How to say “protect” in 36 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 Basque, where babestu is the 459th most used word.
- Albanian mbroj to protect; to defend #1,151
- Armenian պաշտպանել to protect, to defend #1,823
- Basque babestu to protect #459
- Bosnian zaštititi to defend, protect #1,708
- Bulgarian пазя to guard, to protect #1,452
- Catalan protegir to protect, defend #927
- Chinese 保佑 to bless and protect; to be safeguarded #940
- Croatian zaštititi to defend, protect #1,250
- Czech chránit to protect #1,307
- Danish beskytte to defend, protect #587
- Dutch beschermen to protect #632
- Esperanto protekti to protect #1,485
- Finnish suojella to protect, shelter, ward #1,252
- French sauver to save, rescue; to protect #610
- Galician protexer to protect #1,412
- German beschützen to protect, to guard, to defend #1,143
- Hungarian védeni to protect, guard #2,199
- Icelandic vernda to protect, to shield #606
- Indonesian melindungi to protect #560
- Italian proteggere to shield or protect #1,429
- Latvian glābt to save death; to protect from death #933
- Lithuanian apsaugoti to protect #828
- Macedonian заштити to protect, shield #1,210
- Malayalam സംരക്ഷിക്കുക to protect #2,211
- Norwegian beskytte to protect #621
- Persian بپا to protect, guard #2,371
- Polish chronić to protect #1,174
- Portuguese proteger to protect #900
- Romanian proteja to protect #1,438
- Russian защитить to defend, to guard, to protect #1,109
- Serbian čuva to guard, protect #1,761
- Slovak kryť to cover, protect #1,570
- Spanish proteger to protect, to defend #1,687
- Swedish skyddar #1,483
- Telugu రక్షించు to save, protect #1,584
- Turkish korumak to protect, to shield #892
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.