥eː/ the letter b #1,367
- Finnish kirjeen/ˈkirjeːn/ #2,431
- French lettre/lɛtʁ/ #902
- Galician carta/ˈkaɾta/ letter, correspondence #493
- Georgian წერილი[t͡sʼe̞ɾili] #874
- German schreiben/ˈʃraɪ̯bən/ writing, letter #782
- Greek γράμμα/ˈɣra.ma/ #945
- Hebrew ל/ˈlamed/ The third letter of a verb root; so called… #178
- Hindi डी/ɖiː/ the letter D #794
- Icelandic bréf[ˈprjɛːv] #725
- Indonesian huruf/ˈhurʊf/ #2,189
- Italian lettera/ˈlet.te.ra/ #1,047
- Korean 문자[muɲt͡ɕ͈a̠] letter, character, alphabet #781
- Latvian vēstuli/ˈʋæːstuli/ #1,378
- Lithuanian laiškas[¹ˈlɑˑɪʃkɐs] #1,354
- Macedonian писмо[ˈpismɔ] #1,017
- Malay ya[ja] The 29th letter of the Arabic alphabet #26
- Malayalam കത്ത്/kɐt̪t̪ɨ/ letter; a written or printed communication,… #347
- Norwegian brev/breːʋ/ a letter #1,175
- Persian حرف[hæɹf] #54
- Polish list/ˈlist/ #1,140
- Portuguese carta/ˈkaʁ.tɐ/ #834
- Romanian scrisoare[skriˈso̯a.re] #1,227
- Russian эм[ɛm] The Cyrillic letter М, м #851
- Slovak list/ʎist/ #568
- Slovenian pismo/pìːsmɔ/ #419
- Spanish carta/ˈkaɾta/ #819
- Swedish david/²dɑːvɪd/ The letter "D" in the Swedish spelling… #746
- Tamil கடிதம்/kɐɖɪd̪ɐm/ letter, written communication #525
- Telugu లేఖ[leːkʰa] letter, epistle #500
- Turkish be/be/ Letter of the Arabic alphabet: ب #342
- Urdu خط/xət̪/ letter, correspondence #813
- Vietnamese thư[tʰɨ˧˧] #437
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.