How to say “rain” in 43 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.
- lluvia/ˈʝubja/ Spanish
- дождь[doʂtʲ] Russian
- 下雨/ɕi̯ä⁵¹ y²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/ Chinese
- 비[pi] Korean
- बारिश/bɑː.ɾɪʃ/ Hindi
- βροχή/vɾoˈçi/ Greek
“rain” in Spanish: lluvia · French: pluie · Italian: pioggia · Portuguese: chuva · Chinese: 下雨 · Korean: 비 · Russian: дождь · Hindi: बारिश
It is commonest in Malayalam, where മഴ is the 315th most used word.
Rain in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans reën/riə̯n/ #809
- Albanian shi[ʃi] #1,062
- Armenian անձրև/ɑnd͡zˈɾev/ #711
- Basque euri/eu̯ɾi/ #1,135
- Bengali বৃষ্টি/bɾiʃʈi/ #689
- Bosnian kiša/kîʃa/ #1,578
- Bulgarian дъжд[dɤʃt] rain, shower #2,164
- Catalan pluja[ˈplu.ʒə] #2,113
- Chinese 下雨/ɕi̯ä⁵¹ y²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/ to rain #951
- Croatian kiša/kîʃa/ #1,739
- Danish regne/ˈrɑjnə/ to rain #1,516
- Dutch regen/ˈreː.ɣə(n)/ #2,276
- Esperanto pluvo/ˈpluvo/ #1,743
- Estonian vihma/ˈvihmɑ/ #1,536
- French pluie/plɥi/ #1,972
- Galician choiva/ˈt͡ʃojba/ #1,650
- Greek βροχή/vɾoˈçi/ rain, shower #1,967
- Hebrew מטר/maːˈtˤaːr/ #945
- Hindi बारिश/bɑː.ɾɪʃ/ #1,010
- Icelandic rigna[ˈrɪkna] to rain #2,156
- Indonesian hujan/ˈhud͡ʒan/ #921
- Italian pioggia/ˈpjɔd.d͡ʒa/ #2,344
- Korean 비[pi] #841
- Latvian lietus[ˈliɛ̂tus] rain, shower; rainwater #1,161
- Lithuanian lietus/lʲiəˈtʊs/ #1,739
- Macedonian дожд[dɔʃt] rain, shower #1,608
- Malay hujan/hud͡ʒan/ #878
- Malayalam മഴ/mɐɻɐ/ rain; condensed water falling from a cloud #315
- Norwegian regnet/ˈræ͡ɪnə/ #1,472
- Persian باران[bɒː.ɹɒ́ːn] #2,046
- Portuguese chuva/ˈʃu.vɐ/ #2,046
- Romanian ploaie/ˈplo̯aje/ #2,173
- Russian дождь[doʂtʲ] #2,073
- Serbian kiša/kîʃa/ #1,489
- Slovak dážď/daːʃc/ #1,327
- Slovenian dež/də́ʃ/ #902
- Spanish lluvia/ˈʝubja/ #2,088
- Tagalog ulan/ʔuˈlan/ #501
- Tamil மழை/mɐɻɐɪ̯/ #660
- Turkish yağmur/jɑːˈmur/ #1,082
- Ukrainian дощ[dɔʃt͡ʃ] #1,660
- Urdu بارش/bɑː.ɾɪʃ/ #1,338
- Vietnamese mưa[mɨə˧˧] #1,274
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.