How to say “marriage” in 44 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.
- брак[brak] Russian
- زواج/za.waːd͡ʒ/ Arabic
- 婚姻/xu̯ən⁵⁵ in⁵⁵/ Chinese
- 결혼[kjʌ̹ɾβo̞n] Korean
- शादी/ʃɑː.d̪iː/ Hindi
- γάμο/ˈɣamo/ Greek
“marriage” in French: mariage · Italian: matrimonio · Chinese: 婚姻 · Korean: 결혼 · Russian: брак · Arabic: زواج · Hindi: शादी · Turkish: evlilik
It is commonest in Tamil, where திருமணம் is the 172nd most used word.
Marriage in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans huwelik[hyvalak] marriage, matrimony #397
- Albanian martesë/maɾtɛsə/ #1,440
- Arabic زواج/za.waːd͡ʒ/ #1,182
- Basque ezkontza/es̻kont͡s̻a/ marriage, matrimony #530
- Bengali বিয়ে/bi̯e/ marriage, wedding #1,307
- Bosnian brak/brâːk/ #1,092
- Bulgarian брак[brak] marriage, matrimony #1,337
- Catalan matrimoni/mətɾiˈmɔni/ #1,139
- Chinese 婚姻/xu̯ən⁵⁵ in⁵⁵/ marriage; matrimony #510
- Croatian brak/brâːk/ #1,088
- Czech manželství[ˈmanʒɛlstviː] marriage, matrimony, wedlock #1,136
- Danish ægteskab/ˈɛɡdəˌsɡaːˀb/ #1,426
- Dutch huwelijk/ˈɦyʋələk/ #884
- English husband/ˈhʌzbənd/ A man in a marriage or marital relationship,… #444
- Esperanto geedziĝo/ɡeeˈd͡zid͡ʒo/ #2,003
- Estonian abielu/ˈɑb̥ie̯lu/ #964
- French mariage/ma.ʁjaʒ/ #473
- Galician matrimonio/matɾiˈmonjo/ marriage, matrimony #1,289
- German hochzeit/ˈhɔxˌt͡saɪ̯t/ wedding, marriage #1,000
- Greek γάμο/ˈɣamo/ marriage, wedding #749
- Hebrew נישואין/nisuʔin/ marriage, wedding #1,787
- Hindi शादी/ʃɑː.d̪iː/ marriage, wedding #195
- Hungarian házasság[ˈhaːzɒʃːaːɡ] #2,082
- Icelandic gifta[ˈcɪfta] to give away in marriage #955
- Indonesian pernikahan/pərniˈkahan/ wedding; marriage ceremony #607
- Italian matrimonio/ma.triˈmɔ.njo/ #602
- Korean 결혼[kjʌ̹ɾβo̞n] #459
- Lithuanian santuoka[¹ˈsɑˑntuɔkɐ] #1,641
- Macedonian брак[brak] marriage, matrimony #910
- Malay perkahwinan/pərkahˈwinan/ marriage; wedding #702
- Malayalam വിവാഹം/ʋiʋaːhɐm/ #183
- Norwegian ekteskap/ˈɛktəˌskɑːp/ a marriage #1,852
- Persian ازدواج[ʔez.d̪e.vɒ́ːd͡ʒ̥] #223
- Polish ślub/ˈɕlup/ marriage, matrimony #1,131
- Romanian căsătorie/ˌkəsəˈtoɾje/ marriage, wedlock, matrimony #1,605
- Russian брак[brak] marriage, matrimony #1,745
- Serbian brak/brâːk/ #1,013
- Slovak svadba/svadba/ wedding; marriage #1,083
- Swedish äktenskap/ˈɛktɛnsˌkɑːp/ #1,642
- Tagalog kasal/kaˈsal/ wedding; marriage #373
- Tamil திருமணம்/t̪ɪɾʊmɐɳɐm/ marriage, wedding, matrimony #172
- Turkish evlilik/ev.liˈlic/ #1,066
- Ukrainian весілля[ʋeˈsʲilʲːɐ] wedding, marriage ceremony #1,153
- Urdu شادی/ʃɑː.d̪iː/ wedding, marriage #317
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.