How to say “shape” in 38 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 Finnish, where kunnossa is the 152nd most used word.
- Afrikaans vorm A form, a shape #620
- Albanian formë form; figure; shape; model #1,037
- Arabic صورة form, shape, figure #344
- Basque itxura appearance, shape #221
- Bosnian lik form, shape, figure, appearance #1,115
- Bulgarian форма shape, form #1,187
- Catalan forma form; shape #423
- Chinese 形成 to form; to take shape; to evolve and become #921
- Croatian lik form, shape, figure, appearance #1,266
- Danish form #1,089
- Dutch vormen a form, shape #1,883
- English y A figure or mark in the shape of the letter Y #962
- Esperanto formo form, shape, image #1,458
- Estonian vorm A form, a shape #2,293
- Finnish kunnossa in shape #152
- French forme #903
- Galician forma form, shape #400
- Georgian მდგომარეობა condition, shape, state, status, situation,… #909
- German form #1,934
- Greek μορφή form, shape #1,806
- Hebrew מצב a shape, a situation, a state #494
- Hungarian alak figure, form, shape #2,292
- Indonesian bentuk form; shape; type #1,063
- Korean 꼴 the shape or appearance of a thing #1,168
- Macedonian облик shape, form #2,170
- Malay bentuk shape; form #943
- Malayalam ആകൃതി #1,884
- Norwegian form a form, shape #1,346
- Persian شکل shape, form #631
- Portuguese forma form; shape #261
- Serbian lik form, shape, figure, appearance #1,086
- Slovenian oblika #1,177
- Spanish forma shape; form; figure #282
- Swedish form a form, a shape #1,481
- Tagalog hugis shape; form #1,866
- Tamil உருவம் shape, figure, form #731
- Turkish şekilde #168
- Vietnamese khuôn shape, pattern, mold #1,428
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.