How to say “neck” 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.
- cuello/ˈkweʝo/ Spanish
- عنق/ʕu.nuq/ Arabic
- 脖子/pu̯ɔ³⁵ d͡z̥ɹ̩³/ Chinese
- 목[mo̞k̚] Korean
- गले/ɡə.leː/ Hindi
- λαιμό/leˈmo/ Greek
“neck” in Spanish: cuello · French: cou · German: hals · Italian: collo · Portuguese: pescoço · Chinese: 脖子 · Korean: 목 · Arabic: عنق
It is commonest in Croatian, where vrata is the 251st most used word.
Neck in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans nek/ˈnæk/ #778
- Albanian qafë/ˈcafə/ #1,970
- Arabic عنق/ʕu.nuq/ #2,113
- Basque lepo/lepo/ #1,329
- Bengali গলা/ɡɔla/ #708
- Bosnian vrata/ʋrǎːta/ #262
- Catalan coll[ˈkɔʎ] #826
- Chinese 脖子/pu̯ɔ³⁵ d͡z̥ɹ̩³/ #649
- Croatian vrata/ʋrǎːta/ #251
- Czech krku[ˈkr̩ku] #1,377
- Dutch nek/nɛk/ nape of the neck #1,172
- English throat/ˈθɹoʊt/ The front part of the neck #1,245
- Estonian kael/kɑe̯l/ #2,380
- French cou/ku/ #1,586
- Galician pescozo/pesˈkoθo/ back of the neck; nape; scruff #1,244
- German hals/hals/ #1,286
- Greek λαιμό/leˈmo/ neck, throat #1,053
- Hindi गले/ɡə.leː/ neck; throat #837
- Icelandic háls[ˈhauls] neck, throat #1,482
- Indonesian leher/ˈleher/ #1,902
- Italian collo/ˈkɔl.lo/ #1,399
- Korean 목[mo̞k̚] #902
- Latvian kaklu/ˈkaklu/ #2,072
- Macedonian врат[vrat] #2,241
- Malay leher/ˈlehe(r)/ #994
- Malayalam കഴുത്ത്/kɐɻut̪t̪ɨ/ #1,019
- Norwegian halsen/ˈhalsn̩/ a neck #1,326
- Persian گردن[ɡʲæɹ.d̪ǽn] #774
- Portuguese pescoço/pesˈko.su/ #1,403
- Serbian vrata/ʋrǎːta/ #269
- Slovak krku/kr̩ku/ #786
- Slovenian vrat/ʋráːt/ #359
- Spanish cuello/ˈkweʝo/ #1,288
- Swedish halsen/ˈhalsɛn/ #1,506
- Tagalog leeg/leˈʔeɡ/ #1,003
- Tamil கழுத்து/kɐɻʊt̪ːɯ/ #1,078
- Telugu మెడ/meɖa/ #553
- Turkish boyun/boˈjun/ #2,233
- Urdu گردن/ɡəɾ.d̪ən/ #919
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) and Slovenian (artur (sl_SI), CC BY 4.0).
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.