How to say “middle” in 39 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.
- منتصف/mun.ta.sˤaf/ Arabic
- बीच/biːt͡ʃ/ Hindi
- మధ్య/ˈmadʰja/ Telugu
“middle” in French: milieu · Arabic: منتصف · Hindi: बीच · Turkish: ortaya
It is commonest in Telugu, where మధ్య is the 214th most used word.
Middle in other languages, A to Z
- Albanian mes/mɛs/ #277
- Arabic منتصف/mun.ta.sˤaf/ #453
- Bengali মাঝে/mad͡ʒʱe/ in the middle, between #225
- Bosnian usred/ǔsred/ in the middle of #1,327
- Bulgarian среда[srɛˈda] middle, mean #2,040
- Catalan mig[ˈmit͡ʃ] middle; mid- #580
- Chinese 中央/ʈ͡ʂʊŋ⁵⁵ jɑŋ⁵⁵/ centre; middle #955
- Croatian usred/ǔsred/ in the middle of #1,144
- Czech střední[ˈstr̝̊ɛdɲiː] #1,008
- Danish midt/ˈmed/ in the middle/centre #888
- Dutch midden/ˈmɪdə(n)/ in the middle #1,036
- English c/ˈsiː/ The middle tone in either one of the sets of… #1,357
- Esperanto meze/ˈmeze/ in the middle of, amid #1,279
- Estonian keset/ˈkeset/ in the middle of, in the centre of, during, on #1,016
- Finnish keskellä/ˈkeskelːæ/ in the middle #1,163
- French milieu/mi.ljø/ middle; center #1,013
- German mitten/ˈmɪtən/ In the middle #1,468
- Greek κέντρο/ˈcedro/ centre, center: the middle of something or… #750
- Hebrew בתוך/ˈbtoχ/ inside, within, in the middle of #348
- Hindi बीच/biːt͡ʃ/ middle, centre #302
- Italian mezzo/ˈmɛd.d͡zo/ half, middle #548
- Korean 가운데[ka̠unde̞] center; the middle #1,081
- Latvian vidū/ˈʋiduː/ in the middle #995
- Macedonian сред[srɛt] in the middle of, amid #1,347
- Malay antara/anˈtarə/ In the middle of two things #333
- Malayalam നടുക്ക്/nɐʈukkɨ/ In the middle #1,400
- Norwegian middag/¹mɪdːaɡ/ noon, midday; the middle of the day,… #618
- Persian وسط[væ.sæt̪ʰ] #500
- Polish środku/ˈɕrɔt.ku/ middle, center #673
- Romanian mijlocul/ˈmiʒlokul/ middle, center, mean #1,077
- Serbian usred/ǔsred/ in the middle of #1,388
- Slovenian srednji/sréːdnji/ central, middle #781
- Swedish mitt/mɪtː/ in the middle, right #91
- Tagalog gitna/ɡitˈnaʔ/ center; middle #724
- Tamil மையம்/mɐɪ̯jɐm/ centre; middle; midpoint #1,300
- Telugu మధ్య/ˈmadʰja/ #214
- Turkish ortaya/oɾtaˈja/ #434
- Urdu درمیان/d̪əɾmɪjɑːn/ in the middle or midst #207
- Vietnamese giữa[zɨə˦ˀ˥] in the middle; in the center; amidst;… #537
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.