How to say “main” in 33 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.
- principal/pɾinθiˈpal/ Spanish
- رئيسي/ra.ʔiː.sijj/ Arabic
- 주[t͡ɕu] Korean
- ראשי/ʁaˈʃi/ Hebrew
- მთავარი[mtʰäväɾi] Georgian
- প্রধান/pɾod̪ʱan/ Bengali
“main” in Spanish: principal · Italian: principale · Portuguese: principal · Korean: 주 · Arabic: رئيسي
It is commonest in Basque, where nagusi is the 328th most used word.
Main in other languages, A to Z
- Arabic رئيسي/ra.ʔiː.sijj/ main, chief, principal, leading, cardinal #1,233
- Basque nagusi/naɡus̺i/ main, principal #328
- Bengali প্রধান/pɾod̪ʱan/ main, chief, head, principal #438
- Bosnian glavni/ɡlǎʋniː/ main, chief, principal #730
- Bulgarian главен[ˈɡɫavɛn] main, chief #1,811
- Catalan no[ˈno] not, main negation marker #2
- Chinese 主要/ʈ͡ʂu²¹⁴⁻²¹ jɑʊ̯⁵¹/ most important; principal; main; major;… #501
- Croatian glavni/ɡlǎʋniː/ main, chief, principal #743
- Czech hlavní[ˈɦlavɲiː] #775
- Dutch hart/ɦɑrt/ heart, main muscle pumping blood through the… #482
- English dinner/ˈdɪnɚ/ The main meal of the day, often eaten in the… #551
- Esperanto ĉefa/ˈt͡ʃefa/ chief, main, principal #1,193
- Estonian peamine/ˈpeɑ̯mine/ chief, main, major, principal #1,447
- Finnish niiden/ˈniːden/ their; used without possessive suffix in the… #563
- French plupart/ply.paʁ/ main part, majority #1,136
- Galician cámara/ˈkamaɾa/ namely, the main bedroom of a house #538
- Georgian მთავარი[mtʰäväɾi] main, chief, principal, head #1,349
- Greek θέμα/ˈθema/ subject, main topic #324
- Hebrew ראשי/ʁaˈʃi/ main, principal #1,074
- Hungarian fő[ˈføː] main, principal, key, chief, cardinal, core,… #1,701
- Italian principale/prin.t͡ʃiˈpa.le/ main, principal #1,705
- Korean 주[t͡ɕu] main; principal #342
- Latvian galvenais/ˈɡallʋænais/ main, chief, primary, key #664
- Lithuanian tai/tɐɪ/ that, then; introduces a complement to the… #3
- Macedonian главен[ˈɡɫavɛn] main, chief, cardinal #830
- Persian که[kʰʲe] that; subordinates a clause to a main clause #1
- Portuguese principal/pɾĩ.siˈpaw/ main; principal #1,210
- Russian главное[ˈɡɫavnəjə] the main thing, the essentials #1,133
- Serbian glavni/ɡlǎʋniː/ main, chief, principal #745
- Slovak hlavný/ɦlavniː/ #930
- Spanish principal/pɾinθiˈpal/ main, most important #1,243
- Tagalog bida/ˈbida/ protagonist; main character #1,693
- Urdu شاہراہ/ʃɑːɦ.ɾɑːɦ/ highway, main road, King's highway #1,765
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) and Estonian (news (et_EE), CC BY 4.0).
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.