How to say “pleasure” 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.
- удовольствие[ʊdɐˈvolʲstvʲɪje] Russian
- תענוג/taʔaˈnuɡ/ Hebrew
- இன்பம்/ɪnbɐm/ Tamil
- لذت[lez.zǽt̪ʰ] Persian
“pleasure” in French: plaisir · Portuguese: prazer · Russian: удовольствие · Turkish: zevk
It is commonest in Indonesian, where suka is the 147th most used word.
Pleasure in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans plesier/pləˈsiːr/ #432
- Albanian qejf/cɛjf/ #593
- Arabic متعة/mut.ʕa/ enjoyment, delight, pleasure #1,354
- Armenian բարով/bɑˈɾov/ with pleasure, with love, willingly #126
- Bengali আনন্দ/anond̪o/ joy, pleasure, delight, glee, enjoyment, fun #624
- Bosnian zadovoljstvo/zadoʋǒʎstʋo/ #985
- Bulgarian удоволствие[odoˈvɔɫstviɛ] #699
- Catalan plaer[pləˈɛ] #753
- Croatian zadovoljstvo/zadoʋǒʎstʋo/ #1,046
- Czech potěšení[ˈpocɛʃɛɲiː] #2,020
- Danish gerne/ˈɡɛɐ̯nə/ with pleasure; gladly, willingly, readily #169
- English fun/fʌn/ Amusement, enjoyment or pleasure #427
- Esperanto plezuro/pleˈzuro/ #1,084
- Estonian lõbu/ˈlɤb̥u/ pleasure, fun #1,421
- French plaisir/plɛ.ziʁ/ #530
- Georgian სიამოვნებით[siämo̞vne̞bitʰ] with pleasure, gladly, fain #1,055
- German gern/ɡɛrn/ willingly; gladly; with pleasure; usually… #324
- Greek χαρά/xaˈɾa/ joy; pleasure #269
- Hebrew תענוג/taʔaˈnuɡ/ pleasure, satisfaction #1,673
- Hindi आराम/ɑː.ɾɑːm/ sensual pleasure, delight, bliss #395
- Hungarian örömmel[ˈørømːɛl] gladly, willingly, with pleasure, with joy #1,306
- Icelandic gaman[ˈkaːman] fun, pleasure, enjoyment #162
- Indonesian suka/ˈsuka/ #147
- Latvian patika/ˈpatika/ enjoyment, pleasure #709
- Lithuanian malonumas[mɐloːˈnʊmɐs] #1,792
- Macedonian задоволство[zaˈdɔvɔɫstvɔ] satisfaction, pleasure #589
- Malay kegemaran/kəɡəˈmaran/ pleasure, enjoyment #1,150
- Persian لذت[lez.zǽt̪ʰ] #444
- Polish przyjemność/pʂɘˈjɛm.nɔɕt͡ɕ/ #1,724
- Portuguese prazer/pɾaˈzeʁ/ #502
- Romanian plăcere/pləˈt͡ʃe.re/ #667
- Russian удовольствие[ʊdɐˈvolʲstvʲɪje] #2,290
- Serbian zadovoljstvo/zadoʋǒʎstʋo/ #926
- Swedish nöje/ˈnøːjɛ/ pleasure, joy, delight, fun #1,776
- Tamil இன்பம்/ɪnbɐm/ pleasure, happiness, joy #1,183
- Turkish zevk/ˈzevc/ #1,109
- Urdu خوشی/xʊ.ʃiː/ happiness; pleasure; delight; joy #325
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) and Estonian (news (et_EE), CC BY 4.0).
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.