How to say “master” in 46 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 Bengali, where স্যার is the 56th most used word.
- Afrikaans meester A master #482
- Albanian zot master, headman #118
- Arabic سيد master, lord, prince #106
- Armenian ուստա master, expert, ustad, craftsman, foreman,… #1,616
- Bengali স্যার sir, master #56
- Bosnian gospodar master, lord #1,739
- Bulgarian господар master, lord #2,426
- Catalan senyor lord, master #95
- Chinese 主人 master; owner #447
- Croatian gospodar master, lord #1,763
- Czech mistr #2,230
- Danish mester #1,287
- Dutch heren a lord; master #647
- Esperanto majstro #960
- Estonian isand lord, master #650
- Finnish mestari #1,611
- French maître #719
- Galician mestre #1,068
- Greek αφεντικό owner, master #558
- Hebrew בעל master, owner #550
- Hindi प्रभु master, lord #747
- Hungarian uram my master #90
- Icelandic herra lord, master #76
- Indonesian master to master #1,273
- Italian campione champion, ace, master #1,715
- Korean 주인 master or owner #1,381
- Latvian pavēlnieks #2,167
- Macedonian капетан captain, commander, master, skipper #834
- Malay pengacara master of ceremonies #2,273
- Malayalam യജമാനൻ #1,409
- Persian خدای lord, patron, master, owner #501
- Polish mistrzu #2,338
- Portuguese mestre #1,110
- Romanian controla to control, to master #1,817
- Russian капитан captain, commander, master, skipper, team… #522
- Serbian gospodar master, lord #1,614
- Slovak zvládnuť to master a skill #1,126
- Slovenian gospodar #485
- Spanish maestro #971
- Swedish mästare a master #1,917
- Tagalog panginoon lord; master #429
- Telugu భర్త husband, lord, master #216
- Turkish efendim master, sir #104
- Ukrainian пане lord, master, mister, sir #174
- Urdu ماسٹر #951
- Vietnamese trạng master; expert #1,017
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.