How to say “motion” in 38 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 Galician, where a is the 2nd most used word.
- Afrikaans beweeg to move, to be in motion, to stir #341
- Albanian lëviz to move, set in motion, transfer #290
- Arabic فلم film, motion picture #830
- Armenian ֆիլմ film; motion picture, movie #461
- Basque ibili to move, to be in motion #143
- Bengali গতি motion, passage #769
- Bosnian kreni to move, set in motion #853
- Bulgarian филм film, movie, motion picture #705
- Chinese 影片 film; motion picture; movie #1,058
- Croatian krenuti to move, set in motion #908
- Czech pohyb motion, movement #929
- Danish film a movie, a film, motion picture #644
- Dutch bewegen to move, to be in motion #1,119
- English still Without motion #143
- Esperanto filmo film, movie, motion picture #792
- Estonian liikumist #1,884
- Finnish liikettä motion, movement #1,169
- Galician a to, toward; indicating direction of motion #2
- German bewegung #969
- Hebrew תנועה movement, move, motion #1,397
- Hindi गति #693
- Hungarian film film, movie, motion picture, picture #1,426
- Icelandic hreyfingu motion, movement #1,628
- Indonesian gerakan physical motion between points in space #1,291
- Malay gerak movement; motion; action #877
- Malayalam ചലനം motion, movement #1,983
- Persian حرکت #255
- Polish film film, movie, motion picture #778
- Portuguese filme film; movie; motion picture #613
- Russian кино movie, motion picture, film #1,353
- Serbian kreni to move, set in motion #902
- Swedish igång in motion, moving, running #723
- Tagalog pelikula film; movie; motion picture #698
- Tamil இயக்கம் movement, motion, moving about, function,… #509
- Telugu కదలికలు #1,915
- Ukrainian кіно movie, motion picture, film #1,279
- Urdu رفتار #764
- Vietnamese rung to put in motion; to shake; to agitate; to… #1,849
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.