How to say “round” in 31 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 Bulgarian, where около is the 282nd most used word.
- Afrikaans rond #473
- Arabic تدور to become round, to become circular #1,621
- Armenian մարմնեղ portly, round, plump #1,299
- Bengali গোল round, spherical, circular #1,291
- Bulgarian около round, around #282
- Catalan maria a type of round, flat biscuit #1,779
- Danish rundt round, around #351
- Dutch draai to turn, to turn round #1,226
- English spot A round or irregular patch on the surface of… #1,176
- Estonian ringi about, around, round #425
- German runde #1,691
- Greek γύρο round, perimeter, rim #2,364
- Hindi दौर round, stage, level #1,292
- Icelandic snúast to go round, to rotate #1,323
- Italian intorno around, round #960
- Korean 한판 single round, one game #1,869
- Latvian ap round, around #648
- Macedonian тура #2,491
- Malay cincin A round piece of metal worn around the finger… #969
- Malayalam മുട്ട egg; An oval or round structure produced by… #741
- Norwegian runde a round #1,703
- Persian گرد round, circular #1,671
- Portuguese bolas ball, sphere, round object #962
- Russian вокруг round, around, about #705
- Slovak kolo lap, round, track #1,355
- Slovenian okrogel #2,400
- Tagalog bola ball; round object #529
- Turkish mermi bullet, round #1,997
- Ukrainian навколо around, about, round #753
- Urdu چکر round, perimeter #1,018
- Vietnamese quanh around; round #650
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.