How to say “sex” in 41 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.
- sexo/ˈseɡso/ Spanish
- секс[sɛks] Russian
- 섹스[s͈e̞ks͈ɯ] Korean
- सेक्स/seːks/ Hindi
- זיון/zijun/ Hebrew
- সেক্স/seks/ Bengali
“sex” in Spanish: sexo · French: sexe · Italian: sesso · Korean: 섹스 · Russian: секс · Hindi: सेक्स · Turkish: seks
It is commonest in Slovenian, where seks is the 440th most used word.
Sex in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans seks/ˈsɛks/ #2,133
- Albanian seks[sɛks] #618
- Arabic مثلي/miθ.lijj/ sexually attracted to the same sex, homosexual #581
- Basque sexu/s̺eʃu/ #828
- Bengali সেক্স/seks/ #1,279
- Bosnian seks/sêks/ #765
- Bulgarian секс[sɛks] sex, sexual intercourse, love-making #522
- Catalan foto[ˈfo.tu] to fuck; to have sex #747
- Chinese 女性/ny²¹⁴⁻²¹ ɕiŋ⁵¹/ the female sex; female #520
- Croatian seks/sêks/ #871
- Czech sex[ˈsɛks] #761
- Danish sex/ˈsɛɡs/ Sexual intercourse, sex #608
- Dutch seks/sɛks/ #720
- English teeth/ˈtiθ/ Unpleasant oral sex #1,528
- Estonian seks/seks/ #1,327
- Finnish seksiä/ˈseksɪæ/ #1,098
- French sexe/sɛks/ #1,141
- Greek σεξ/ˈseks/ sexual intercourse, sex #629
- Hebrew זיון/zijun/ sex, a fuck #2,287
- Hindi सेक्स/seːks/ #1,774
- Hungarian szex[ˈsɛks] #1,491
- Icelandic kynlíf[ˈcʰɪn.liːv] sex life #757
- Italian sesso/ˈsɛs.so/ #625
- Korean 섹스[s͈e̞ks͈ɯ] #704
- Latvian sekss[sɛks] sex, gender #1,451
- Lithuanian seksas[ˈsʲɛksɐs] #925
- Macedonian пол[pɔɫ] #491
- Malay jantan/ˈd͡ʒantan/ Belonging or referring to the sex having the… #1,818
- Malayalam ലൈംഗിക/lɐi̯ŋɡiɡɐ/ sexual; pertaining to sex #1,100
- Persian سکس[sekʰʲs] #504
- Polish moment/ˈmɔ.mɛnt/ sex scene #945
- Romanian sex/seks/ gender, sex #628
- Russian секс[sɛks] #1,214
- Serbian seks/sêks/ #777
- Slovak sex/seks/ #454
- Slovenian seks/séːks/ #440
- Spanish sexo/ˈseɡso/ #674
- Turkish seks/ˈsecs/ #570
- Ukrainian стать[statʲ] sex, gender #658
- Urdu جنسی/d͡ʒɪn.siː/ sexual; related to sex #1,377
- Vietnamese dâm[zəm˧˧] to have sex #1,325
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.