How to say “pants” in 36 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 Slovenian, where hlače is the 494th most used word.
- Afrikaans broek A pair of trousers, pair of pants #1,110
- Albanian pantallona trousers, pants #1,686
- Bosnian pantalone trousers, pants #1,996
- Catalan pantalons pants; trousers #1,663
- Croatian hlače trousers, pants #1,442
- Danish bukserne trousers, pants #1,628
- Dutch broek a pair of trousers, pair of pants #1,125
- English panting The act of one who pants #2,055
- Esperanto pantalonon trousers, pants #1,370
- Estonian püksid trousers, pants #1,145
- French pantalon trousers, pants #1,860
- Galician pantalóns trousers, pants #1,346
- Greek παντελόνι trousers, pants #1,736
- Hebrew מכנסיים Pants, breeches, drawers, trousers: a garment… #1,785
- Hindi पैंट #1,354
- Icelandic buxur trousers, pants #1,771
- Indonesian celana trousers, pants #1,116
- Italian pantaloni pants, trousers #1,625
- Korean 바지 pants, trousers #1,026
- Latvian bikses pants, trousers; shorts #1,078
- Lithuanian kelnės pants, trousers #2,016
- Macedonian панталони pants, trousers #2,074
- Malay seluar trousers, pants #872
- Norwegian buksene trousers or pants #2,049
- Persian شلوار trousers, pants #1,197
- Polish spodnie pants, trousers #2,320
- Portuguese calças #1,301
- Romanian pantaloni pants, trousers #1,712
- Russian штаны trousers, pants #2,216
- Serbian pantalone trousers, pants #1,546
- Slovenian hlače pants, trousers #494
- Spanish pantalones pants, trousers #1,377
- Swedish byxor pants, trousers #2,378
- Tagalog pantalon pants; trousers #575
- Ukrainian штани trousers, pants #1,746
- Urdu پتلون pants, trousers #1,442
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.