How to say “miss” in 35 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 Chinese, where 小姐 is the 71st most used word.
- Afrikaans mis to miss #433
- Arabic فقد to lose, to misplace, to miss #218
- Basque andereño young woman, Miss #543
- Bengali মিস #230
- Bosnian gđica Miss, Ms #1,589
- Bulgarian пропусна to miss #1,670
- Catalan fallat to miss #2,097
- Chinese 小姐 #71
- Croatian gđica Miss, Ms #1,318
- Czech slečna #1,147
- Danish savner to miss #842
- Dutch mis to miss #419
- Esperanto sinjorino madam, miss #219
- Estonian preili miss, an unmarried woman #527
- Finnish neiti #376
- French raté to miss #1,488
- Georgian მომენატრე I miss you #822
- German vermisst to miss #1,078
- Greek δεσποινίς miss, young unmarried woman #777
- Hebrew גברתי miss, madam, my lady #521
- Hungarian kisasszony miss, young lady #1,185
- Icelandic ungfrú miss, young lady #413
- Indonesian nona #454
- Korean 아가씨 Miss, girl, young lady #400
- Macedonian мис #2,136
- Malay nona miss, lady #1,737
- Norwegian frøken Miss, miss #1,019
- Polish tęsknię to miss #2,166
- Romanian miss #1,739
- Russian мисс #338
- Serbian gđica Miss, Ms #1,540
- Slovenian gospodična #396
- Swedish miss a miss #563
- Tamil செல்வி #2,156
- Turkish bayan Ms., Mrs., miss #125
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.