How to say “search” in 48 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.
- طلب/tˤa.la.ba/ Arabic
- 搜查/soʊ̯⁵⁵ ʈ͡ʂʰä³⁵/ Chinese
- 찾기[t͡ɕʰa̠t̚k͈i] Korean
- खोज/kʰoːd͡ʒ/ Hindi
- খোঁজ/kʰõd͡ʒ/ Bengali
- தேடல்/t̪eːɖɐl/ Tamil
“search” in German: suchen · Italian: ricerca · Portuguese: procura · Chinese: 搜查 · Korean: 찾기 · Arabic: طلب · Hindi: खोज
It is commonest in Vietnamese, where tìm is the 102nd most used word.
Search in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans soek/ˈsuk/ to search, seek #179
- Albanian kërkon/kəɾˈkɔn/ to look for, to seek, to search for #306
- Arabic طلب/tˤa.la.ba/ to search, to look #336
- Armenian փնտրել/pʰəntˈɾel/ to look for, to search, to seek #1,610
- Basque bila/bila/ looking for, in search of #108
- Bengali খোঁজ/kʰõd͡ʒ/ #705
- Bosnian tražio/ˈtraʒɪo/ to seek, look for, search #661
- Bulgarian търся[ˈtɤrsʲɐ] to look for, to seek, to search #697
- Catalan buscar[busˈka] to seek, to search for, to look for #463
- Chinese 搜查/soʊ̯⁵⁵ ʈ͡ʂʰä³⁵/ to search; to raid #748
- Croatian tražio/ˈtraʒɪo/ to seek, look for, search #636
- Czech hledat[ˈɦlɛdat] to search, to look for #917
- Danish søger[ˈsøː(j)ɐ] to search, look #1,042
- Dutch zoek/zuk/ to search #351
- English research/ˈɹiˌsɝt͡ʃ/ To search or examine with continued care; to… #1,560
- Esperanto serĉas/ˈsert͡ʃas/ to search, seek, look for #431
- Estonian otsima/ˈotsimɑ/ to search #668
- Finnish etsi/ˈetsɪ/ to look for, seek, search #891
- Galician buscar/busˈkaɾ/ to search for; to look for #533
- German suchen/ˈzuːxən/ to search, to look for #441
- Greek ψάχνω/ˈpsa.xno/ to look for, hunt for, search, rummage #924
- Hebrew חיפוש/χiˈpus/ searching, search #1,130
- Hindi खोज/kʰoːd͡ʒ/ to search, to look for, to seek #609
- Hungarian keres[ˈkɛrɛʃ] to look for; to seek; to search for #816
- Icelandic leita/ˈleiːta/ to seek, to search, to look for #231
- Indonesian cari/ˈt͡ʃari/ to find; to search; to seek #336
- Italian ricerca/riˈt͡ʃer.ka/ search, quest, hunt, manhunt, prospecting,… #1,038
- Korean 찾기[t͡ɕʰa̠t̚k͈i] to search, to look for #763
- Latvian meklē/ˈmekleː/ to search for, to look for #500
- Lithuanian ieškoti[jiɛ¹ˈʃkoːtʲɪ] to search, look for #658
- Macedonian барам[ˈbaɾam] to search, look for #376
- Malay mencari/mən.t͡ʃa.ri/ to seek, to search, to look for #197
- Persian جستجو[d͡ʒos.t̪ʰo.d͡ʒuː] #1,271
- Polish szukam/ˈʂu.kam/ to look for, to seek, to search #1,100
- Portuguese procura/pɾoˈku.ɾɐ/ to search; to seek; to look for #400
- Romanian caut/kaˈut/ to search, seek #746
- Serbian tražio/ˈtraʒɪo/ to seek, look for, search #631
- Slovak hľadať/ɦʎadac/ to search, to look for #542
- Slovenian iskati/iskàːti/ to search, to seek #641
- Spanish buscando/busˈkando/ to seek, search for, look for, try to find,… #500
- Swedish letar/ˈleːtar/ search; look throughout for something #508
- Tagalog hanapin/haˈnapin/ to look for; to search for #342
- Tamil தேடல்/t̪eːɖɐl/ search, seeking, pursuit, striving #1,167
- Telugu శోధన/ˈɕoːdʰana/ a search, trial, investigation #727
- Turkish ara/aˈɾa/ to seek, to look for, to search #401
- Ukrainian шукати[ʃʊˈkate] to look for, to seek, to search #1,057
- Urdu کھوج/kʰoːd͡ʒ/ search, quest #2,483
- Vietnamese tìm[tim˨˩] to search, to seek, to look for #102
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.