How to say “shoe” in 35 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.
- zapatos/saˈpatos/ Spanish
- 鞋子/ɕi̯ɛ³⁵ d͡z̥ɹ̩³/ Chinese
- जूते/d͡ʒuː.t̪eː/ Hindi
- παπούτσια/paˈputsiˌa/ Greek
- נעל/ˈnaʔal/ Hebrew
- জুতো/d͡ʒut̪o/ Bengali
“shoe” in Spanish: zapatos · French: chaussures · German: schuhe · Italian: scarpe · Portuguese: sapatos · Chinese: 鞋子 · Hindi: जूते · Turkish: ayakkabı
It is commonest in Urdu, where جوتا is the 524th most used word.
Shoe in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans klomp/ˈklɔmp/ Wooden shoe, clog #413
- Albanian këpucët/kəput͡sət/ #1,235
- Basque zapata/s̻apata/ #870
- Bengali জুতো/d͡ʒut̪o/ #1,436
- Bosnian cipela/t͡sǐpela/ #2,338
- Catalan sabates/səˈβatəs/ #1,980
- Chinese 鞋子/ɕi̯ɛ³⁵ d͡z̥ɹ̩³/ shoe; footwear #784
- Danish sko/sɡoːˀ/ #1,028
- Dutch schoenen/ˈsxu.nə(n)/ #1,033
- Esperanto ŝuoj/ˈʃuoɪ/ #1,536
- Estonian kingi/ˈkiŋɡ̊i/ #1,442
- Finnish kengät/ˈkeŋŋæt/ #2,268
- French chaussures/ʃoˈsyʁ/ #1,302
- Galician zapatos/θaˈpatos/ #1,318
- German schuhe/ˈʃuːə/ #1,327
- Greek παπούτσια/paˈputsiˌa/ #1,051
- Hebrew נעל/ˈnaʔal/ #2,089
- Hindi जूते/d͡ʒuː.t̪eː/ #1,352
- Indonesian sepatu/səˈpatu/ #884
- Italian scarpe/ˈskar.pe/ #1,156
- Macedonian чевли[ˈt͡ʃɛvli] #1,297
- Malay kasut/ˈkasut/ #751
- Norwegian sko/ˈskuː/ a shoe #1,524
- Persian کفش/kæfʃ/ a shoe #1,032
- Polish buty/ˈbu.tɘ/ #1,335
- Portuguese sapatos/saˈpa.tus/ #1,313
- Romanian pantofi/panˈtofʲʲ/ #1,681
- Slovak topánky/ˈtɔpaːŋki/ #644
- Slovenian čevelj/t͡ʃéːʋəl/ #1,078
- Spanish zapatos/saˈpatos/ #1,180
- Swedish skor/ˈskuːr/ a shoe #1,436
- Tagalog sapatos/saˈpatos/ #825
- Tamil காலணி/kɑːlɐɳiː/ shoe, slipper #1,027
- Turkish ayakkabı/ɑˈjɑkkɑbɯ/ #1,712
- Urdu جوتا/d͡ʒuː.t̪ɑː/ #524
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.