How to say “paper” 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.
- papel/paˈpel/ Spanish
- χαρτιά/ˌxartiˈa/ Greek
- נייר/ˈnjɔːr/ Hebrew
- কাগজ/kaɡod͡ʒ/ Bengali
- தாள்/t̪ɑːɭ/ Tamil
- പേപ്പർ/peːppɐr/ Malayalam
“paper” in Spanish: papel · French: papier · German: papiere · Italian: carta · Portuguese: papel · Greek: χαρτιά
It is commonest in Galician, where papel is the 592nd most used word.
Paper in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans papier/paˈpiːr/ #855
- Albanian letër/ˈlɛtəɾ/ #796
- Basque paper/papeɾ/ sheet of paper #686
- Bengali কাগজ/kaɡod͡ʒ/ #826
- Bosnian papir/pǎpiːr/ #1,775
- Bulgarian хартия[xɐrˈtijɐ] #1,685
- Croatian papir/pǎpiːr/ #1,800
- Czech papír[ˈpapiːr] #2,193
- Danish papirer/paˈpiːˀɐ/ #1,715
- Dutch papieren/paːˈpirən/ #1,496
- English book/bʊk/ A collection of sheets of paper bound… #562
- Estonian paber/ˈpɑb̥er/ #2,169
- French papier/pa.pje/ #1,384
- Galician papel/paˈpɛl/ #592
- German papiere/paˈpiːʁə/ #2,280
- Greek χαρτιά/ˌxartiˈa/ #1,057
- Hebrew נייר/ˈnjɔːr/ #1,140
- Hindi कार्बन/kɑːɾ.bən/ carbon, carbon paper #2,150
- Icelandic pappír[ˈpʰahpir] #1,858
- Indonesian kertas/kərˈtas/ #1,189
- Italian carta/ˈkar.ta/ #1,001
- Korean 먹지[mʌ̹k̚t͡ɕ͈i] carbon paper #890
- Latvian papīra/ˈpapiːra/ #1,552
- Lithuanian popierius[²ˈpoːpʲiɛrʲʊ̟s] #1,293
- Macedonian хартија[ˈxarti(j)a] #1,292
- Malay tisu[ti.ʃu] A sheet of absorbent paper, especially one… #2,175
- Malayalam പേപ്പർ/peːppɐr/ #1,261
- Norwegian papirene/pɑˈpiːɳ̩ə/ #1,960
- Persian کاغذ[kʰɒː.ɢǽz] #1,232
- Portuguese papel/paˈpɛw/ #884
- Romanian hârtie/hɨrˈti.je/ #1,598
- Serbian papir/pǎpiːr/ #1,709
- Slovenian list/líːst/ piece of paper #730
- Spanish papel/paˈpel/ #916
- Swedish bok/buːk/ collection of sheets of paper #938
- Tagalog papel/paˈpel/ #633
- Tamil தாள்/t̪ɑːɭ/ paper, sheet #1,292
- Urdu دستاویز/d̪əs.t̪ɑː.ʋeːz/ document, paper #639
- Vietnamese giấy[zəj˧˦] #770
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), 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.