How to say “male” in 45 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.
“male” in Portuguese: homem · Turkish: erkek
It is commonest in Malay, where lelaki is the 110th most used word.
Male in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans eggenoot/ˈɛχəˌnuə̯t/ husband, male spouse #1,079
- Albanian shoku/ʃɔku/ male friend #191
- Arabic مني/ma.nijj/ male ejaculation, semen; sperm #134
- Armenian տղամարդ/təʁɑˈmɑɾtʰ/ man, adult male #476
- Basque ar/ar/ #1,732
- Bengali ভগবান/bʱɔɡoban/ a god; male deity; lord #709
- Bosnian muškarac/muʃkǎːrat͡s/ male, man #823
- Bulgarian боже[ˈbɔʒɛ] god → the God / male deity #176
- Catalan nens[ˈnɛns] boy, male child #379
- Chinese 男子/nän³⁵ t͡sɹ̩²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/ man; male #803
- Croatian muškarac/muʃkǎːrat͡s/ male, man #818
- Czech gay[ˈɡɛj] gay male #1,465
- Danish galt[ˈɡalˀd] a castrated male pig #286
- Dutch man/mɑn/ man, human male, either adult or… #99
- English he[hi(ː)] A person who identifies as male, or animal… #18
- Esperanto kaĉjo/ˈkat͡ʃjo/ affectionate name for a male cat, kitty #755
- Estonian pede/ˈped̥e/ fag, a homosexual male #1,784
- French dieu/djø/ a god, male divinity #148
- Galician nenos/ˈnenos/ boy; male child, especially before puberty #292
- German mann/man/ man, male human being #102
- Greek πατέρας/paˈte.ɾas/ father; a male parent #257
- Hebrew זכר/zɔ.χɔr/ man, male #1,473
- Hindi भगवान/bʱəɡ.ʋɑːn/ a god; male deity, lord #146
- Icelandic hommi[ˈhɔm(ː)ɪ] a homosexual male, a gay male #916
- Indonesian raja/ˈrad͡ʒa/ king, male monarch #384
- Italian cane/ˈka.ne/ dog, male dog #717
- Korean 아저씨[a̠d͡ʑʌ̹ɕ͈i] middle-aged elder male #329
- Lithuanian draugas[²ˈdrɒʊˑɡɐs] male friend #246
- Macedonian сопруг[ˈsɔpruk] husband, male spouse #622
- Malay lelaki/ləˈlaki/ #110
- Malayalam എടാ/eɖaː/ a term of address to a male of same age or… #232
- Norwegian kongen/ˈkɔŋən/ a male monarch #946
- Persian گی[ɡʲej] a gay man, a male homosexual #2,052
- Polish mężczyzna/mɛw̃ʂˈt͡ʂɘz.na/ man, male #976
- Portuguese homem/ˈõ.mẽj̃/ #140
- Serbian muškarac/muʃkǎːrat͡s/ male, man #816
- Slovak režisér/reʒiseːr/ male director #2,000
- Slovenian samec/sàːmət͡s/ male animal #1,666
- Swedish bög/bøːɡ/ a homosexual male; gay, fag, queer, poof #2,070
- Tagalog pare/ˈpaɾe/ buddy; close male friend #160
- Tamil ஆண்கள்/ɑːɳɡɐɭ/ #174
- Telugu స్నేహితుడు/ˈsneːhiˌtuɖu/ boyfriend, a male friend #115
- Turkish erkek/æɾˈcec/ #286
- Urdu پال/pɑːl/ a male given name from English, equivalent to… #204
- Vietnamese anh[ʔajŋ̟˧˧] I/me, a male who's slightly older than you,… #4
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.