How to say “priest” in 35 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 Telugu, where పూజారి is the 477th most used word.
- Afrikaans pastoor parish priest #996
- Albanian prift priest, pastor #1,570
- Basque apaiz #848
- Bulgarian свещеник priest, clergyman, minister, pastor, chaplain #2,190
- Chinese 神父 father; priest #499
- Croatian svećenik #2,254
- Danish præst #1,983
- Dutch priester male priest, clergyman, religious officiant #2,197
- Esperanto pastro priest, pastor #496
- Estonian preester #1,590
- French prêtre #2,364
- Georgian მღვდელი #1,531
- German priester priest, presbyter #2,188
- Hebrew כומר priest, minister, pastor, parson #1,490
- Hindi पुजारी priest, pujari; one who does the puja #2,316
- Icelandic prestur priest, minister #1,418
- Indonesian pendeta priest who is trained to perform services or… #1,350
- Korean 신부님 #761
- Lithuanian kunigas #2,037
- Macedonian свештеник #1,733
- Malay paderi #1,364
- Malayalam അച്ചൻ #1,682
- Norwegian prest a priest, minister #2,156
- Persian کشیش #1,786
- Portuguese padre ecclesiastical priest #990
- Romanian preot #1,894
- Serbian sveštenik #2,045
- Slovak kňaz #1,311
- Swedish präst a priest #2,347
- Tagalog pari priest; father #1,159
- Tamil பூசாரி priest of a village deity #1,471
- Telugu పూజారి priest of a temple #477
- Turkish peder clergyman, priest #898
- Ukrainian піп #1,250
- Urdu پادری clergyman; Christian priest #1,166
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.