How to say “lift” in 36 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 Basque, where altxatu is the 554th most used word.
- Afrikaans hys to hoist, to lift #1,606
- Albanian ngritur to raise, to elevate, to lift #1,093
- Arabic رفع to lift, to raise aloft, to hoist up, to… #1,111
- Basque altxatu to raise, lift #554
- Bengali তোলা to lift, to raise #979
- Bosnian diži to lift, raise, elevate #1,879
- Bulgarian вдигна to lift, to raise #1,644
- Catalan aixeca to lift up, lift, bring up, raise #1,141
- Chinese 提起 to lift; to raise; to heave #970
- Croatian diži to lift, raise, elevate #1,966
- Dutch licht to raise, to lift up #627
- English carry To lift and take it to another place; to… #1,005
- Esperanto levu to lift, to raise #1,311
- Estonian lift lift, elevator #2,389
- Finnish kyytiin ride, lift #1,867
- French lever to raise, lift #1,661
- Galician erguer to lift up, to elevate, to raise #2,361
- German aufgenommen to pick up, lift up #2,244
- Greek σήκωσε to raise, put up, lift, heave #2,146
- Hindi उठाया to lift, to raise, to pick up #995
- Icelandic hefja to lift, to raise #1,212
- Indonesian angkatan lift, a rise; a degree of elevation #1,487
- Italian ladro thief, lift #2,338
- Latvian uzdot to raise, to lift, e.g., hay, straw, etc #1,896
- Lithuanian liftas elevator, lift #2,192
- Malay angkat to lift, to raise #562
- Norwegian skyss a lift, ride #2,499
- Persian آسانسور lift, elevator #1,618
- Romanian ridicat to lift, elevate, raise, hoist, suspend #1,314
- Serbian diži to lift, raise, elevate #1,919
- Slovak výťah an elevator or lift #1,636
- Slovenian dvigniti to lift, to raise #1,175
- Spanish levántate to lift #1,843
- Swedish bär to carry; to lift and transport anywhere else #870
- Tamil ஏற்று to lift, raise, hoist #815
- Vietnamese cất to lift, to raise #1,231
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.