How to say “sign” in 47 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.
- señal/seˈɲal/ Spanish
- знак[znak] Russian
- دليل/da.liːl/ Arabic
- 景象/t͡ɕiŋ²¹⁴⁻²¹ ɕi̯ɑŋ⁵¹/ Chinese
- σημείο/siˈmi.o/ Greek
- אות/ˈʔøːθ/ Hebrew
“sign” in Spanish: señal · French: signe · German: zeichen · Italian: segno · Portuguese: sinal · Chinese: 景象 · Russian: знак · Arabic: دليل
It is commonest in Afrikaans, where teken is the 467th most used word.
Sign in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans teken/ˈtiə̯kən/ sign; signal #467
- Albanian shenjë/ʃɛɲə/ #682
- Arabic دليل/da.liːl/ sign, indication, proof, demonstration,… #470
- Armenian նշան/nəˈʃɑn/ sign, mark #605
- Basque sinatu/s̺inatu/ to sign #539
- Bengali চিহ্ন/t͡ʃinho/ sign, symbol, mark #686
- Bosnian znak/znâːk/ #772
- Bulgarian знак[znak] #1,184
- Chinese 景象/t͡ɕiŋ²¹⁴⁻²¹ ɕi̯ɑŋ⁵¹/ sign; indication #2,340
- Croatian znak/znâːk/ #806
- Czech znamení[ˈznamɛɲiː] sign, signal, indication #1,556
- Danish mærke/mɛrkə/ mark, sign, label, tag #640
- Dutch tekenen/ˈteːkənə(n)/ sign, indication, mark #1,325
- Esperanto signo/ˈsiɡno/ sign, signal #1,720
- Estonian märk/mærk/ #1,165
- French signe/siɲ/ to sign #994
- Galician sinal/siˈnal/ sign, portent, omen #1,151
- German zeichen/ˈt͡saɪ̯çən/ sign, token #1,295
- Greek σημείο/siˈmi.o/ sign, mark #661
- Hebrew אות/ˈʔøːθ/ a sign, an omen #1,372
- Hindi इशारा/ɪ.ʃɑː.ɾɑː/ gesture, sign, hint #2,212
- Hungarian jelen[ˈjɛlɛn] sign, symbol #1,730
- Icelandic mark[ˈmar̥k] sign, mark #516
- Indonesian tanda/ˈtanda/ sign, mark #537
- Italian segno/ˈseɲ.ɲo/ #1,296
- Korean 신호[ˈɕʰi(ː)nβo̞] signal; sign #1,046
- Latvian zīme/ˈziːme/ #1,372
- Lithuanian ženklas[¹ˈʒʲæˑŋklɐs] #854
- Macedonian знак[znak] #662
- Malay tanda/ˈtandə/ sign, mark, signal, spot, symbol #603
- Malayalam പാട്/paːɖɨ/ a mark, sign #301
- Norwegian tegn/tæɪ̯n/ sign, symbol #1,031
- Persian سراغ[so.ɹɒ́ːɢ̥] sign, scent, footprint #614
- Polish znak/ˈznak/ #1,458
- Portuguese sinal/siˈnaw/ sign; mark; trace #677
- Romanian semn/semn/ #1,006
- Russian знак[znak] sign, mark #1,669
- Serbian znak/znâːk/ #772
- Slovak podpísať/pɔtpiːsac/ to sign official by writing one's signature #1,200
- Spanish señal/seˈɲal/ #988
- Swedish tecken/ˈtɛkːɛn/ A visible indication; a sign #1,206
- Tagalog tanda/tanˈdaʔ/ sign; mark; indication #771
- Tamil சின்னம்/tʃɪnːɐm/ sign, insignia, mark, token #1,389
- Telugu ఓ[oː] the vocative sign or an exclamation used in… #556
- Turkish işaret/i.ʃaːˈɾet/ #1,144
- Urdu نشان/nɪ.ʃɑːn/ sign, symbol #872
- Vietnamese dấu[zəw˧˦] mark, sign #570
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), Estonian (news (et_EE), CC BY 4.0) and Vietnamese (vais1000 (vi_VN), CC BY 4.0).
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.