How to say “perfect” 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.
- 完美/wän³⁵ meɪ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/ Chinese
- τέλειος/ˈte.li.os/ Greek
- מושלם/muʃˈlam/ Hebrew
- کامل/kɑː.mɪl/ Urdu
“perfect” in French: parfait · German: perfekt · Italian: perfetto · Portuguese: perfeito · Chinese: 完美 · Turkish: mükemmel · Greek: τέλειος
It is commonest in Chinese, where 完美 is the 239th most used word.
Perfect in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans perfek/pərˈfɛk/ #614
- Albanian qetë[c͡ɕɛtə] second-person plural simple perfect… #361
- Arabic صحيح/sˤa.ħiːħ/ complete, perfect, whole #65
- Armenian լիներ/liˈner/ third-person singular future perfect… #300
- Bengali ফেলে/fele/ chalita perfect participle of ফেলা #216
- Bosnian savršen/sǎʋrːʃen/ perfect, faultless #1,441
- Bulgarian ще[ʃtɛ] used to form the future and the future… #9
- Catalan perfecte[pərˈfek.tə] #663
- Chinese 完美/wän³⁵ meɪ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/ perfect; consummate; flawless #239
- Croatian savršen/sǎʋrːʃen/ perfect, faultless #1,333
- Czech perfektní[ˈpɛrfɛktɲiː] #918
- Danish perfekte/pɛɐ̯ˈfɛɡdə/ #1,541
- Dutch perfect/pɛrˈfɛkt/ #693
- Esperanto perfekta/perˈfekta/ perfect, flawless #805
- Estonian täiuslik/ˈtæi̯u̯slik/ #867
- Finnish täydellinen/ˈtæy̯delːinen/ perfect improved; excellent and delightful in… #957
- French parfait/paʁ.fɛ/ #495
- Galician perfecto/ˌpeɾˈfetto/ #908
- German perfekt/pɛɐ̯ˈfɛkt/ #879
- Greek τέλειος/ˈte.li.os/ perfect, ideal, complete #2,050
- Hebrew מושלם/muʃˈlam/ perfect, flawless #547
- Hungarian tökéletes[ˈtøkeːlɛtɛʃ] perfect, flawless #471
- Icelandic fullkominn[ˈfʏtl̥.kʰɔːmɪn(ː)] #1,200
- Indonesian sempurna/səmˈpurna/ perfect; flawless #495
- Italian perfetto/perˈfɛt.to/ #571
- Lithuanian visiškas[ˈʋʲɪsʲɪʃkɐs] full, absolute, perfect, utter #1,018
- Macedonian совршен[ˈsɔvr̩ʃɛn] perfect, flawless #1,206
- Malay sempurna/səmˈpurna/ perfect; complete; full #570
- Malayalam മുഴു/muɻu/ full, complete, perfect #2,176
- Norwegian perfekt/pərˈfɛkt/ #577
- Portuguese perfeito/peʁˈfej.tu/ #731
- Romanian uită/ˈuɪtə/ third-person singular simple perfect… #861
- Serbian savršen/sǎʋrːʃen/ perfect, faultless #1,352
- Slovak dokonalý/dɔkɔnaliː/ #1,190
- Slovenian popoln/pɔpɔ́ːʋn/ #552
- Spanish ha/ˈa/ have; forms the perfect aspect #44
- Turkish mükemmel/mycemˈmel/ #398
- Urdu کامل/kɑː.mɪl/ #688
- Vietnamese đã[ʔɗaː˦ˀ˥] having completed this action, perfect aspect #9
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.