How to say “middle” in 39 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 Swedish, where mitt is the 91st most used word.
- Albanian mes #277
- Arabic منتصف #453
- Bengali মাঝে in the middle, between #225
- Bosnian usred in the middle of #1,327
- Bulgarian среда middle, mean #2,040
- Catalan mig middle; mid- #580
- Chinese 中央 centre; middle #955
- Croatian usred in the middle of #1,144
- Czech střední #1,008
- Danish midt in the middle/centre #888
- Dutch midden in the middle #1,036
- English c The middle tone in either one of the sets of… #1,357
- Esperanto meze in the middle of, amid #1,279
- Estonian keset in the middle of, in the centre of, during, on #1,016
- Finnish keskellä in the middle #1,163
- French milieu middle; center #1,013
- German mitten In the middle #1,468
- Greek κέντρο centre, center: the middle of something or… #750
- Hebrew בתוך inside, within, in the middle of #348
- Hindi बीच middle, centre #302
- Italian mezzo half, middle #548
- Korean 가운데 center; the middle #1,081
- Latvian vidū in the middle #995
- Macedonian сред in the middle of, amid #1,347
- Malay antara In the middle of two things #333
- Malayalam നടുക്ക് In the middle #1,400
- Norwegian middag noon, midday; the middle of the day,… #618
- Persian وسط #500
- Polish środku middle, center #673
- Romanian mijlocul middle, center, mean #1,077
- Serbian usred in the middle of #1,388
- Slovenian srednji central, middle #781
- Swedish mitt in the middle, right #91
- Tagalog gitna center; middle #724
- Tamil மையம் centre; middle; midpoint #1,300
- Telugu మధ్య #214
- Turkish ortaya #434
- Urdu درمیان in the middle or midst #207
- Vietnamese giữa in the middle; in the center; amidst;… #537
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.