How to say “sign” in 47 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 Malayalam, where പാട് is the 301st most used word.
- Afrikaans teken sign; signal #467
- Albanian shenjë #682
- Arabic دليل sign, indication, proof, demonstration,… #470
- Armenian նշան sign, mark #605
- Basque sinatu to sign #539
- Bengali চিহ্ন sign, symbol, mark #686
- Bosnian znak #772
- Bulgarian знак #1,184
- Chinese 景象 sign; indication #2,340
- Croatian znak #806
- Czech znamení sign, signal, indication #1,556
- Danish mærke mark, sign, label, tag #640
- Dutch tekenen sign, indication, mark #1,325
- Esperanto signo sign, signal #1,720
- Estonian märk #1,165
- French signe to sign #994
- Galician sinal sign, portent, omen #1,151
- German zeichen sign, token #1,295
- Greek σημείο sign, mark #661
- Hebrew אות a sign, an omen #1,372
- Hindi इशारा gesture, sign, hint #2,212
- Hungarian jelen sign, symbol #1,730
- Icelandic mark sign, mark #516
- Indonesian tanda sign, mark #537
- Italian segno #1,296
- Korean 신호 signal; sign #1,046
- Latvian zīme #1,372
- Lithuanian ženklas #854
- Macedonian знак #662
- Malay tanda sign, mark, signal, spot, symbol #603
- Malayalam പാട് a mark, sign #301
- Norwegian tegn sign, symbol #1,031
- Persian سراغ sign, scent, footprint #614
- Polish znak #1,458
- Portuguese sinal sign; mark; trace #677
- Romanian semn #1,006
- Russian знак sign, mark #1,669
- Serbian znak #772
- Slovak podpísať to sign official by writing one's signature #1,200
- Spanish señal #988
- Swedish tecken A visible indication; a sign #1,206
- Tagalog tanda sign; mark; indication #771
- Tamil சின்னம் sign, insignia, mark, token #1,389
- Telugu ఓ the vocative sign or an exclamation used in… #556
- Turkish işaret #1,144
- Urdu نشان sign, symbol #872
- Vietnamese dấu mark, sign #570
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.