How to say “light” in 53 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 Persian, where شد is the 42nd most used word.
- Afrikaans lig light; not heavy #306
- Albanian drita #957
- Arabic ضوء #899
- Armenian լույս #211
- Basque argi light, clarity #235
- Bengali আলো #511
- Bosnian pali to kindle, light, set fire to #1,251
- Bulgarian светлина #975
- Catalan llum #497
- Chinese 按照 according to; in accordance with; in light… #724
- Croatian svjetlo #1,078
- Czech světlo #1,058
- Danish lyst light, bright #560
- Dutch blanke a white person, someone with a light skin… #1,818
- English black Absorbing all light and reflecting none; dark… #541
- Esperanto lumo #513
- Estonian kerge light, lightweight #829
- Finnish valot #1,926
- French lumière #852
- Galician claro clear, light #186
- Georgian ნათელი bright, lighted, light #893
- German licht #756
- Greek φως #753
- Hebrew קל #382
- Hindi प्रकाश #776
- Hungarian világos light, bright #1,129
- Icelandic kveikja to light, start, turn on; also used of… #1,181
- Indonesian ringan #1,827
- Italian luce #722
- Korean 빛 light, gleam, glow #1,619
- Latvian viegli light, easy, mild, lightly, easily, mildly;… #455
- Lithuanian šviesa #778
- Macedonian светлина light, brightness #1,081
- Malay cahaya #635
- Malayalam വെളിച്ചം #406
- Norwegian lyst #622
- Persian شد to become; a light verb used in a large… #42
- Polish światło #1,175
- Portuguese luz #612
- Romanian lumina #835
- Russian свет #800
- Serbian svetlo #1,111
- Slovak svetlo #524
- Slovenian luč #555
- Spanish luz #548
- Swedish ljus light, bright #1,087
- Tagalog liwanag light; illumination #310
- Tamil ஒளி light, brightness; splendour; brilliancy #516
- Telugu సులువు #419
- Turkish ışık #1,097
- Ukrainian світло #769
- Urdu ہلکا light, weightless #1,004
- Vietnamese đèn a light; a lamp, an oil lamp, a light bulb,… #989
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.