How to say “sleep” in 53 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.
- dormir/doɾˈmiɾ/ Spanish
- спать[spatʲ] Russian
- 잠[t͡ɕa̠m] Korean
- नींद/niːnd̪/ Hindi
- ύπνο/ˈipno/ Greek
- ძილი[d͡zili] Georgian
“sleep” in Spanish: dormir · French: dormir · German: schlafen · Italian: dormire · Portuguese: dormir · Korean: 잠 · Russian: спать · Hindi: नींद
It is commonest in Telugu, where నిద్ర is the 166th most used word.
Sleep in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans slaap/ˈslɑːp/ #172
- Albanian fle/flɛ/ to sleep #694
- Arabic تصبح/tasˤabbaħa/ to sleep in the morning #387
- Armenian քնած/kʰəˈnɑt͡s/ to sleep #270
- Basque lo/lo/ #176
- Bengali ঘুমানো[ˈɡʱu.maˌno] to sleep #1,979
- Bosnian san/sân/ #610
- Bulgarian спи[spi] to sleep #880
- Catalan dormir[durˈmi] to sleep #524
- Chinese 上床/ʂɑŋ⁵¹ ʈ͡ʂʰu̯ɑŋ³⁵/ to go to bed; to go to sleep #497
- Croatian san/sân/ #621
- Czech spát[ˈspaːt] to sleep #646
- Danish sove/sɔvə/ to sleep #614
- Dutch slapen/ˈslaː.pə(n)/ #518
- English asleep/əˈsliːp/ In a state of sleep; also, broadly, resting #1,332
- Esperanto dormas/ˈdormas/ to sleep #517
- Estonian magama/ˈmɑɡ̊ɑmɑ/ To sleep #587
- Finnish unta/ˈunta/ #1,190
- French dormir/dɔʁ.miʁ/ to sleep #689
- Galician durmir/duɾˈmiɾ/ to sleep #476
- Georgian ძილი[d͡zili] #1,136
- German schlafen[ˈʃlaːfn̩] to sleep #557
- Greek ύπνο/ˈipno/ #874
- Hebrew שינה/ʃeːˈnaː/ sleep: a state or period of being asleep #815
- Hindi नींद/niːnd̪/ #1,132
- Hungarian aludni[ˈɒludni] to sleep #870
- Icelandic sofa[ˈsɔːva] to sleep #379
- Indonesian menginap/məˈŋinap/ to stay and sleep #2,196
- Italian dormire/dorˈmi.re/ to sleep #701
- Korean 잠[t͡ɕa̠m] sleep, nap #896
- Latvian gulēt[ˈɡulɛ̂ːt] to sleep, to be asleep #686
- Lithuanian miegoti[mʲiɛ¹ˈɡoːtʲɪ] to sleep #546
- Macedonian спијам[ˈspi(j)am] to sleep #860
- Malay tidur/ˈtido(r)/ to sleep #249
- Malayalam ഉറക്കം/urɐkkɐm/ #476
- Norwegian sove/²soːvə/ to sleep #584
- Persian خواب[xɒːb̥] #346
- Polish spać/ˈspat͡ɕ/ to sleep #767
- Portuguese dormir/duʁˈmi(ʁ)/ to sleep; to be asleep #411
- Romanian dormi/dorˈmi/ to sleep #849
- Russian спать[spatʲ] to sleep #641
- Serbian san/sân/ #582
- Slovak spať/spac/ to sleep #422
- Slovenian spati/spàːti/ to sleep #490
- Spanish dormir/doɾˈmiɾ/ to sleep #553
- Swedish sova/²soːva/ to sleep #598
- Tagalog matulog/maˈtuloɡ/ to sleep #662
- Tamil தூக்கம்/t̪uːkːɐm/ #726
- Telugu నిద్ర/nid̪ɾa/ #166
- Turkish uyku/ujˈku/ sleep, nap #1,505
- Ukrainian спати[ˈspate] to sleep #625
- Urdu نیند/niːnd̪/ sleep, slumber #1,051
- Vietnamese ngủ[ŋu˧˩] to sleep #320
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.