How to say “smell” in 43 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.
It is commonest in French, where sens is the 282nd most used word.
- Afrikaans ruik to smell #586
- Albanian qelbësirë something smell bad #1,257
- Arabic رائحة smell, scent; odor #577
- Armenian հոտ smell, odor; scent #1,279
- Bengali গন্ধ smell, scent, odor, aroma #562
- Bosnian miris smell, odor #1,417
- Catalan olor #1,066
- Croatian miris smell, odor #1,377
- Danish lugter #1,249
- Dutch ruikt to smell #1,552
- Esperanto odoras to smell #1,649
- Estonian lõhn smell, scent, fragrance, odour #1,594
- Finnish haista to smell, to have a smell/scent/odor; to stink #1,143
- French sens to smell #282
- Galician cheiro scent, odour, smell #1,812
- Georgian სუნი smell, scent, odour, odor #441
- German riecht to smell; to sniff #1,765
- Greek μυρωδιά smell, scent, odour, odor #1,784
- Hebrew ריח odor, scent, smell #1,162
- Hindi गंध smell; odour; scent #1,377
- Icelandic lykt smell, odour #1,058
- Indonesian bau smell; odor #800
- Italian odore smell, odour, odor, aroma, fragrance, scent #1,437
- Korean 냄새 a smell, whether fragrant or offensive;… #631
- Macedonian мириса to smell #1,079
- Malay bau A smell; odour; stench; stink #747
- Malayalam മണം #478
- Norwegian lukter smell, odour, odor, scent #941
- Persian بو smell, scent #843
- Polish czuję to smell #312
- Portuguese cheiro #1,368
- Romanian miros smell, odor, scent #1,690
- Russian запах smell, odor, scent #1,612
- Serbian miris smell, odor #1,347
- Slovenian vonj odor, smell #646
- Spanish huele to smell #1,830
- Swedish luktar to smell; to use one’s nose #1,091
- Tagalog baho bad smell; stench; stink #1,699
- Tamil வாசனை smell, scent, odor #443
- Telugu వాసన #299
- Turkish koku smell, odor/odour #1,785
- Ukrainian запах smell, odor, scent #1,116
- Vietnamese mùi smell; odor; scent #880
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.