How to say “special” in 40 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 Turkish, where özel is the 260th most used word.
- Afrikaans spesiale #520
- Arabic خاص #530
- Armenian հատուկ #736
- Bengali বিশেষ #334
- Bosnian poseban #1,603
- Bulgarian специален #1,170
- Catalan especial #672
- Chinese 特殊 special; exceptional #555
- Croatian poseban #1,598
- Czech zvláštní #664
- Danish særlig special; particular #1,045
- Dutch speciale #1,132
- English especially In a special manner; specially #982
- Esperanto speciala special, particular #663
- Estonian eriline special, different #823
- French spécial #1,195
- Georgian განსაკუთრებული special, particular #1,103
- German besonderes special, particular, extraordinary #1,514
- Greek ειδική special, particular, specific #1,937
- Hebrew מיוחד unique, special #596
- Hindi विशेष distinguished, special #648
- Hungarian különleges #579
- Indonesian khusus special, unique, particular #702
- Italian speciale #767
- Korean 별 special, extraordinary, different, unusual #377
- Lithuanian ypatinga special, especial, particular, peculiar #1,048
- Macedonian посебен #1,293
- Malay istimewa #667
- Malayalam പ്രത്യേക #295
- Norwegian spesiell #1,214
- Persian خاص #852
- Portuguese especial #583
- Romanian special #681
- Serbian poseban #1,609
- Spanish especial #610
- Swedish speciell #1,404
- Tagalog espesyal special; exceptional; extraordinary #576
- Turkish özel #260
- Ukrainian особливий special, particular #2,215
- Urdu خاص #287
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.