How to say “medicine” 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.
- medicina/mediˈθina/ Spanish
- лекарство[lʲɪˈkarstvə] Russian
- الطب/atˤtˤibb/ Arabic
- 의학[ɰiɦa̠k̚] Korean
- दवा/d̪ə.ʋɑː/ Hindi
- φάρμακα/ˈfaɾ.ma.ka/ Greek
“medicine” in Spanish: medicina · German: medizin · Italian: medicina · Korean: 의학 · Russian: лекарство · Arabic: الطب · Hindi: दवा · Turkish: ilaç
It is commonest in Tamil, where மருந்து is the 362nd most used word.
Medicine in other languages, A to Z
- Albanian ilaçet/ilat͡ʃɛt/ cure, medicine, medication, remedy #2,070
- Arabic الطب/atˤtˤibb/ medicine, medical science #1,187
- Armenian դարման/dɑɾˈmɑn/ medicine, cure, remedy #1,044
- Bengali ওষুধ/oʃud̪ʱ/ medicine, cure #763
- Bosnian lijek/ljêːk/ medicine, cure #1,623
- Bulgarian лекарство[lɛˈkarstvo] medicine, drug #2,016
- Catalan medicina[mə.ðiˈsi.nə] #2,480
- Croatian lijek/ljêːk/ medicine, cure #1,201
- Czech lék[ˈlɛːk] medicine, cure, drug #2,283
- Danish medicin/mediˈsiːˀn/ #1,131
- Dutch medicijnen/ˈmeːdiˌsɛɪnən/ medicine, cure, medication #1,454
- English medical/ˈmɛdɪkl̩/ Of or pertaining to the practice of medicine #1,324
- Estonian ravim/ˈrɑvim/ drug, medicine #1,994
- French médicaments/me.di.ka.mɑ̃/ drug, medication, medicine, pharmaceutical,… #1,870
- Georgian წამალი[t͡sʼämäli] #1,435
- German medizin/(ˌ)me.di.ˈtsiːn/ #2,210
- Greek φάρμακα/ˈfaɾ.ma.ka/ medicine, medication #1,521
- Hebrew תרופה/tʁuˈfa/ medicine, medication, medicament, drug #1,375
- Hindi दवा/d̪ə.ʋɑː/ medicine, treatment #1,007
- Icelandic lyf[ˈlɪːv] drug, medicine #1,001
- Indonesian obat/ˈobat/ #591
- Italian medicina/me.diˈt͡ʃi.na/ #2,049
- Korean 의학[ɰiɦa̠k̚] #1,742
- Latvian medicīnas/ˈmedit͡siːnas/ #2,464
- Lithuanian vaistų[ˈʋaːjstuː] medicine, medication #897
- Malay ubat/ˈubat/ #692
- Malayalam മരുന്ന്/mɐɾun̪n̪ɨ/ #413
- Norwegian medisin/mədɪˈsiːn/ medicine, medication #1,840
- Persian دارو[d̪ɒː.ɹúː] medicine, drug, medication #796
- Polish leki/ˈlɛ.ki/ medicine, drug #2,219
- Romanian medicamente/me.di.kaˈmen.te/ medicine, drug, medication #1,697
- Russian лекарство[lʲɪˈkarstvə] medicine, drug #2,173
- Serbian lek/ˈlɛk/ #1,394
- Slovak liek/liˈek/ medicine, pharmaceutical drug #742
- Slovenian zdravilo/zdraʋìːlɔ/ medicine, medication #524
- Spanish medicina/mediˈθina/ #1,773
- Swedish medicin/mɛdɪˈsiːn/ #1,564
- Tagalog gamot/ɡaˈmot/ medicine; remedy; cure #760
- Tamil மருந்து/mɐɾʊnd̪ɯ/ #362
- Telugu మందులు/man̪d̪ulu/ medicine, physic, drug #466
- Turkish ilaç/iˈlat͡ʃ/ #1,169
- Ukrainian ліки[ˈlʲike] medicine, cure #1,537
- Urdu دوائی/d̪ə.ʋɑː.iː/ #1,086
- Vietnamese thuốc[tʰuək̚˧˦] medicine; medicament; drug #393
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.