How to say “soul” in 48 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.
- alma/ˈalma/ Spanish
- 영혼[jʌ̹ŋβo̞n] Korean
- आत्मा/ɑːt̪.mɑː/ Hindi
- ψυχή/psiˈçi/ Greek
- נפש/napʃ/ Hebrew
- ആത്മാവ്/aːt̪maːʋɨ/ Malayalam
“soul” in Spanish: alma · French: âme · German: seele · Italian: anima · Portuguese: alma · Korean: 영혼 · Hindi: आत्मा · Turkish: can
It is commonest in Serbian, where dušo is the 240th most used word.
Soul in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans siel/ˈsil/ #573
- Albanian shpirt[ʃpiɹt] soul, spirit #380
- Basque arima/aˈɾiˌma/ #524
- Bengali জান/d͡ʒan/ life, soul, being #307
- Bosnian dušo/ˈduʃo/ #254
- Bulgarian душа[doˈʃa̟] #1,251
- Catalan ànima[ˈa.ni.mə] #987
- Chinese 精神/t͡ɕiŋ⁵⁵ ʂən³⁵/ spirit; soul; will #324
- Croatian dušo/ˈduʃo/ #264
- Czech duše[ˈduʃɛ] #1,142
- Danish sjæl[ˈɕɛˀl] #1,044
- Dutch ziel/zil/ #1,064
- English spirit/ˈspɪɹɪt/ The soul of a person or other creature #1,275
- Esperanto animo/aˈnimo/ #565
- Estonian hinge/ˈhiŋɡ̊e/ #854
- French âme/am/ #973
- Galician alma/ˈalma/ #767
- German seele/ˈzeːlə/ #1,048
- Greek ψυχή/psiˈçi/ soul, spirit usually thought to consist of… #917
- Hebrew נפש/napʃ/ a soul, psyche #1,606
- Hindi आत्मा/ɑːt̪.mɑː/ soul, spirit, self #757
- Hungarian lélek[ˈleːlɛk] #2,474
- Icelandic sál[ˈsauːl] a soul #812
- Indonesian jiwa/ˈd͡ʒiwa/ #806
- Italian anima/ˈa.ni.ma/ #1,110
- Korean 영혼[jʌ̹ŋβo̞n] #1,909
- Latvian dvēsele[ˈdvɛ̄ːsɛlɛ] #1,488
- Lithuanian siela[¹ˈsʲiɛlɐ] soul, spirit #1,057
- Macedonian душа[ˈduʃa] #838
- Malay jiwa/d͡ʒi.wa/ #782
- Malayalam ആത്മാവ്/aːt̪maːʋɨ/ #632
- Norwegian sjel/ˈʃeːl/ #1,421
- Persian جان[d͡ʒɒːn] soul; life; life-force #269
- Polish duszę/ˈdu.ʂɛ/ soul, spirit #2,255
- Portuguese alma/ˈaw.mɐ/ #997
- Romanian sufletul/ˈsufletul/ soul, spirit #1,022
- Serbian dušo/ˈduʃo/ #240
- Slovak dušu/duʃu/ #761
- Slovenian duša/dùːʃa/ #741
- Spanish alma/ˈalma/ #937
- Swedish själ/ɧɛːl/ #1,122
- Tagalog kaluluwa/kaluluˈa/ soul; spirit; essence #1,286
- Tamil உயிர்/ʊjɪɾ/ life, soul #472
- Telugu ఆత్మ/ˈaːtma/ #423
- Turkish can/ˈd͡ʒan/ soul, life, being #974
- Ukrainian душа[dʊˈʃa] soul, spirit #1,688
- Urdu روح/ɾuːɦ/ soul, spirit #1,301
- Vietnamese vong[vawŋ͡m˧˧] departed soul or spirit #1,742
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.