How to say “lift” 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.
- levántate/leˈβantate/ Spanish
- رفع/ra.fa.ʕa/ Arabic
- 提起/tʰi³⁵ t͡ɕʰi²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/ Chinese
- उठाया/ʊ.ʈʰɑː.jɑː/ Hindi
- তোলা/t̪ola/ Bengali
- ஏற்று/eːrːɯ/ Tamil
“lift” in Spanish: levántate · Chinese: 提起 · Arabic: رفع · Hindi: उठाया
It is commonest in Malay, where angkat is the 562nd most used word.
Lift in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans hys/ɦəi̯s/ to hoist, to lift #1,606
- Albanian ngritur/nɡɾituɾ/ to raise, to elevate, to lift #1,093
- Arabic رفع/ra.fa.ʕa/ to lift, to raise aloft, to hoist up, to… #1,111
- Basque altxatu/alt͡ʃatu/ to raise, lift #554
- Bengali তোলা/t̪ola/ to lift, to raise #979
- Bosnian diži/ˈdiʒɪ/ to lift, raise, elevate #1,879
- Bulgarian вдигна[ˈvdiɡnɐ] to lift, to raise #1,644
- Catalan aixeca/əˈʃekə/ to lift up, lift, bring up, raise #1,141
- Chinese 提起/tʰi³⁵ t͡ɕʰi²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/ to lift; to raise; to heave #970
- Croatian diži/ˈdiʒɪ/ to lift, raise, elevate #1,966
- Dutch licht/lɪxt/ to raise, to lift up #627
- English carry/ˈkaɹ.ɪj/ To lift and take it to another place; to… #1,005
- Esperanto levu/ˈlevu/ to lift, to raise #1,311
- Estonian lift/ˈlift/ lift, elevator #2,389
- Finnish kyytiin/ˈkyːtɪːn/ ride, lift #1,867
- French lever/lə.ve/ to raise, lift #1,661
- Galician erguer/eɾˈɡeɾ/ to lift up, to elevate, to raise #2,361
- German aufgenommen/ˈaʊfɡəˌnɔmən/ to pick up, lift up #2,244
- Greek σήκωσε/ˈsikoˌse/ to raise, put up, lift, heave #2,146
- Hindi उठाया/ʊ.ʈʰɑː.jɑː/ to lift, to raise, to pick up #995
- Icelandic hefja[ˈhɛvja] to lift, to raise #1,212
- Indonesian angkatan/aŋˈkatan/ lift, a rise; a degree of elevation #1,487
- Italian ladro/ˈla.dro/ thief, lift #2,338
- Latvian uzdot/ˈuzduot/ to raise, to lift, e.g., hay, straw, etc #1,896
- Lithuanian liftas[ˈlʲɪftɐs] elevator, lift #2,192
- Malay angkat/ˈaŋkat/ to lift, to raise #562
- Norwegian skyss/ʂʏsː/ a lift, ride #2,499
- Persian آسانسور[ʔɒː.sɒːn.sóɹ] lift, elevator #1,618
- Romanian ridicat/ri.diˈkat/ to lift, elevate, raise, hoist, suspend #1,314
- Serbian diži/ˈdiʒɪ/ to lift, raise, elevate #1,919
- Slovak výťah/viːcax/ an elevator or lift #1,636
- Slovenian dvigniti/dʋìːɡniti/ to lift, to raise #1,175
- Spanish levántate/leˈβantate/ to lift #1,843
- Swedish bär/bɛːr/ to carry; to lift and transport anywhere else #870
- Tamil ஏற்று/eːrːɯ/ to lift, raise, hoist #815
- Vietnamese cất[kət̚˧˦] to lift, to raise #1,231
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.