How to say “light” in 53 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.
- luz/ˈluθ/ Spanish
- свет[svʲet] Russian
- ضوء/dˤawʔ/ Arabic
- 빛[pit̚] Korean
- प्रकाश/pɾə.kɑːʃ/ Hindi
- φως/ˈfos/ Greek
“light” in Spanish: luz · French: lumière · German: licht · Italian: luce · Portuguese: luz · Korean: 빛 · Russian: свет · Arabic: ضوء
It is commonest in Armenian, where լույս is the 211th most used word.
Light in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans lig/ləχ/ light; not heavy #306
- Albanian drita/ˈdɾita/ #957
- Arabic ضوء/dˤawʔ/ #899
- Armenian լույս/lujs/ #211
- Basque argi/arɡi/ light, clarity #235
- Bengali আলো/alo/ #511
- Bosnian pali/pâːli/ to kindle, light, set fire to #1,251
- Bulgarian светлина[svɛtliˈna] #975
- Catalan llum[ˈʎum] #497
- Chinese 按照/ˀän⁵¹⁻⁵³ ʈ͡ʂɑʊ̯⁵¹/ according to; in accordance with; in light… #724
- Croatian svjetlo/sʋjêtlo/ #1,078
- Czech světlo[ˈsvjɛtlo] #1,058
- Danish lyst/løst/ light, bright #560
- Dutch blanke/ˈblɑŋ.kə/ a white person, someone with a light skin… #1,818
- English black/blæk/ Absorbing all light and reflecting none; dark… #541
- Esperanto lumo/ˈlumo/ #513
- Estonian kerge/ˈkerɡ̊e/ light, lightweight #829
- Finnish valot/ˈvalot/ #1,926
- French lumière/ly.mjɛʁ/ #852
- Galician claro/ˈklaɾo/ clear, light #186
- Georgian ნათელი[nätʰe̞li] bright, lighted, light #893
- German licht/lɪçt/ #756
- Greek φως/ˈfos/ #753
- Hebrew קל/kal/ #382
- Hindi प्रकाश/pɾə.kɑːʃ/ #776
- Hungarian világos[ˈvilaːɡoʃ] light, bright #1,129
- Icelandic kveikja[ˈkʰveiːca] to light, start, turn on; also used of… #1,181
- Indonesian ringan/ˈriŋan/ #1,827
- Italian luce/ˈlu.t͡ʃe/ #722
- Korean 빛[pit̚] light, gleam, glow #1,619
- Latvian viegli/ˈʋieɡli/ light, easy, mild, lightly, easily, mildly;… #455
- Lithuanian šviesa[ʃʲʋʲjɛˈsɐ] #778
- Macedonian светлина[ˈsvɛtlina] light, brightness #1,081
- Malay cahaya/t͡ʃä.hä.jä/ #635
- Malayalam വെളിച്ചം/ʋeɭit͡ʃt͡ʃɐm/ #406
- Norwegian lyst/ˈlyːst/ #622
- Persian شد[ʃód̪̥] to become; a light verb used in a large… #42
- Polish światło/ˈɕfja.twɔ/ #1,175
- Portuguese luz/ˈlu(j)s/ #612
- Romanian lumina/luˈmina/ #835
- Russian свет[svʲet] #800
- Serbian svetlo/sʋêtlo/ #1,111
- Slovak svetlo/ˈsvɛtɫɔ/ #524
- Slovenian luč/lùːt͡ʃ/ #555
- Spanish luz/ˈluθ/ #548
- Swedish ljus/jʉːs/ light, bright #1,087
- Tagalog liwanag/liˈwanaɡ/ light; illumination #310
- Tamil ஒளி/oɭiː/ light, brightness; splendour; brilliancy #516
- Telugu సులువు/ˈsuluʋu/ #419
- Turkish ışık[ɯˈʃɯk] #1,097
- Ukrainian світло[ˈsʲʋʲitɫɔ] #769
- Urdu ہلکا/ɦəl.kɑː/ light, weightless #1,004
- Vietnamese đèn[ʔɗɛn˨˩] a light; a lamp, an oil lamp, a light bulb,… #989
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.