How to say “priest” in 35 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.
- 신부님[ɕʰinbunim] Korean
- पुजारी/pʊ.d͡ʒɑː.ɾiː/ Hindi
- כומר/ˈkomeʁ/ Hebrew
- მღვდელი[mʁʷde̞li] Georgian
- അച്ചൻ/ɐt͡ʃt͡ʃɐn/ Malayalam
- піп[pʲip] Ukrainian
“priest” in French: prêtre · German: priester · Korean: 신부님 · Hindi: पुजारी
It is commonest in Esperanto, where pastro is the 496th most used word.
Priest in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans pastoor/pɐsˈtʊər/ parish priest #996
- Albanian prift/pɹift/ priest, pastor #1,570
- Basque apaiz/apai̯s̻/ #848
- Bulgarian свещеник[svɛʃˈtɛnik] priest, clergyman, minister, pastor, chaplain #2,190
- Chinese 神父/ʂən³⁵ fu⁵¹/ father; priest #499
- Croatian svećenik/sʋět͡ɕeniːk/ #2,254
- Danish præst[ˈpʰʁ̥asd̥] #1,983
- Dutch priester/ˈpris.tər/ male priest, clergyman, religious officiant #2,197
- Esperanto pastro/ˈpastro/ priest, pastor #496
- Estonian preester/ˈpreːster/ #1,590
- French prêtre/pʁɛtʁ/ #2,364
- Georgian მღვდელი[mʁʷde̞li] #1,531
- German priester/ˈpriːstər/ priest, presbyter #2,188
- Hebrew כומר/ˈkomeʁ/ priest, minister, pastor, parson #1,490
- Hindi पुजारी/pʊ.d͡ʒɑː.ɾiː/ priest, pujari; one who does the puja #2,316
- Icelandic prestur[ˈpʰrɛstʏr] priest, minister #1,418
- Indonesian pendeta/pənˈdɛ.ta/ priest who is trained to perform services or… #1,350
- Korean 신부님[ɕʰinbunim] #761
- Lithuanian kunigas[ˈkʊnʲɪɡɐs] #2,037
- Macedonian свештеник[ˈsvɛʃtɛnik] #1,733
- Malay paderi/padəri/ #1,364
- Malayalam അച്ചൻ/ɐt͡ʃt͡ʃɐn/ #1,682
- Norwegian prest/ˈprɛst/ a priest, minister #2,156
- Persian کشیش[kʰʲæ.ʃíːʃ] #1,786
- Portuguese padre/ˈpa.dɾi/ ecclesiastical priest #990
- Romanian preot/ˈpre.ot/ #1,894
- Serbian sveštenik/sʋěʃteniːk/ #2,045
- Slovak kňaz/kɲas/ #1,311
- Swedish präst/præst/ a priest #2,347
- Tagalog pari/ˈpaɾiʔ/ priest; father #1,159
- Tamil பூசாரி/puːtʃɑːɾiː/ priest of a village deity #1,471
- Telugu పూజారి/ˈpuːɟaːri/ priest of a temple #477
- Turkish peder[pʰe̞.ˈd̟æɾ̞̊] clergyman, priest #898
- Ukrainian піп[pʲip] #1,250
- Urdu پادری/pɑːd̪.ɾiː/ clergyman; Christian priest #1,166
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 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.