How to say “queen” in 50 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.
- reina/ˈreina/ Spanish
- королева[kərɐˈlʲevə] Russian
- ملكة/ma.li.ka/ Arabic
- 퀸[kʰɥin] Korean
- रानी/ɾɑː.niː/ Hindi
- βασίλισσα/vaˈsi.li.sa/ Greek
“queen” in Spanish: reina · French: reine · Italian: regina · Portuguese: rainha · Korean: 퀸 · Russian: королева · Arabic: ملكة · Hindi: रानी
It is commonest in Georgian, where დედოფალი is the 235th most used word.
Queen in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans koningin/kʊənəˈŋən/ #494
- Albanian mbretëresha/mbɾɛtəɾɛʃa/ #1,207
- Arabic ملكة/ma.li.ka/ #936
- Armenian թագուհի/tʰɑkʰuˈhi/ #1,491
- Basque erregina/ereɡina/ #498
- Bengali রাণী/rani/ #1,215
- Bosnian kraljica/krǎʎit͡sa/ #1,199
- Catalan reina[ˈrej.nə] #436
- Chinese 女王/ny²¹⁴⁻²¹ wɑŋ³⁵/ queen regnant; queen #701
- Croatian kraljica/krǎʎit͡sa/ #1,324
- Czech královna[ˈkraːlovna] #1,682
- Danish dronning/drɔnenɡ/ #1,548
- English kingdom/ˈkɪŋdəm/ A realm having a king or queen as its actual… #2,468
- Esperanto reĝino/reˈd͡ʒino/ female monarch. queen regnant #763
- Estonian kuninganna/ˈkuninɡ̊ɑnːɑ/ #864
- Finnish kuningatar/ˈkuniŋːɑtɑr/ #2,049
- French reine/ʁɛn/ #1,178
- Galician raíña/raˈiɲa/ #644
- Georgian დედოფალი[d̥e̞do̞pʰäli] #235
- German miss/mɪs/ title for a beauty queen #482
- Greek βασίλισσα/vaˈsi.li.sa/ #1,106
- Hebrew שרה/saˈʁa/ lady, princess, queen #552
- Hindi रानी/ɾɑː.niː/ queen, princess #868
- Hungarian királynő[ˈkiraːjnøː] queen regnant #2,183
- Icelandic drottning[ˈtrɔhtniŋk] #1,454
- Indonesian ratu/ˈratu/ queen regnant: female monarch #748
- Italian regina/reˈd͡ʒi.na/ #1,140
- Korean 퀸[kʰɥin] a queen #1,110
- Latvian karaliene[ˈkaɾalīɛ̄nɛ] #1,479
- Lithuanian karalienė[kɐrɐ¹ˈlʲiɛnʲeː] queen, female sovereign or ruler #954
- Macedonian кралица[ˈkralit͡sa] #1,125
- Malay ratu/ˈratu/ A queen regnant #996
- Malayalam റാണി/raːɳi/ queen, a female ruler or the female spouse of… #583
- Norwegian dronning/ˈdrɔnɪŋ/ #1,710
- Persian ملکه[mæ.læ.kʰʲé] #565
- Portuguese rainha/ʁaˈĩ.ɲɐ/ #1,106
- Romanian regina[reˈd͡ʒi.na] #1,091
- Russian королева[kərɐˈlʲevə] #2,072
- Serbian kraljica/krǎʎit͡sa/ #1,304
- Slovak kráľovná/kraːʎɔvnaː/ #808
- Slovenian kraljica/kraljìːt͡sa/ #499
- Spanish reina/ˈreina/ #1,063
- Swedish drottning/²drɔtːnɪŋ/ a queen #1,866
- Tagalog reyna/ˈɾejna/ queen; queen consort #1,978
- Tamil ராணி/ɾɑːɳiː/ #1,994
- Telugu రాణి/ˈraːɳi/ the wife of a king, a queen #1,627
- Turkish kraliçe/k(ɯ)ɾɑˈlitʃe/ #1,397
- Ukrainian королева[kɔrɔˈɫɛʋɐ] #1,127
- Urdu ملکہ/mə.lɪ.kɑ(ː)/ #1,079
- Vietnamese hậu[həw˧˨ʔ] #866
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.