How to say “sky” in 44 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.
- cielo/ˈθjelo/ Spanish
- 天空/tʰi̯ɛn⁵⁵ kʰʊŋ⁵⁵/ Chinese
- आकाश/ɑː.kɑːʃ/ Hindi
- ουρανό/ˌuraˈno/ Greek
- שמים/ʃaːˈma.jim/ Hebrew
- երկինք/jeɾˈkinkʰ/ Armenian
“sky” in Spanish: cielo · French: ciel · German: himmel · Italian: cielo · Portuguese: céu · Chinese: 天空 · Hindi: आकाश · Greek: ουρανό
It is commonest in Vietnamese, where trời is the 321st most used word.
Sky in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans hemel/ˈɦiə̯məl/ #356
- Albanian qiell/ˈcieɫ/ #1,085
- Armenian երկինք/jeɾˈkinkʰ/ #440
- Basque zeru/s̻eɾu/ #852
- Bengali আকাশ/akaʃ/ #930
- Bosnian nebo/ˈnêbo/ #1,590
- Catalan cel[ˈsɛl] #550
- Chinese 天空/tʰi̯ɛn⁵⁵ kʰʊŋ⁵⁵/ sky; heavens; firmament #660
- Croatian nebo/ˈnêbo/ #1,643
- Czech nebe[ˈnɛbɛ] #1,504
- Danish himlen/ˈhemlən/ #1,075
- Dutch hemel/ˈɦeː.məl/ sky, heavens #814
- Esperanto ĉielo/t͡ʃiˈelo/ #370
- Estonian taevas/ˈtɑe̯vɑs/ #844
- Finnish taivas/ˈtɑi̯ʋɑs/ #1,818
- French ciel/sjɛl/ #938
- German himmel[ˈhɪml̩] #758
- Greek ουρανό/ˌuraˈno/ #1,591
- Hebrew שמים/ʃaːˈma.jim/ sky, skies, heavens, heaven #1,534
- Hindi आकाश/ɑː.kɑːʃ/ #1,350
- Hungarian ég[ˈeːɡ] #494
- Icelandic himnum/ˈhɪmnʏm/ sky, the heavens #1,444
- Indonesian langit/ˈlaŋit/ #895
- Italian cielo/ˈt͡ʃɛ.lo/ #706
- Korean 놀[no̞(ː)ɭ] glow, red sky #1,402
- Latvian debesīs/ˈdebesiːs/ #1,228
- Lithuanian dangaus[dɐŋ²ˈɡɒʊˑs] #944
- Macedonian небо[ˈnɛbɔ] #2,242
- Malay langit/ˈlaŋit/ #821
- Malayalam ആകാശം/aːɡaːʃɐm/ #887
- Norwegian himmelen/ˈhɪməln̩/ #1,005
- Persian آسمان[ʔɒːs.mɒːn] #1,235
- Polish nieba/ˈɲɛ.ba/ #1,956
- Portuguese céu/ˈsɛw/ #948
- Serbian nebo/ˈnêbo/ #1,537
- Slovak neba/ˈɲeba/ #981
- Slovenian nebo/nɛbóː/ #675
- Spanish cielo/ˈθjelo/ #618
- Swedish himlen/ˈhɪmlɛn/ #1,249
- Tagalog langit/ˈlaŋit/ #626
- Tamil வான்/ʋɑːn/ sky, the visible heavens #991
- Ukrainian небо[ˈnɛbɔ] #1,452
- Urdu آسمان/ɑːs.mɑːn/ #494
- Vietnamese trời[t͡ɕəːj˨˩] #321
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.