How to say “speed” in 32 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.
- velocidad/beloθiˈdad/ Spanish
- سرعة/sur.ʕa/ Arabic
- 속도[sʰo̞k̚t͈o̞] Korean
- ταχύτητα/taˈçitita/ Greek
- מהירות/mhiˈʁut/ Hebrew
- বেগ/beɡ/ Bengali
“speed” in Spanish: velocidad · French: vitesse · Korean: 속도 · Arabic: سرعة · Greek: ταχύτητα
It is commonest in Tagalog, where bilis is the 137th most used word.
Speed in other languages, A to Z
- Albanian shpejtësi/ʃpɛjtəˈsi/ #1,331
- Arabic سرعة/sur.ʕa/ #1,126
- Basque abiadura/abiaduɾa/ speed, velocity #910
- Bengali বেগ/beɡ/ speed, velocity, rate #2,364
- Bulgarian скорост[ˈskɔrost] speed, velocity #1,584
- Catalan velocitat[bə.lu.siˈtat] speed, velocity #1,594
- Chinese 加速/t͡ɕi̯ä⁵⁵ su⁵¹/ to accelerate; to speed up; to expedite; to… #1,373
- Czech rychlost[ˈrɪxlost] speed, velocity #1,957
- Danish fart/farˀt/ #1,017
- Dutch snelheid/ˈsnɛl.ɦɛi̯t/ speed, velocity #1,999
- English quickly/ˈkwɪk.li/ Rapidly; with speed; fast; with expedition #873
- Estonian kiirus/ˈkiːrus/ speed, velocity #1,860
- French vitesse/vi.tɛs/ #1,637
- German fahren/ˈfaːʁɛn/ to go at speed #368
- Greek ταχύτητα/taˈçitita/ speed, velocity #1,460
- Hebrew מהירות/mhiˈʁut/ a speed, a velocity #1,415
- Korean 속도[sʰo̞k̚t͈o̞] #1,247
- Latvian ātrumu/ˈaːtrumu/ speed, velocity #1,647
- Lithuanian greitis[²ˈɡrʲɛɪˑtʲɪs] speed, velocity #1,483
- Macedonian брзина[ˈbr̩zina] speed, velocity #1,158
- Malay kelajuan/kəlaˈd͡ʒuan/ #1,043
- Malayalam വേഗത/ʋeːɡɐd̪ɐ/ #542
- Norwegian farten/ˈfɑʈɳ̩/ velocity, speed #1,603
- Portuguese rápido/ˈʁa.pi.du/ with speed; rapidly; quickly #444
- Romanian viteză/viˈte.zə/ #1,951
- Serbian brzina/br̩zǐna/ #2,495
- Slovenian hitrost/xitróːst/ speed; quickness; velocity #798
- Spanish velocidad/beloθiˈdad/ #1,572
- Swedish fart/ˈfɑːt/ #850
- Tagalog bilis/biˈlis/ #137
- Tamil விசை/ʋɪtʃɐɪ̯/ haste, speed, impetus #911
- Turkish hızla/hɯzˈɫɑ/ with speed #1,716
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.