How to say “professor” in 34 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.
- profesor/pɾofeˈsoɾ/ Spanish
- профессор[prɐˈfʲes(ː)ər] Russian
- أستاذ/ʔus.taːð/ Arabic
- 教授/t͡ɕi̯ɑʊ̯⁵¹⁻⁵³ ʂoʊ̯⁵¹/ Chinese
- καθηγητής/ˌkaθijiˈtis/ Greek
- פרופסור/pʁoˈfesoʁ/ Hebrew
“professor” in Spanish: profesor · German: professor · Chinese: 教授 · Russian: профессор · Arabic: أستاذ · Turkish: profesör · Greek: καθηγητής
It is commonest in Chinese, where 教授 is the 340th most used word.
Professor in other languages, A to Z
- Albanian profesor/pɾɔfɛsɔɾ/ #949
- Arabic أستاذ/ʔus.taːð/ #1,721
- Bengali শেখ/ʃekʰ/ sheik; teacher; professor #2,174
- Bosnian profesor/prǒfesor/ #1,526
- Bulgarian професор[proˈfɛsor] #1,571
- Chinese 教授/t͡ɕi̯ɑʊ̯⁵¹⁻⁵³ ʂoʊ̯⁵¹/ #340
- Croatian profesor/prǒfesor/ #1,657
- Czech profesor[ˈprofɛsor] #2,181
- Danish professor/pʁoˈfɛsɐ/ #1,330
- Dutch professor/ˌproːˈfɛ.sɔr/ #1,185
- English don/dɑn/ A university professor, particularly one at… #31
- Esperanto profesoro/profeˈsoro/ #597
- Finnish professori/ˈprofesːori/ #1,535
- French prof/pʁɔf/ teacher, professor #2,115
- German professor/pʁoˈfɛsoːɐ̯/ #1,186
- Greek καθηγητής/ˌkaθijiˈtis/ professor, university teacher, lecturer #1,764
- Hebrew פרופסור/pʁoˈfesoʁ/ A professor, a college professor, a… #1,007
- Hungarian professzor[ˈprofɛsːor] #1,397
- Indonesian profesor/prɔˈfɛ.sɔr/ #1,184
- Latvian profesors[pɾofɛsoɾs] #1,927
- Lithuanian profesorius[prɔˈfʲɛsɔrʲʊ̟s] #1,228
- Macedonian професор[ˈprɔfɛsɔr] #1,625
- Malay profesor/pro.fe.so(r)/ #952
- Norwegian professor/prʊ.ˈfɛ.sʊr/ #1,284
- Romanian profesor/proˈfe.sor/ #1,278
- Russian профессор[prɐˈfʲes(ː)ər] #1,445
- Serbian profesor/prǒfesor/ #1,490
- Slovenian profesor/prɔféːsɔr/ #493
- Spanish profesor/pɾofeˈsoɾ/ #836
- Swedish professor/ˈpruːfɛˌsɔr/ #1,793
- Tamil பேராசிரியர்/peːɾɑːtʃɪɾɪjɐɾ/ #1,089
- Turkish profesör/pɾo.feˈsøɾ/ #1,000
- Ukrainian професор[prɔˈfɛsɔr] #1,695
- Urdu استاد/ʊs.t̪ɑːd̪/ professor; teacher, tutor #573
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) and Slovenian (artur (sl_SI), CC BY 4.0).
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.