How to say “long” in 50 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 Greek, where πολύ is the 42nd most used word.
- Afrikaans lank #153
- Albanian lutem to long for something to happen; to wish #80
- Arabic طويلة a long rope attached to animals to graze #255
- Armenian նոր just, just now; not long ago, recently #80
- Bengali দীর্ঘ #688
- Bosnian mene of me, long form #82
- Bulgarian докато while, as long as #144
- Catalan llarg #802
- Chinese 只要 as long as; provided; so long as #77
- Croatian mene of me, long form #85
- Czech dlouho long, a long time #238
- Danish længe #213
- Dutch langer #712
- English board A relatively long, wide and thin piece of any… #1,063
- Esperanto longa #572
- Estonian kaua for a long time #268
- Finnish kauan a long time #289
- French longtemps for a long time; over a long period #334
- Galician longo #649
- Georgian დიდხანს #541
- German lange long, for a long time #220
- Greek πολύ very, too, long #42
- Hebrew ישן old, having existed for a long time #649
- Hungarian amíg as long as, while #193
- Icelandic lengi #192
- Indonesian lama long: having great duration; seemingly… #164
- Italian finché as long as, while #848
- Korean 얼마나 how long, how much, how many #97
- Latvian ilgi long; adverbial form of ilgs #247
- Lithuanian kol while, as long as; until #105
- Macedonian мене Long direct object form of јас #45
- Malay lama #145
- Malayalam ഓടി a large, long and narrow seaboat, chiefly… #308
- Norwegian mer more; used in forming the comparative form of… #108
- Persian دراز #1,018
- Polish długo #282
- Portuguese longe far, a long way #487
- Romanian lungă #1,031
- Russian долго a long time; for a long time #437
- Serbian mene of me, long form #84
- Slovak dlhý #710
- Slovenian dolg #605
- Spanish basta as long as; provided that; only if #569
- Swedish länge a long time, during a long time, long #198
- Tagalog matagal #274
- Tamil நீண்ட long, extended #149
- Telugu అంగీ man's long jacket #1,874
- Turkish çoktan a long time ago #677
- Ukrainian скоро soon, before long #260
- Vietnamese cuộc a continuous and long enough event that… #166
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.