How to say “sister” in 51 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.
- hermana/eɾˈmana/ Spanish
- сестра[sʲɪˈstra] Russian
- أخت/ʔuxt/ Arabic
- बहन/bə.ɦən/ Hindi
- αδελφή/a.ðelˈfi/ Greek
- אחות/ʔaːˈħoːt/ Hebrew
“sister” in Spanish: hermana · French: sœur · German: schwester · Italian: sorella · Portuguese: irmã · Russian: сестра · Arabic: أخت · Hindi: बहन
It is commonest in Afrikaans, where suster is the 269th most used word.
Sister in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans suster/sœstər/ #269
- Albanian motra/mɔtɾa/ #606
- Arabic أخت/ʔuxt/ #1,476
- Basque arreba/areba/ #473
- Bengali বোন/bon/ #434
- Bosnian sestra/sěstra/ #575
- Bulgarian сестра[sɛˈstra] #348
- Catalan germana[ʒərˈma.nə] #462
- Chinese 姐姐/t͡ɕi̯ɛ²¹⁴ d͡ʑ̥i̯ɛ⁴/ elder sister; big sister #235
- Croatian sestra/sěstra/ #590
- Czech sestra[ˈsɛstra] #753
- Danish søster[ˈsøsd̥ɐ] #463
- Dutch zus/zʏs/ #592
- English aunt/ɑːnt/ The sister or sister-in-law of one’s parent #1,110
- Esperanto fratino/fraˈtino/ #285
- Estonian õde/ˈɤd̥e/ #482
- Finnish siskoni/ˈsiskonɪ/ #1,835
- French sœur/sœʁ/ #761
- Galician irmá/iɾˈmaŋ/ #415
- Georgian დეიდა[d̥e̞idä] aunt, maternal aunt, a sister of one's mother… #532
- German schwester/ˈʃvɛstɐ/ #427
- Greek αδελφή/a.ðelˈfi/ #779
- Hebrew אחות/ʔaːˈħoːt/ #883
- Hindi बहन/bə.ɦən/ #425
- Hungarian tesó[ˈtɛʃoː] sibling, brother or sister #1,382
- Icelandic systir[ˈsɪstɪr] #487
- Indonesian yu/ˈju/ older sister #2,337
- Italian sorella/soˈrɛl.la/ #515
- Korean 언니[ʌ̹nni] older sister of a female #367
- Latvian māsa[ˈmāːsa] #877
- Lithuanian sesuo[sʲɛ²ˈsuɔ] #576
- Macedonian сестра[ˈsɛstra] #340
- Malay kakak/kakaʔ/ older sister #569
- Malayalam സഹോദരി/sɐhoːd̪ɐɾi/ #550
- Norwegian søster/ˈsœstər/ #794
- Persian خواهر[xɒː.ɦæɹ] #546
- Polish siostra/ˈɕɔs.tra/ #859
- Portuguese irmã/iʁˈmɐ̃/ #469
- Romanian sora/ˈso.ra/ #544
- Russian сестра[sʲɪˈstra] #617
- Serbian sestra/sěstra/ #587
- Slovak sestra/sestra/ #366
- Slovenian sestra/sɛ̀ːstra/ #270
- Spanish hermana/eɾˈmana/ sister; female equivalent of hermano #456
- Swedish syster/²sʏsːtɛr/ a sister #475
- Tagalog ate/ˈʔate/ elder sister; big sister #499
- Telugu సోదరి/ˈsoːdari/ #706
- Turkish abla[ɑbɫɑ] older sister #2,280
- Ukrainian сестра[seˈstra] #525
- Urdu بہن/bə.ɦən/ #956
- Vietnamese chị[t͡ɕi˧˨ʔ] I/me, your big sister #197
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), Slovenian (artur (sl_SI), 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.