How to say “play” in 52 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 Afrikaans, where speel is the 163rd most used word.
- Afrikaans speel to play #163
- Albanian lojë play, performance #521
- Arabic تلعب to play, to act playfully #732
- Armenian խաղ game, play #391
- Basque jokatu to play #421
- Bengali খেলা to play #313
- Bosnian igra to play #588
- Bulgarian игра play, game #549
- Catalan jugar to play #883
- Chinese 表演 to perform; to act; to play #259
- Croatian igra to play #639
- Czech hrát to play #536
- Danish spille to play #491
- Dutch speelt to play #946
- English shows A play, dance, or other entertainment #1,407
- Esperanto ludi to play #487
- Estonian mängima to play #947
- Finnish soittaa to play #386
- French jouer to play #418
- Galician xogo to play #578
- Georgian ითამაშებ to play #1,054
- German spielen to play #451
- Greek παίζει to play #806
- Hebrew שיחק to play #2,104
- Hindi खेल to play #311
- Hungarian játszani to play #953
- Icelandic leika to play #436
- Indonesian bermain to play #335
- Italian gioco to play a game, for fun or as a pastime #570
- Korean 놀이 play; game; pastime; amusement, recreation #1,705
- Latvian spēlē #549
- Lithuanian žaisti to play #591
- Macedonian играш to play #652
- Malay bermain to play #344
- Malayalam കളിക്ക് to play #856
- Norwegian spiller to play #438
- Polish gra to play #527
- Portuguese jogo to play #397
- Romanian joc to play #412
- Russian играть to play #674
- Serbian igra to play #586
- Slovak hrať to play #359
- Slovenian igra #302
- Spanish juego to play #432
- Swedish spelar to play; a game, a tune, a melody, an… #375
- Tagalog maglaro to play #1,430
- Tamil நாடகம் play, a theatrical work #864
- Telugu ఆట play, sport, game #220
- Turkish oynamak to play, amuse oneself, fool around #1,194
- Ukrainian грати to play a musical instrument #748
- Urdu چال play, trick #327
- Vietnamese chơi to play #252
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.