How to say “sir” in 31 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.
- сэр[sɛr] Russian
- श्री/ʃɾiː/ Hindi
- σερ/seɾ/ Greek
- אדוני/ʔa.doːˈniː/ Hebrew
- স্যার/saɾ/ Bengali
- ஐயா/ɐɪ̯jɑː/ Tamil
“sir” in Portuguese: sir · Russian: сэр · Hindi: श्री · Greek: σερ
It is commonest in Bengali, where স্যার is the 56th most used word.
Sir in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans meneer/məˈniər/ sir, mister; gentleman #139
- Bengali স্যার/saɾ/ sir, master #56
- Bulgarian сър[sɤr] #165
- Chinese 先生/ɕi̯ɛn⁵⁵ ʂɤŋ⁵⁵/ mister; sir; gentleman #9
- Dutch meneer/məˈneːr/ sir, mister #255
- Esperanto sinjoro/sinˈjoro/ sir, mister #83
- Estonian härra/ˈhærːɑ/ sir, mister #249
- French monsieur/mə.sjø/ mister, sir #195
- Galician don/don/ sir, mister #1,045
- Georgian ბატონო[batʼono] gentleman, mister, sir #834
- Greek σερ/seɾ/ #1,653
- Hebrew אדוני/ʔa.doːˈniː/ sir, my lord #130
- Hindi श्री/ʃɾiː/ sir, lord, mister #220
- Indonesian pak/ˈpaʔ/ #139
- Lithuanian ponas[²ˈpoːnɐs] #304
- Macedonian господа[ˈɡɔspɔda] mister, sir, Mr #415
- Malay tuan/tuan/ Sir, mister #74
- Malayalam സാർ/saːr/ #92
- Persian آقا[ʔɒː.ʁɒ́ː] Mr., Sir, Lord #303
- Polish pani/ˈpa.ɲi/ Lord, Sir #73
- Portuguese sir/ˈsir/ #1,784
- Romanian domnule/ˈdom.nu.le/ mister, Mr., sir, polite term for a man #153
- Russian сэр[sɛr] #154
- Spanish señor/seˈɲoɾ/ mister, sir, lord #107
- Swedish herre/²hɛrːɛ/ a man, a gentleman, a sir #805
- Tagalog don/ˈdon/ title of a gentleman: sir; Sir #658
- Tamil ஐயா/ɐɪ̯jɑː/ #103
- Turkish efendim/efenˈdim/ master, sir #104
- Ukrainian сер[sɛr] #208
- Urdu صاحب/sɑː.ɦɪb/ #119
- Vietnamese cụ[ku˧˨ʔ] you, Sir, Madam, Mr, Mrs #1,128
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.