How to say “public” in 37 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 Spanish, where policía is the 255th most used word.
- Albanian publik #1,285
- Armenian պետական state; national; public #834
- Bengali জনগণ the public, masses #1,232
- Bosnian javnost #2,363
- Catalan públic #1,160
- Chinese 保安 to ensure public safety #778
- Croatian javnost #2,314
- Dutch openbaar #2,356
- English judge A public official whose duty it is to… #968
- Esperanto placo public square, town square, plaza #2,497
- Estonian avalik public, open #2,242
- French lycée a public secondary school #1,137
- Galician público #713
- Greek κοινό #1,122
- Hebrew ציבורי Public: pertaining to the public; or… #1,991
- Hindi सार्वजनिक public, popular #1,719
- Hungarian állami state, public, governmental #2,462
- Icelandic opinbert public, official #2,131
- Indonesian hakim a public official whose duty it is to… #1,140
- Italian pubblico #1,052
- Korean 보안 preservation of public security #697
- Malay awam #899
- Malayalam പൊതു #997
- Norwegian offentlig #1,816
- Persian عموم public, community #1,562
- Polish barze bar, public house #2,000
- Portuguese público #1,086
- Romanian public the public #1,220
- Serbian javnost #2,492
- Slovenian objaviti to proclaim, to make public #1,727
- Spanish policía Civility, polity, public order, police,… #255
- Tagalog talumpati speech; public talk; oration #1,358
- Tamil அதிகாரம் public office, power, authority #764
- Telugu న్యాయమూర్తి a public official whose duty is to administer… #1,195
- Turkish savcı public prosecutor; attorney general #2,483
- Urdu عوامی #693
- Vietnamese chung general; common; public #742
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.