How to say “public” in 37 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.
- सार्वजनिक/sɑːɾʋ.d͡ʒə.nɪk/ Hindi
- κοινό/ciˈno/ Greek
- জনগণ/d͡ʒɔnoɡon/ Bengali
- പൊതു/pod̪u/ Malayalam
- عموم[ʔo.muːm] Persian
“public” in Italian: pubblico · Portuguese: público · Hindi: सार्वजनिक · Greek: κοινό
It is commonest in Urdu, where عوامی is the 693rd most used word.
Public in other languages, A to Z
- Albanian publik/publik/ #1,285
- Armenian պետական/petɑˈkɑn/ state; national; public #834
- Bengali জনগণ/d͡ʒɔnoɡon/ the public, masses #1,232
- Bosnian javnost/jǎːʋnoːst/ #2,363
- Catalan públic[ˈpub.blik] #1,160
- Chinese 保安/pɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ ˀän⁵⁵/ to ensure public safety #778
- Croatian javnost/jǎːʋnoːst/ #2,314
- Dutch openbaar/ˈoːpənˌbaːr/ #2,356
- English judge/d͡ʒʌd͡ʒ/ A public official whose duty it is to… #968
- Esperanto placo/ˈplat͡so/ public square, town square, plaza #2,497
- Estonian avalik/ˈɑvɑlik/ public, open #2,242
- French lycée/li.se/ a public secondary school #1,137
- Galician público/ˈpubliko/ #713
- Greek κοινό/ciˈno/ #1,122
- Hebrew ציבורי/t͡sibuˈʁi/ Public: pertaining to the public; or… #1,991
- Hindi सार्वजनिक/sɑːɾʋ.d͡ʒə.nɪk/ public, popular #1,719
- Hungarian állami[ˈaːlːɒmi] state, public, governmental #2,462
- Icelandic opinbert/ˈɔːpɪnpɛr̥t/ public, official #2,131
- Indonesian hakim/ˈhakɪm/ a public official whose duty it is to… #1,140
- Italian pubblico/ˈpub.bli.ko/ #1,052
- Korean 보안[ˈpo̞(ː)a̠n] preservation of public security #697
- Malay awam/ˈawam/ #899
- Malayalam പൊതു/pod̪u/ #997
- Norwegian offentlig/ˈɔfəntlɪ/ #1,816
- Persian عموم[ʔo.muːm] public, community #1,562
- Polish barze/ˈba.ʐɛ/ bar, public house #2,000
- Portuguese público/ˈpu.bli.ku/ #1,086
- Romanian public/ˈpu.blik/ the public #1,220
- Serbian javnost/jǎːʋnoːst/ #2,492
- Slovenian objaviti/ɔbjàːʋiti/ to proclaim, to make public #1,727
- Spanish policía/poliˈθia/ Civility, polity, public order, police,… #255
- Tagalog talumpati/talumˈpatiʔ/ speech; public talk; oration #1,358
- Tamil அதிகாரம்/ɐd̪ɪɡɑːɾɐm/ public office, power, authority #764
- Telugu న్యాయమూర్తి/ˈnjaːjaˌmuːrti/ a public official whose duty is to administer… #1,195
- Turkish savcı/savˈd͡ʒɯ/ public prosecutor; attorney general #2,483
- Urdu عوامی/əʋɑːmiː/ #693
- Vietnamese chung[t͡ɕʊwŋ͡m˧˧] general; common; public #742
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), Catalan (upc_ona (ca_ES), CC BY-SA 4.0), Estonian (news (et_EE), CC BY 4.0), Slovenian (artur (sl_SI), CC BY 4.0) and Vietnamese (vais1000 (vi_VN), CC BY 4.0).
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.