How to say “lunch” in 35 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 Slovenian, where kosilo is the 428th most used word.
- Afrikaans middagete lunch, luncheon #1,353
- Albanian drekë #1,075
- Arabic غداء #2,250
- Basque bazkaldu to have lunch #1,362
- Bengali লাঞ্চ #1,078
- Bosnian ručak lunch, dinner, usually the main meal of the… #991
- Catalan dinar #1,456
- Chinese 午餐 #702
- Croatian ručak lunch, dinner, usually the main meal of the… #916
- Czech oběd lunch, meal eaten in the middle of the day #1,053
- Danish frokost #996
- Dutch lunch to lunch #1,331
- French déjeuner to lunch, to eat lunch, to have lunch #980
- Galician almorzo breakfast; lunch #1,923
- Georgian სადილის #1,438
- German mittagessen #2,332
- Greek γεύμα meal, especially lunch #1,295
- Italian pranzo lunch or dinner #993
- Korean 점심 lunch, luncheon #620
- Latvian pusdienas #1,194
- Lithuanian pietūs lunch, dinner #1,455
- Macedonian ручек #826
- Norwegian lunsj lunch; a meal eaten between breakfast and… #1,058
- Persian ناهار #974
- Polish obiad dinner, lunch #1,195
- Portuguese almoço to have lunch #1,196
- Romanian dejun #1,194
- Russian обед lunch, dinner #1,320
- Serbian ručak lunch, dinner, usually the main meal of the… #871
- Slovak obed #564
- Slovenian kosilo #428
- Spanish comida having had lunch; having already eaten #481
- Swedish lunch lunch, a meal eaten around noon #1,041
- Tagalog pananghalian food eaten at lunch #1,679
- Ukrainian обід dinner, lunch #1,344
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.