How to say “permission” 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.
- permiso/peɾˈmiso/ Spanish
- إجازة/ʔi.d͡ʒaː.za/ Arabic
- अनुमति/ə.nʊ.mə.t̪iː/ Hindi
- άδεια/ˈa.ði.a/ Greek
- רשות/reˈʃut/ Hebrew
- অনুমতি/onumot̪i/ Bengali
“permission” in Spanish: permiso · German: erlaubnis · Portuguese: permissão · Arabic: إجازة · Hindi: अनुमति · Turkish: müsaade · Greek: άδεια
It is commonest in Persian, where اجازه is the 176th most used word.
Permission in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans toestemming/ˈtustɛməŋ/ #1,228
- Albanian leje/lɛjɛ/ permission, allowance, authorization #823
- Arabic إجازة/ʔi.d͡ʒaː.za/ permission, authorization #1,228
- Bengali অনুমতি/onumot̪i/ #402
- Bosnian dozvole/ˈdozvolɛ/ permission, permit, licence, consent #2,460
- Catalan permís[pərˈmis] #1,047
- Danish adgang[ˈaðˌɡ̊ɑŋˀ] access, permission, entry #995
- Dutch toestemming/ˈtuˌstɛ.mɪŋ/ permission, authorization #1,300
- English may/meɪ/ To have permission to, be allowed. Used in… #221
- Esperanto permeson/perˈmeson/ #1,556
- Estonian luba/ˈlub̥ɑ/ #547
- Finnish lupaan/ˈlupɑːn/ #745
- German erlaubnis/ɛɐ̯ˈlaʊ̯pnɪs/ #2,183
- Greek άδεια/ˈa.ði.a/ #704
- Hebrew רשות/reˈʃut/ permission, authorization #1,550
- Hindi अनुमति/ə.nʊ.mə.t̪iː/ permission, authorization, consent #638
- Hungarian engedélyt[ˈɛŋɡɛdeːjt] #2,153
- Icelandic leyfi[ˈleiːvɪ] leave, permission, consent, authorisation #525
- Indonesian permisi/pərˈmisi/ permission, authorisation; consent #417
- Korean 허락[hʌ̹ɾa̠k̚] consent; permission #1,394
- Macedonian дозволи[ˈdɔzvɔli] permission, license #440
- Malay kebenaran/kəbənaran/ #586
- Malayalam അനുവാദം/anuʋaːd̪am/ #658
- Norwegian tillatelse/ˈtɪˌlɑːtl̩sə/ #1,439
- Persian اجازه[ʔe.d͡ʒɒː.zé] #176
- Portuguese permissão/peʁ.miˈsɐ̃w̃/ #2,363
- Serbian dozvole/ˈdozvolɛ/ permission, permit, licence, consent #2,466
- Slovak povolenie/pɔvɔʎeɲɪ̯e/ permission, authorization #679
- Slovenian lahko/laxkóː/ may, with permission, to be allowed to, can #19
- Spanish permiso/peɾˈmiso/ #947
- Swedish lovar/ˈloːvar/ #502
- Tagalog permiso/peɾˈmiso/ permission; permit #1,682
- Tamil அனுமதி/ɐnʊmɐd̪iː/ permission, approval, assent #471
- Telugu అనుమతి/anumat̪i/ consent, permission #479
- Turkish müsaade/my.saː.ˈde/ #1,376
- Ukrainian дозвіл[ˈdɔzʲʋʲiɫ] #2,222
- Urdu اجازت/ɪ.d͡ʒɑː.zət̪/ permission, authorisation, clearance #276
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) and Slovenian (artur (sl_SI), CC BY 4.0).
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.