How to say “rain” in 43 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 Malayalam, where മഴ is the 315th most used word.
- Afrikaans reën #809
- Albanian shi #1,062
- Armenian անձրև #711
- Basque euri #1,135
- Bengali বৃষ্টি #689
- Bosnian kiša #1,578
- Bulgarian дъжд rain, shower #2,164
- Catalan pluja #2,113
- Chinese 下雨 to rain #951
- Croatian kiša #1,739
- Danish regne to rain #1,516
- Dutch regen #2,276
- Esperanto pluvo #1,743
- Estonian vihma #1,536
- French pluie #1,972
- Galician choiva #1,650
- Greek βροχή rain, shower #1,967
- Hebrew מטר #945
- Hindi बारिश #1,010
- Icelandic rigna to rain #2,156
- Indonesian hujan #921
- Italian pioggia #2,344
- Korean 비 #841
- Latvian lietus rain, shower; rainwater #1,161
- Lithuanian lietus #1,739
- Macedonian дожд rain, shower #1,608
- Malay hujan #878
- Malayalam മഴ rain; condensed water falling from a cloud #315
- Norwegian regnet #1,472
- Persian باران #2,046
- Portuguese chuva #2,046
- Romanian ploaie #2,173
- Russian дождь #2,073
- Serbian kiša #1,489
- Slovak dážď #1,327
- Slovenian dež #902
- Spanish lluvia #2,088
- Tagalog ulan #501
- Tamil மழை #660
- Turkish yağmur #1,082
- Ukrainian дощ #1,660
- Urdu بارش #1,338
- Vietnamese mưa #1,274
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.