How to say “purpose” in 39 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.
- propósito/pɾoˈposito/ Spanish
- उद्देश्य/ʊd̪.d̪eːʃ.jᵊ/ Hindi
- مطلب/mət̪.ləb/ Urdu
“purpose” in Spanish: propósito · Portuguese: propósito · Hindi: उद्देश्य · Turkish: amacı
It is commonest in Urdu, where مطلب is the 116th most used word.
Purpose in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans funksie/ˈfœŋksi/ function, purpose #1,873
- Armenian մասնավոր/mɑsnɑˈvoɾ/ deliberately, on purpose #730
- Basque nahita/nahita/ on purpose #812
- Bengali উদ্দেশ্য/ud̪ːeʃːo/ intent, purpose; goal #599
- Bosnian cilj/t͡sîːʎ/ aim, goal, purpose #1,206
- Bulgarian намерение[nɐmɛˈrɛniɛ] intention, purpose, aim #1,826
- Chinese 作用/t͡su̯ɔ⁵¹⁻⁵³ jʊŋ⁵¹/ function; role; purpose #751
- Croatian cilj/t͡sîːʎ/ aim, goal, purpose #1,173
- Danish formål/ˈfɒːˌmɔːˀl/ purpose, cause #1,999
- Dutch doel/dul/ aim, purpose #858
- English holy/ˈhoʊli/ Dedicated to a religious purpose or a god #1,019
- Esperanto celo/ˈt͡selo/ goal, aim, purpose #537
- Estonian eesmärk/ˈeːsmærk/ purpose, aim, goal, objective, end #1,150
- Finnish jotta/ˈjotːɑ/ so that, in order that, for the purpose that #313
- Galician función/funˈθjoŋ/ function, purpose #2,320
- German wozu/voːˈt͡suː/ for what reason, to what purpose, what for,… #1,003
- Hebrew כדי/keˈdej/ in order: specifies a purpose #58
- Hindi उद्देश्य/ʊd̪.d̪eːʃ.jᵊ/ purpose, object, aim #1,453
- Icelandic viljandi[ˈvɪljantɪ] deliberately, intentionally, on purpose #1,726
- Indonesian maksud/ˈmaksud/ #673
- Italian intenzione/in.tenˈt͡sjo.ne/ intention, intent, purpose, mind, wish #766
- Korean 일부러[ˈi(ː)ɭbuɾʌ̹] deliberately, intentionally, on purpose #592
- Latvian lai[laî] with the conditional, indicating purpose,… #27
- Lithuanian tam/taːm/ for that purpose #175
- Macedonian намерно[ˈnamɛrnɔ] intentionally, on purpose #1,682
- Malay bagi/ˈbaɡi/ for; for the purpose of #181
- Malayalam എന്തിന്/en̪t̪inɨ/ why; for what purpose #132
- Portuguese propósito/pɾoˈpɔ.zi.tu/ purpose; target; aim; goal #1,133
- Romanian scop/ˈskop/ #1,822
- Serbian cilj/t͡sîːʎ/ aim, goal, purpose #1,191
- Slovak účel/uːt͡ʃel/ #1,791
- Slovenian cilj/t͡síːl/ goal, purpose #564
- Spanish propósito/pɾoˈposito/ #1,401
- Swedish meningen/ˈmeːnɪŋɛn/ a purpose, a point #1,280
- Tagalog balak/ˈbalak/ plan; intention; purpose #1,216
- Tamil நோக்கம்/noːkːɐm/ objective, purpose, aim, goal, object,… #1,856
- Telugu కావాలని/kaːʋaːlani/ on purpose #509
- Turkish amacı/amaˈd͡ʒɯ/ purpose, aim, goal #1,782
- Urdu مطلب/mət̪.ləb/ purpose, motive #116
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), Estonian (news (et_EE), CC BY 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.