How to say “ship” in 48 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 Tamil, where கப்பல் is the 307th most used word.
- Afrikaans skip #541
- Albanian anije ship, large watercraft, vessel #584
- Arabic سفينة ship, vessel #818
- Armenian նավ #895
- Basque itsasontzi boat, ship #1,213
- Bengali জাহাজ #414
- Bosnian brod #508
- Bulgarian кораб ship, large boat, vessel #737
- Catalan nau #555
- Chinese 上船 to board a ship; to embark #1,747
- Croatian brod #502
- Czech loď #610
- Danish skib ship, boat, vessel #1,164
- Dutch schip #668
- English pilot A person who steers a ship, a helmsman #2,369
- Esperanto ŝipo #390
- Estonian laeva #739
- French vaisseau ship, vessel #985
- Galician barco #648
- Georgian გემები #778
- German schiff #671
- Greek σκάφος craft, ship #711
- Hebrew ספינה ship, boat #1,643
- Hindi जहाज़ #1,679
- Hungarian hajó #1,023
- Icelandic skip ship, boat #808
- Italian nave #827
- Latvian kuģi #679
- Lithuanian laivas #503
- Macedonian брод #470
- Malayalam കപ്പൽ #1,024
- Norwegian skipet #850
- Persian کشتی boat, ship #902
- Polish statek ship, craft, vessel #1,004
- Portuguese nave #762
- Romanian nava #982
- Russian корабль ship, liner #1,016
- Serbian brod #522
- Slovak loď #369
- Slovenian ladja #444
- Spanish nave ship, vessel #926
- Swedish ombord on board; being on ship #1,120
- Tagalog barko #1,240
- Tamil கப்பல் ship, sailing vessel #307
- Telugu ఓడ ship, boat, vessel #492
- Turkish gemi #1,049
- Ukrainian корабель #906
- Urdu جہاز plane, ship #337
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.