How to say “memory” in 41 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.
- memoria/meˈmoɾja/ Spanish
- память[ˈpamʲɪtʲ] Russian
- याद/jɑːd̪/ Hindi
- μνήμη/ˈmnimi/ Greek
- זיכרון/zikaˈʁon/ Hebrew
- স্মৃতি/sɾĩt̪i/ Bengali
“memory” in Spanish: memoria · French: mémoire · German: erinnerung · Italian: ricordi · Portuguese: memória · Russian: память · Hindi: याद · Greek: μνήμη
It is commonest in Persian, where برم is the 105th most used word.
Memory in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans geheue/χəˈɦɪø.ə/ #966
- Albanian kujtimet/kujtimɛt/ #1,635
- Arabic ذكرى/ðik.raː/ remembrance, recollection, memory #1,437
- Bengali স্মৃতি/sɾĩt̪i/ memory, remembrance #650
- Bulgarian памет[ˈpamɛt] #2,171
- Catalan memòria[məˈmɔ.ɾi.ə] #1,302
- Chinese 記得/t͡ɕi⁵¹ d̥ə¹/ to remember; to recall from memory #779
- Czech vzpomínky[ˈfspomiːŋkɪ] #1,719
- Danish minder/ˈmenɐ/ a memory, remembrance #930
- Dutch herinneringen/hɛˈrɪnəˌrɪŋən/ a memory, something that one remembers #1,773
- English remember/ɹɪˈmɛm.bɚ/ To recall from one's memory; to have an image… #233
- Esperanto memoro/meˈmoro/ #1,266
- Estonian mälu/ˈmælu/ #1,216
- French mémoire/me.mwaʁ/ #1,364
- Galician memoria/meˈmɔɾja/ #855
- German erinnerung/ɛɐˈʔɪnəʁʊŋ(k)/ memory; remembrance #1,865
- Greek μνήμη/ˈmnimi/ #1,477
- Hebrew זיכרון/zikaˈʁon/ #1,584
- Hindi याद/jɑːd̪/ a memory, recollection #174
- Icelandic minna[ˈmɪn(ː)a] #410
- Indonesian ingatan/iˈŋatan/ #1,668
- Italian ricordi/riˈkɔrdɪ/ memory, recollection, remembrance #448
- Korean 기억[kiʌ̹k̚] recall; the faculty of memory #405
- Latvian atmiņas/ˈatmiɲas/ #1,145
- Lithuanian atmintis/ɐtmɪnˈtɪs/ #1,615
- Macedonian памет[ˈpamɛt] #1,860
- Malay kenangan/kəˈnaŋan/ memory; recollection; remembrance #1,164
- Malayalam ഓർമ്മ/oːrmmɐ/ #1,198
- Norwegian minner/ˈmɪnər/ #1,090
- Persian برم/bæɾm/ #105
- Polish pamięć/ˈpa.mjɛɲt͡ɕ/ #2,049
- Portuguese memória/meˈmɔ.ɾjɐ/ #1,298
- Romanian memoria[meˈmo.ri.a] #1,876
- Russian память[ˈpamʲɪtʲ] #1,557
- Slovak pamäť/ˈpamɛc/ #1,045
- Slovenian spomin/spɔmíːn/ #476
- Spanish memoria/meˈmoɾja/ #1,437
- Swedish minne/ˈmɪnɛ/ memory; component used in computers etc.… #1,488
- Tamil ஞாபகம்/ɲaːbaɡam/ memory, reminiscence #232
- Telugu స్మృతి/smɻ̍t̪i/ recollection, memory, remembrance #823
- Urdu یاد/jɑːd̪/ #135
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) and Slovenian (artur (sl_SI), CC BY 4.0).
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.