How to say “smile” in 38 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.
- sonrisa/sonˈrisa/ Spanish
- 微笑/weɪ̯⁵⁵ ɕi̯ɑʊ̯⁵¹/ Chinese
- 미소[misʰo̞] Korean
- मुस्कान/mʊs.kɑːn/ Hindi
- χαμόγελο/xaˈmo.ʝe.lo/ Greek
- חייך/χiˈjeχ/ Hebrew
“smile” in Spanish: sonrisa · French: sourire · German: lächeln · Italian: sorriso · Portuguese: sorriso · Chinese: 微笑 · Korean: 미소 · Hindi: मुस्कान
It is commonest in Afrikaans, where glimlag is the 449th most used word.
Smile in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans glimlag/χləmlaχ/ #449
- Albanian buzëqeshje/buzəˈcɛʃjɛ/ #1,692
- Basque irri/ˈiri/ #1,312
- Bengali হাসি/haʃi/ #521
- Bulgarian усмивка[oˈsmifkɐ] #1,816
- Catalan somriure[sumˈriw.ɾə] to smile #2,147
- Chinese 微笑/weɪ̯⁵⁵ ɕi̯ɑʊ̯⁵¹/ to smile #792
- Czech úsměv[ˈuːsm̩ɲɛf] #1,973
- Danish smil/smiːl/ #1,420
- Esperanto ridetu/riˈdetu/ to smile #1,654
- Estonian naeratus/ˈnɑe̯rɑtus/ #1,804
- French sourire/su.ʁiʁ/ to smile #1,517
- Galician sorriso[soˈrisʊ] #1,997
- German lächeln/ˈlɛçəln/ to smile #1,608
- Greek χαμόγελο/xaˈmo.ʝe.lo/ #2,336
- Hebrew חייך/χiˈjeχ/ to smile #738
- Hindi मुस्कान/mʊs.kɑːn/ a smile #1,961
- Icelandic brosa/ˈprɔːsa/ to smile #1,272
- Indonesian tersenyum/tərsəˈɲum/ to smile #1,224
- Italian sorriso/sorˈri.zo/ #2,295
- Korean 미소[misʰo̞] a smile #2,019
- Latvian smaidu/ˈsmaidu/ #2,213
- Lithuanian šypsena[²ˈʃʲiːpʲsʲɛnɐ] #1,559
- Macedonian насмевка[ˈnasmɛfka] #1,561
- Malay senyum/səˈɲom/ to smile #1,239
- Malayalam പുഞ്ചിരി/puɲt͡ʃiɾi/ #1,508
- Norwegian smil/smiːl/ a smile #1,596
- Persian لبخند[læb.xǽn̪d̪̥] #967
- Polish uśmiech/ˈu.ɕmjɛx/ #2,473
- Portuguese sorriso/soˈʁi.zu/ #2,444
- Serbian osmeh/ˈosmɛh/ #2,054
- Slovenian nasmeh/nasmɛ́x/ #871
- Spanish sonrisa/sonˈrisa/ #2,367
- Swedish le/leː/ to smile #1,597
- Tagalog ngumiti/ŋumiˈtiʔ/ to smile #1,677
- Tamil புன்னகை/pʊnːɐɡɐɪ̯/ smile, gentle smile #810
- Urdu مسکراہٹ/mʊs.kʊ.ɾɑː.ɦəʈ/ a smile #997
- Vietnamese cười[kɨəj˨˩] #573
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.