How to say “private” 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 Malayalam, where സ്വന്തം is the 121st most used word.
- Armenian սեփական #223
- Bosnian nasamo in private, alone, face-to-face #1,583
- Bulgarian личен personal, individual, private #1,893
- Catalan privat #1,414
- Chinese 私人 private; personal #496
- Croatian nasamo in private, alone, face-to-face #1,605
- Danish privat #1,527
- Dutch eigen own, private #293
- Esperanto sekreto a secret; private affair; confidentiality #1,153
- Estonian isiklik personal, private #1,146
- French privé #1,602
- Galician privado #1,828
- Georgian პირადი personal, private #1,353
- German eigenen own, peculiar or private to someone,… #703
- Greek προσωπική personal, intimate, private #1,706
- Hebrew אישי personal, private #737
- Hindi गुप्त secret; private; hidden, clandestine;… #958
- Italian personale personal, private #904
- Korean 개인 an individual or individuals; a private person #689
- Latvian kareivji soldier, private rank in the army; a soldier… #2,102
- Lithuanian kareivis soldier, conscript, private #2,059
- Macedonian лична personal, private #1,666
- Malay peribadi personal, private #693
- Malayalam സ്വന്തം own, private #121
- Norwegian privat #1,480
- Persian مخصوص private, characteristic #933
- Portuguese particular #2,155
- Romanian privat #2,140
- Russian кабинет office, private office, home office #2,115
- Serbian nasamo in private, alone, face-to-face #1,551
- Slovak súkromný #1,395
- Slovenian zaseben #2,277
- Spanish privado private, privy #1,754
- Tamil தனியார் #597
- Urdu نجی private, personal, unofficial, confidential #465
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.