How to say “son” in 50 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.
- hijo/ˈixo/ Spanish
- сын[sɨn] Russian
- ابن/ibn/ Arabic
- 兒子/ˀɤɻ³⁵ d͡z̥ɹ̩³/ Chinese
- 아들[a̠dɯɭ] Korean
- बेटा/beː.ʈɑː/ Hindi
“son” in Spanish: hijo · German: sohn · Italian: figlio · Portuguese: filho · Chinese: 兒子 · Korean: 아들 · Russian: сын · Arabic: ابن
It is commonest in Persian, where پسر is the 102nd most used word.
Son in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans seun/syœn/ #164
- Albanian bir/biɾ/ #335
- Arabic ابن/ibn/ #384
- Armenian արքայազն/ɑɾkʰɑˈjɑzən/ prince, son of a king #424
- Basque semea/s̺eˈmeˌa/ #229
- Bengali পুত্র/put̪ɾo/ #618
- Bosnian sin/sîːn/ #383
- Bulgarian син[sin] #399
- Catalan fill[ˈfiʎ] #169
- Chinese 兒子/ˀɤɻ³⁵ d͡z̥ɹ̩³/ #789
- Croatian sin/sîːn/ #402
- Czech syn[ˈsɪn] #575
- Danish søn/sœn/ #261
- Dutch zoon/zoːn/ #294
- English brother/ˈbɹʌðɚ/ Son of the same parents as another person #294
- Esperanto filo/ˈfilo/ #210
- Estonian poeg/ˈpoe̯ɡ̊/ #369
- French fiston/fis.tɔ̃/ boy, son, sonny, lad, young man #1,963
- Galician fillo/ˈfiɟo/ #172
- Georgian ვაჟი[väʒi] #205
- German sohn/zoːn/ #307
- Greek γιος/ˈʝos/ son, male child #569
- Hebrew בן/beːn/ #147
- Hindi बेटा/beː.ʈɑː/ #275
- Hungarian rohadék[ˈroɦɒdeːk] bastard, son of a bitch, scumbag, fucker #1,514
- Icelandic sonur[ˈsɔːnʏr] #306
- Indonesian bangsat/ˈbaŋsat/ asshole, son of a bitch #1,522
- Italian figlio/ˈfiʎ.ʎo/ #240
- Korean 아들[a̠dɯɭ] #303
- Latvian dēls[ˈdæ̂ːls] #266
- Lithuanian sūnus[suːˈnʊs] #278
- Macedonian синко[ˈsiŋkɔ] #677
- Malay bangsat/ˈbaŋsat/ asshole, son of a bitch #1,402
- Malayalam മകൻ/mɐkɐn/ #447
- Norwegian sønn/sœn/ a son #434
- Persian پسر[pʰe.sæɹ] #102
- Polish syn/ˈsɘn/ #606
- Portuguese filho/ˈfi.ʎu/ #188
- Romanian fii[fiː] #172
- Russian сын[sɨn] #367
- Serbian sin/sîːn/ #387
- Slovak syn/sin/ #316
- Slovenian sin/síːn/ #199
- Spanish hijo/ˈixo/ #187
- Swedish son/soːn/ a son #284
- Tagalog iho/ˈʔiho/ #1,301
- Tamil மகன்/mɐɡɐn/ #164
- Telugu కుమారుడు/ˈkumaːˌruɖu/ #128
- Ukrainian син[sɪn] #345
- Urdu بیٹا/beː.ʈɑː/ son, boy #283
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) and Slovenian (artur (sl_SI), CC BY 4.0).
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.