How to say “night” in 53 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.
- ночь[not͡ɕ] Russian
- ليلة/laj.la/ Arabic
- रात/ɾɑːt̪/ Hindi
- לילה/ˈlaj.la/ Hebrew
- ღამე[ʁäme̞] Georgian
- գիշեր/ɡiˈʃeɾ/ Armenian
“night” in French: nuit · German: nacht · Italian: notte · Portuguese: noite · Russian: ночь · Arabic: ليلة · Hindi: रात
It is commonest in Telugu, where రాత్రి is the 72nd most used word.
Night in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans gisteraand/χəstərˈɑːnt/ last night; yesterday evening #665
- Albanian natën/natən/ #253
- Arabic ليلة/laj.la/ a night #160
- Armenian գիշեր/ɡiˈʃeɾ/ #78
- Basque gauean/ɡaʊˈeˌan/ #196
- Bengali রাত/rat̪/ #386
- Bosnian noć/nôːt͡ɕ/ night, nighttime #299
- Bulgarian нощ[nɔʃt] #231
- Catalan nit[ˈnit] #117
- Chinese 晚上/wän²¹⁴ ʂɑŋ⁴/ evening; night #95
- Croatian noć/nôːt͡ɕ/ night, nighttime #300
- Czech noc[ˈnot͡s] night, nighttime #271
- Danish nat/nad̥/ #494
- Dutch nacht/nɑxt/ #457
- English tonight/təˈnaɪt/ During the night following the current day;… #314
- Esperanto nokton/ˈnokton/ #337
- Estonian ööd/øːd̥/ #509
- Finnish yötä/ˈyø̯tæ/ #542
- French nuit/nɥi/ #204
- Galician noite/ˈnojte/ night; period of dark, when the sun is below… #113
- Georgian ღამე[ʁäme̞] #396
- German nacht/naxt/ #215
- Greek βράδυ/ˈvraði/ at night, by night, nightly #263
- Hebrew לילה/ˈlaj.la/ #278
- Hindi रात/ɾɑːt̪/ #164
- Hungarian éjjel[ˈeːjːɛl] at night #473
- Icelandic nótt[ˈnouht] #971
- Indonesian malam/ˈmalam/ #98
- Italian notte/ˈnɔt.te/ #285
- Korean 거야[ˈkɘ(ː)ja̠] last night, yesterday evening #9
- Latvian nakti/ˈnakti/ #475
- Lithuanian naktį[²ˈnɑːktʲiː] #232
- Macedonian ноќ[nɔc] night, nighttime #214
- Malay malam/ˈmalam/ #111
- Malayalam രാത്രി/ɾaːt̪ri/ #79
- Norwegian natt/natː/ #337
- Persian شب[ʃæb̥] #127
- Polish nocy/ˈnɔ.t͡sɘ/ night, nighttime #306
- Portuguese noite/ˈnoj.t͡ʃi/ #119
- Romanian noapte/ˈno̯ap.te/ #268
- Russian ночь[not͡ɕ] night, nighttime #380
- Serbian noć/nôːt͡ɕ/ night, nighttime #277
- Slovak noc/nɔt͡s/ night, nighttime #163
- Slovenian nočem/ˈnoːtʃɛm/ night, nighttime #147
- Spanish noche/ˈnot͡ʃe/ after dark, at night, nocturnally #136
- Swedish natt/natː/ #439
- Tagalog gabi/ɡaˈbi/ evening; night #116
- Tamil இரவு/ɪɾɐʋɯ/ #119
- Telugu రాత్రి/ɾaːt̪ɾi/ #72
- Turkish gece[ɟe̞ˈd͡ʒɛ] at night, in the night, by night #109
- Ukrainian ніч[nʲit͡ʃ] night, nighttime #485
- Urdu رات/ɾɑːt̪/ night, nighttime #106
- Vietnamese đêm[ʔɗem˧˧] #336
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.