How to say “moon” in 42 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.
- luna/ˈluna/ Spanish
- 月亮/ɥɛ⁵¹ li̯ɑŋ¹/ Chinese
- 달[ta̠ɭ] Korean
- इंदु/ɪn.d̪uː/ Hindi
- φεγγάρι/feŋˈɡa.ɾi/ Greek
- ירח/jaˈriχ/ Hebrew
“moon” in Spanish: luna · French: lune · German: mond · Chinese: 月亮 · Korean: 달 · Hindi: इंदु · Turkish: ay · Greek: φεγγάρι
It is commonest in Persian, where ماه is the 232nd most used word.
Moon in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans maan/mɑːn/ #1,138
- Albanian hanë[hãːn] #1,384
- Basque ilargi/ilarɡi/ moon, satellite #985
- Bengali চাঁদ/t͡ʃãd̪/ #961
- Bosnian mjesec/mjêseːt͡s/ #921
- Catalan lluna[ˈʎu.nə] #972
- Chinese 月亮/ɥɛ⁵¹ li̯ɑŋ¹/ #988
- Croatian mjesec/mjêseːt͡s/ #669
- Czech měsíc[ˈmɲɛsiːt͡s] #822
- Danish næ/ˈnɛː/ waning moon #1,786
- Dutch maan/maːn/ #1,425
- Esperanto luno/ˈluno/ #902
- Finnish kuussa/ˈkuːssa/ the moon #2,274
- French lune/lyn/ the Moon #1,146
- Galician lúa/ˈlua/ the Moon #945
- German mond/moːnt/ #1,942
- Greek φεγγάρι/feŋˈɡa.ɾi/ the Moon #1,858
- Hebrew ירח/jaˈriχ/ #1,709
- Hindi इंदु/ɪn.d̪uː/ the moon #923
- Hungarian hold[ˈhold] moon, natural satellite #2,425
- Icelandic ný[ˈniː] new moon #1,881
- Indonesian bulan/ˈbulan/ #308
- Korean 달[ta̠ɭ] moon; the Moon #432
- Latvian mēnešiem/ˈmeːneʃiem/ #901
- Lithuanian mėnulio[mʲeːˈnʊlʲo̟ː] #1,422
- Macedonian месечина[mɛˈsɛt͡ʃina] #1,978
- Malay bulan/ˈbulan/ #309
- Malayalam ഇന്ദു/in̪d̪u/ #1,365
- Norwegian månen/²moː.nən/ #1,944
- Persian ماه[mɒːʱ] #232
- Romanian luni/ˈlunʲ/ #392
- Serbian mesec/mêseːt͡s/ #775
- Slovak mesiac/mesɪ̯at͡s/ moon, a satellite of a planet #483
- Slovenian luna/lùːna/ #934
- Spanish luna/ˈluna/ #1,022
- Swedish månen/ˈmoːnɛn/ a moon #2,161
- Tagalog buwan/buˈan/ #304
- Tamil திங்கள்/t̪ɪŋɡɐɭ/ #694
- Telugu చంద్రుడు/t͡ɕan̪d̪ɾuɖu/ the Moon; the regent of the moon #634
- Turkish ay/ɑj/ #311
- Urdu ماہ/mɑːɦ/ #342
- Vietnamese trăng[t͡ɕaŋ˧˧] the Moon #1,292
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), 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.