How to say “sea” in 46 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.
- mar/ˈmaɾ/ Spanish
- море[ˈmorʲe] Russian
- بحر/baħr/ Arabic
- 바다[pa̠da̠] Korean
- समुद्र/sə.mʊd̪.ɾᵊ/ Hindi
- θάλασσα[ˈθalasa] Greek
“sea” in Spanish: mar · French: mer · German: meer · Italian: mare · Korean: 바다 · Russian: море · Arabic: بحر · Hindi: समुद्र
It is commonest in Danish, where have is the 54th most used word.
Sea in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans see/sɪə/ #470
- Albanian detit/dɛtit/ #1,364
- Arabic بحر/baħr/ #2,287
- Armenian ծով/t͡sov/ #1,825
- Basque itsaso/it͡s̺as̺o/ #861
- Bengali সমুদ্র/ʃomud̪ɾo/ sea, ocean #932
- Bosnian mora/môra/ #158
- Bulgarian море[moˈrɛ] #2,058
- Catalan mar[ˈmar] #722
- Chinese 海洋/xaɪ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ jɑŋ³⁵/ ocean; sea #746
- Croatian mora/môra/ #166
- Czech moře[ˈmor̝ɛ] #1,540
- Danish have/ˈhaːvə/ sea, ocean #54
- Dutch zee[zeɪ̯] #1,053
- Esperanto maro/ˈmaro/ #636
- Estonian mere/ˈmere/ #1,635
- French mer/mɛʁ/ #1,078
- Galician mar/ˈmaɾ/ #519
- Georgian ზღვის[zʁʷis] #792
- German meer/meːr/ #1,550
- Greek θάλασσα[ˈθalasa] #1,014
- Hebrew ימים/jamim/ #347
- Hindi समुद्र/sə.mʊd̪.ɾᵊ/ #677
- Icelandic hafi/ˈhaːvɪ/ ocean, sea #102
- Indonesian laut/ˈlaut/ #530
- Italian mare/ˈma.re/ #1,172
- Korean 바다[pa̠da̠] sea, ocean #986
- Latvian jūras/ˈjuːras/ #849
- Lithuanian jūros[¹ˈju̟ːroːs] #933
- Macedonian море[ˈmɔɾɛ] #1,204
- Malay laut/ˈlaut/ #551
- Malayalam കവര്/käʋäɾɨ̆/ sea sparkle, a bioluminescence caused by… #574
- Norwegian havet/ˈhɑːvə/ ocean or sea #1,358
- Persian دریایی/dæɾjɒːjiː/ of the sea #1,565
- Russian море[ˈmorʲe] #1,628
- Serbian mora/môra/ #155
- Slovenian morski/mɔ̀ːrski/ sea; marine #879
- Spanish mar/ˈmaɾ/ #1,016
- Swedish havet/ˈhɑːvɛt/ sea, ocean #1,240
- Tagalog dagat/ˈdaɡat/ ocean; sea #383
- Tamil கடல்/kɐɖɐl/ ocean, sea #573
- Telugu సముద్రం/ˈsamudran/ sea, ocean #922
- Turkish deniz/deˈniz/ #820
- Ukrainian море[ˈmɔre] #1,274
- Urdu سمندر/sə.mʊn.d̪əɾ/ sea, ocean #916
- Vietnamese biển[ʔɓiən˧˩] sea; ocean #654
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.