How to say “mean” in 34 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.
- عنى/ʕa.naː/ Arabic
- σημαίνει/siˈmeni/ Greek
- התכוון/hit.kaˈven/ Hebrew
- ნიშნავს[niʃnäfs] Georgian
“mean” in Italian: significa · Portuguese: significa · Arabic: عنى · Greek: σημαίνει
It is commonest in Norwegian, where mener is the 153rd most used word.
Mean in other languages, A to Z
- Albanian poshtër/pɔʃtəɾ/ mean; lower #1,597
- Arabic عنى/ʕa.naː/ to mean, to signify #1,139
- Basque gaizto/ɡai̯s̻to/ evil, mean #816
- Bulgarian среда[srɛˈda] middle, mean #2,040
- Catalan significa[siŋ.niˈfi.kə] to mean, to signify #684
- Chinese 平均/pʰiŋ³⁵ t͡ɕyn⁵⁵/ average; mean #2,390
- Croatian značiti/znǎːt͡ʃiti/ to mean #1,836
- Czech znamená[ˈznamɛnaː] to mean #307
- Danish betyder/beˈtyðˀɐ/ to mean #250
- Dutch betekent/bə.ˈteː.kənt/ to mean, to signify #385
- Esperanto signifas/siɡˈnifas/ to signify, mean #312
- Finnish tarkoittaa/ˈtɑrkoi̯tːɑːˣ/ to mean, intend #379
- French signifie/si.ɲi.fi/ to signify, mean #961
- Galician significa/siɡniˈfika/ to mean, signify #441
- Georgian ნიშნავს[niʃnäfs] to mean #330
- German bedeutet/bəˈdɔøtət/ to imply, to mean, to signify, to indicate,… #493
- Greek σημαίνει/siˈmeni/ to mean, signify #253
- Hebrew התכוון/hit.kaˈven/ to mean, intend #1,664
- Hungarian jelenti[ˈjɛlɛnti] to mean, denote, indicate #443
- Icelandic ætla[ˈaihtla] to intend, to plan, to mean to, be going to #100
- Indonesian berarti/bəˈrar.ti/ to mean; to signify, or indicate #307
- Italian significa/siˈɲifika/ to mean, to signify #426
- Korean 평균[pʰjʌ̹ŋɡjun] average; mean #2,306
- Lithuanian reikšti/ˈrɛɪkʃtɪ/ to mean, signify, convey indicate, express #1,309
- Malay min[min] #1,272
- Norwegian mener/ˈmeːnər/ to mean #153
- Persian خوار[xɒːɹ] mean, abject #2,445
- Polish zamierzam/zaˈmjɛ.ʐam/ to intend, to mean, to plan #941
- Portuguese significa/ˌsiɡniˈfikɐ/ to mean #386
- Romanian mijlocul/ˈmiʒlokul/ middle, center, mean #1,077
- Slovak znamená/znamenaː/ to mean #194
- Swedish menar/ˈmeːnar/ to mean; to convey, or to want to convey #156
- Tagalog este/ˈʔeste/ I mean #2,128
- Urdu حقیر/ɦə.qiːɾ/ mean, low, insignificant #2,194
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 Catalan (upc_ona (ca_ES), CC BY-SA 4.0).
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.