How to say “low” in 39 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.
- bajo/ˈbaxo/ Spanish
- حقير/ħa.qiːr/ Arabic
- नीच/niːt͡ʃ/ Hindi
- χαμηλά/ˌxamiˈla/ Greek
- נמוך/naˈmuχ/ Hebrew
- নিম্ন/nimno/ Bengali
“low” in Spanish: bajo · French: bas · Italian: basso · Portuguese: baixo · Arabic: حقير · Hindi: नीच · Greek: χαμηλά
It is commonest in Danish, where lave is the 276th most used word.
Low in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans diep/dip/ deep, down low #595
- Albanian ulët/ulət/ low, below, under, down #1,193
- Arabic حقير/ħa.qiːr/ low, mean, vile #1,371
- Armenian ստոր/əsˈtoɾ/ base, low, despicable #371
- Basque baxu/baʃu/ #1,973
- Bengali নিম্ন/nimno/ low, lower, subordinate #2,447
- Catalan baix[ˈbaʃ] #694
- Chinese 不快/pu⁵¹⁻³⁵ kʰu̯aɪ̯⁵¹/ unhappy; displeased; in low spirits #1,827
- Danish lave/ˈlaːvə/ #276
- Dutch diep/dip/ deep, down low #1,008
- English cool/kul/ Of a mildly low temperature #496
- Estonian rämps/ˈræmps/ poor, bad, of low quality #1,937
- French bas/ba/ #527
- Galician baixa/ˈbajʃa/ #842
- German leise/ˈlaɪ.zə/ quietly, softly, low #1,481
- Greek χαμηλά/ˌxamiˈla/ #2,350
- Hebrew נמוך/naˈmuχ/ #1,003
- Hindi नीच/niːt͡ʃ/ low, vile, inferior #2,475
- Hungarian alacsony[ˈɒlɒt͡ʃoɲ] short, low #2,465
- Icelandic lélegur[ˈljɛː.lɛːɣʏr] poor, low quality #2,049
- Indonesian dingin/ˈdiŋin/ having a low temperature #526
- Italian basso/ˈbas.so/ #1,529
- Latvian jaunu/ˈjaunu/ having relatively low age, young, new #509
- Macedonian тивок[ˈtivɔk] quiet, low, soft #2,093
- Malay rendah/rəndah/ #731
- Malayalam കുറഞ്ഞ/kurɐɲɲɐ/ less, low #401
- Norwegian lavt/ˈlɑːvt/ #1,976
- Persian کوتاه[kʰuː.t̪ʰɒːʱ] short, low #793
- Polish tyle/ˈtɘ.lɛ/ emphasizes a high or low amount or number; so… #245
- Portuguese baixo/ˈbaj.ʃu/ #436
- Slovak nízky/ɲiːski/ #2,458
- Slovenian nizek/nìːzək/ #1,628
- Spanish bajo/ˈbaxo/ #379
- Swedish kalla/²kalːa/ cold; having a low temperature #571
- Tagalog baba/ˈbabaʔ/ lowness; low height #453
- Tamil கம்மி/kɐmːiː/ very little, low, less, scant #2,125
- Turkish düşük/dyˈʃyc/ Low in height, drooping, fallen #1,324
- Urdu نیچا/niː.t͡ʃɑː/ low, under #1,652
- Vietnamese tạp[taːp̚˧˨ʔ] low quality; shoddy #1,114
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.