How to say “open” in 52 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.
- abre/ˈabɾe/ Spanish
- открыть[ɐtˈkrɨtʲ] Russian
- فتح/fa.ta.ħa/ Arabic
- 打開/tä²¹⁴⁻²¹ kʰaɪ̯⁵⁵/ Chinese
- खुला/kʰʊ.lɑː/ Hindi
- פתח/paˈtaχ/ Hebrew
“open” in Spanish: abre · French: ouvre · German: öffnen · Italian: aperto · Portuguese: abrir · Chinese: 打開 · Russian: открыть · Arabic: فتح
It is commonest in Estonian, where lahti is the 185th most used word.
Open in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans oop/ʊə̯p/ #239
- Albanian hapur/hapuɾ/ to open #433
- Arabic فتح/fa.ta.ħa/ to open #751
- Armenian բաց/bɑt͡sʰ/ open, not closed #265
- Basque ireki/iɾeki/ to open, open up #225
- Bengali খোলা[ˈkʰola] to open #465
- Bosnian otvoriti/otʋǒriti/ to open #1,268
- Bulgarian отворя[otˈvɔrʲɐ] to open #1,623
- Catalan obrir[uˈβɾi] to open #956
- Chinese 打開/tä²¹⁴⁻²¹ kʰaɪ̯⁵⁵/ to open #1,725
- Croatian otvoriti/otʋǒriti/ to open #990
- Czech otevřít[ˈotɛvr̝iːt] to open #1,198
- Danish åbne/ˈɔːbnə/ #701
- Dutch open/ˈoː.pə(n)/ to open #345
- English place/ˈpleɪ̯s/ An open space, particularly a city square,… #187
- Esperanto malfermu/malˈfermu/ to open #313
- Estonian lahti/ˈlɑhti/ #185
- Finnish avaa/ˈavaː/ to open #708
- French ouvre/uvʁ/ to open #842
- Galician abre/ˈabɾe/ to open #1,028
- Georgian იღება[iʁe̞bä] to open #812
- German öffnen/ˈœfnən/ to open #1,119
- Greek ανοίξει/aˈniksi/ to make something accessible: open, undo,… #1,745
- Hebrew פתח/paˈtaχ/ to open #877
- Hindi खुला/kʰʊ.lɑː/ open, ajar, unclosed, unlocked #1,005
- Hungarian nyisd[ˈɲiʒd] to open #1,025
- Icelandic opnar/ˈɔhpnar/ to open #1,039
- Indonesian buka/ˈbuka/ #444
- Italian aperto/aˈpɛr.to/ to open #1,142
- Korean 활짝[ɸwa̠ʎt͡ɕ͈a̠k̚] wide open; brightly; in bloom; clearly #2,338
- Latvian vaļā/ˈʋaʎaː/ #315
- Lithuanian atidaryk[ɐtʲɪdɐ¹ˈrʲiːk] to open #472
- Macedonian отвори[ˈɔtvɔɾi] to open #359
- Malay buka/ˈbuka/ to open #327
- Malayalam തുറക്കുക/t̪urɐkkuɡɐ/ to open #1,876
- Norwegian åpne/ˈoːpnə/ #459
- Polish otwórz/ˈɔ.tfuʂ/ to open #1,090
- Portuguese abrir/aˈbɾi(ʁ)/ to open #813
- Romanian deschide/desˈki.de/ to open #609
- Russian открыть[ɐtˈkrɨtʲ] to open #1,300
- Serbian otvoriti/otʋǒriti/ to open #1,572
- Slovak otvoriť/ɔtvɔric/ to open #627
- Slovenian odpreti/ɔtprèːti/ to open, to make open #709
- Spanish abre/ˈabɾe/ to open, open up #991
- Swedish öppna/ˈœpna/ #384
- Tagalog kaparangan/kapaˈɾaŋan/ wide, open space or field #2,304
- Tamil திறந்த/t̪ɪrɐnd̪ɐ/ to open #309
- Telugu విప్పు/ˈʋippu/ to open, untie, loosen #1,517
- Turkish açmak/ɑt͡ʃˈmɑk/ to open #1,882
- Ukrainian відкрити[ʋʲidˈkrɪte] to open #1,468
- Urdu باز/bɑːz/ open, open wide #1,584
- Vietnamese mở[məː˧˩] to open, be open #369
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.