How to say “shadow” in 31 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.
- ظل/ðˤill/ Arabic
- 影子/iŋ²¹⁴ d͡z̥ɹ̩⁴/ Chinese
- 그림자[ˈkɯ(ː)ɾimd͡ʑa̠] Korean
- צל/ˈsˤeːl/ Hebrew
- ստվեր/stəˈveɾ/ Armenian
- ছায়া/t͡ʃʰae̯.a/ Bengali
“shadow” in Chinese: 影子 · Korean: 그림자 · Arabic: ظل
It is commonest in Tamil, where நிழல் is the 504th most used word.
Shadow in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans skaduwee/ˈskɑːdyˌviə̯/ #1,684
- Albanian hije/hijɛ/ #1,488
- Arabic ظل/ðˤill/ shadow, shade #1,406
- Armenian ստվեր/stəˈveɾ/ shadow, shade #734
- Basque itzal/it͡s̻al/ #990
- Bengali ছায়া/t͡ʃʰae̯.a/ #2,426
- Bosnian sina/ˈsinɐ/ shadow; shade #523
- Catalan ombra[ˈom.bɾə] #2,004
- Chinese 影子/iŋ²¹⁴ d͡z̥ɹ̩⁴/ #1,251
- Croatian sina/ˈsinɐ/ shadow; shade #534
- Esperanto ombro/ˈombro/ #2,437
- Estonian vari/ˈvɑri/ #2,273
- French ombre/ɔ̃bʁ/ shade, shadow #1,978
- German schatten/ˈʃatən/ shade, shadow #1,965
- Hebrew צל/ˈsˤeːl/ A shadow #2,332
- Indonesian bayangan/baˈjaŋan/ #1,670
- Italian ombra/ˈom.bra/ shade, shadow #2,398
- Korean 그림자[ˈkɯ(ː)ɾimd͡ʑa̠] #1,603
- Latvian ēnas/ˈæːnas/ #2,184
- Lithuanian šešėlis[ʃʲɛ¹ˈʃʲeːlʲɪs] shadow, shade #2,169
- Macedonian сенка[ˈsɛŋka] #1,881
- Malay wayang/ˈwajaŋ/ shadow play traditional among the Javanese… #2,101
- Malayalam നിഴൽ/n̪iɻɐl/ shadow; A dark image cast upon a surface by a… #1,901
- Persian سایه[sɒː.je] #2,267
- Serbian sina/ˈsinɐ/ shadow; shade #515
- Slovak tieň/cɪ̯eɲ/ #1,445
- Slovenian senca/séːnt͡sa/ #1,209
- Tagalog anino/ʔaˈnino/ #898
- Tamil நிழல்/nɪɻɐl/ shadow, shade #504
- Telugu నీడ/niːɖa/ shade, shadow #1,328
- Urdu سایہ/sɑːj.ɑ(ː)/ shadow, shade #2,391
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) and Slovenian (artur (sl_SI), CC BY 4.0).
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.