How to say “man” in 51 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.
- hombre/ˈombɾe/ Spanish
- 男人/nän³⁵ ɻən³⁵/ Chinese
- 남자[na̠md͡ʑa̠] Korean
- पुरुष/pʊ.ɾʊʂ/ Hindi
- אדם/ʔaˈdaːm/ Hebrew
- տղամարդ/təʁɑˈmɑɾtʰ/ Armenian
“man” in Spanish: hombre · French: homme · German: mann · Portuguese: senhor · Chinese: 男人 · Korean: 남자 · Hindi: पुरुष
It is commonest in Chinese, where 男人 is the 56th most used word.
Man in other languages, A to Z
- Albanian njerëz[ˈɲɛɾ(ə)z] #160
- Arabic وجه/wa.d͡ʒu.ha/ to be a man of distinction, to be notable #462
- Armenian տղամարդ/təʁɑˈmɑɾtʰ/ man, adult male #476
- Basque gizon/ɡis̻on/ #76
- Bengali পুরুষ/puɾuʃ/ #622
- Bosnian momci/ˈmomtsɪ/ a young man, lad #315
- Bulgarian гей[ɡɛj] gay man, homosexual man #1,060
- Catalan home[ˈɔ.mə] #98
- Chinese 男人/nän³⁵ ɻən³⁵/ #56
- Croatian čovjek/t͡ʃǒʋjek/ man, person #204
- Czech muž[ˈmuʃ] #351
- Danish mand/manˀ/ #117
- Dutch man/mɑn/ man, human male, either adult or… #99
- English sir/sɜɹ/ A man of a higher rank or position #147
- Esperanto viro/ˈviro/ #282
- Estonian mees/ˈmeːs/ #104
- Finnish mies/ˈmie̯s/ #124
- French homme/ɔm/ #155
- Georgian გეი[ɡ̊e̞i] gay man #171
- German mann/man/ man, male human being #102
- Greek άνθρωποι/ˈanθroˌpi/ a human; person; the species man #280
- Hebrew אדם/ʔaˈdaːm/ man, human #150
- Hindi पुरुष/pʊ.ɾʊʂ/ man, male #268
- Hungarian férfi[ˈfeːrfi] #320
- Icelandic manneskja[ˈman(ː)ɛsca] a human being, a person, a man #709
- Indonesian pria/ˈpria/ man, boy #149
- Italian uomo/ˈwɔ.mo/ person, man #157
- Korean 남자[na̠md͡ʑa̠] #227
- Latvian puiši/ˈpuiʃi/ young man, youth, boy #326
- Lithuanian vyras[¹ˈʋʲiːrɐs] #197
- Macedonian маж[maʃ] #323
- Malay manusia/ma(ʔ)ˈnusiə/ human; human being; person; people; man #214
- Malayalam ഭ്രാന്തൻ/b(ʱ)ɾaːn̪t̪ɐn/ mad man #1,316
- Norwegian mann/mɑnː/ #150
- Persian مردی[mæɹ.d̪íː] #1,003
- Polish ludzie/ˈlu.d͡ʑɛ/ man, human, human being; person #150
- Portuguese senhor/sẽˈɲoʁ/ a man #154
- Romanian bărbat/bərˈbat/ #505
- Russian человек[t͡ɕɪɫɐˈɛk] person, human being, man #179
- Serbian čovek/t͡ʃôʋek/ man, person #224
- Slovak ľudia/ʎuɟɪ̯a/ person, man #110
- Slovenian mož/móːʃ/ #215
- Spanish hombre/ˈombɾe/ #121
- Swedish en/ɛnː/ object form of the indefinite pronoun man #7
- Tagalog tao/ˈtaʔo/ human; human being; person; man #52
- Tamil மனிதன்/mɐnɪd̪ɐn/ man, human, person #67
- Telugu పురుషులు/ˈpuruˌʂulu/ #218
- Turkish delikanlı/deˈli.kan.ɫɯ/ young man #2,288
- Ukrainian чоловік[t͡ʃɔɫɔˈʋʲik] #255
- Urdu آدمی/ɑːd̪.miː/ #85
- Vietnamese kẻ[kɛ˧˩] individual, person, man; specifically, put… #210
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.