How to say “several” in 32 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 Korean, where 수 is the 6th most used word.
- Albanian disa some; several #101
- Arabic مرات several times #458
- Bengali কয়েক a few, several #1,134
- Bosnian nekoliko some, several, a few #265
- Bulgarian няколко several, a few, multiple #174
- Chinese 多次 repeatedly; several #862
- Croatian nekoliko some, several, a few #262
- Czech několik several, a few #696
- Dutch meerdere more, several, multiple #1,667
- English pig Any of several mammalian species of the… #1,728
- Esperanto kelkaj a few, several #413
- Estonian mitu #560
- Finnish useita many, several, a lot #1,733
- French plusieurs several, many, a lot #838
- Georgian რამდენიმე #214
- German mehrere multiple, several; more than one; a number of #2,097
- Hindi कई several things, several people #323
- Hungarian több several, multiple #145
- Italian diversi #1,365
- Korean 수 a few, several #6
- Latvian daži #485
- Macedonian неколку a few, several, some #142
- Malayalam കുറേ many, several, numerous #234
- Polish kilka more than two but less than ten; several; few #217
- Serbian nekoliko some, several, a few #275
- Slovak niekoľko #414
- Spanish varios various, several #1,793
- Swedish flera multiple, many, several #510
- Tamil பல many, several, a lot #176
- Ukrainian кілька several, a few, some #268
- Urdu چند a few, some, several #359
- Vietnamese tàu one of several types of vehicle or craft,… #428
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.