How to say “north” in 37 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.
- norte/ˈnoɾte/ Spanish
- 北方/peɪ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ fɑŋ⁵⁵/ Chinese
- उत्तर/ʊt̪.t̪əɾ/ Hindi
- βόρεια/ˈvorça/ Greek
- צפון/sˤaːˈpoːn/ Hebrew
- ჩრდილოეთის[t͡ʃʰɾdiloetʰis] Georgian
“north” in Spanish: norte · French: nord · German: norden · Italian: nord · Portuguese: norte · Chinese: 北方 · Hindi: उत्तर · Turkish: kuzey
It is commonest in Dutch, where n is the 35th most used word.
North in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans noord[nʊərt] #2,044
- Albanian veri/vɛˈɾi/ #872
- Armenian հյուսիս/hjuˈsis/ #1,732
- Basque ipar/ipar/ #761
- Bulgarian север[ˈsɛvɛr] #1,552
- Catalan nord[ˈnɔrt] #443
- Chinese 北方/peɪ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ fɑŋ⁵⁵/ #1,299
- Czech severní[ˈsɛvɛrɲiː] north, northern #1,914
- Danish nord/noːr/ toward the north, northwards #1,833
- Dutch n/ˈɛn/ abbreviation of noord; north #35
- English north/noɹθ/ Toward the north; northward; northerly #1,055
- Estonian põhja/ˈpɤhjɑ/ #833
- French nord[n̪ɔʁ̥] #1,164
- Galician norte/ˈnɔɾte/ #469
- Georgian ჩრდილოეთის[t͡ʃʰɾdiloetʰis] #129
- German norden/ˈnɔrdən/ #2,228
- Greek βόρεια/ˈvorça/ north, northerly #1,389
- Hebrew צפון/sˤaːˈpoːn/ #1,769
- Hindi उत्तर/ʊt̪.t̪əɾ/ north, northern #650
- Indonesian utara/uˈtara/ #708
- Italian nord/ˈnɔrd/ #1,264
- Korean 로[ɾo̞] North Korea standard form of 노 #641
- Macedonian север[ˈsɛvɛr] #1,088
- Malay utara/uˈtarə/ #637
- Malayalam വടക്ക്/ʋɐɖɐkkɨ/ #644
- Norwegian nord/nuːɾ/ #1,465
- Persian شمال[ʃo.mɒ́ːl̥] the north #722
- Portuguese norte/ˈnɔʁ.t͡ʃi/ #979
- Romanian nord/nord/ #1,008
- Slovak sever/sever/ #1,081
- Slovenian sever/sèːʋɛr/ #988
- Spanish norte/ˈnoɾte/ north, northern #1,095
- Tagalog hilaga/hiˈlaɡaʔ/ #1,474
- Tamil வட/ʋɐɖɐ/ north, northern #491
- Turkish kuzey/kuˈzej/ #1,018
- Urdu شمال/ʃʊ.mɑːl/ #903
- Vietnamese bắc[ʔɓak̚˧˦] north; northern #809
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 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.