How to say “steal” 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.
- سرق/saraqa/ Arabic
- चुरा/t͡ʃʊ.ɾɑː/ Hindi
- גנב/ɡaˈnav/ Hebrew
- திருடு/t̪ɪɾʊɖɯ/ Tamil
“steal” in German: gestohlen · Italian: rubato · Portuguese: roubar · Arabic: سرق · Hindi: चुरा · Turkish: çalmak
It is commonest in Basque, where lapurtu is the 377th most used word.
Steal in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans steel/stiə̯l/ to steal #839
- Albanian vjedh/vjɛð/ to steal #1,353
- Arabic سرق/saraqa/ to steal, take away clandestinely #1,032
- Armenian խլել/χəˈlel/ to seize, snatch, steal, take away #848
- Basque lapurtu/lapurtu/ to steal #377
- Bosnian ukrasti/ǔkrasti/ to steal #2,366
- Catalan roba[ˈrɔ.βə] to rob, steal #649
- Chinese 偷看/tʰoʊ̯⁵⁵ kʰän⁵¹/ to steal a glance at; to peek #1,875
- Croatian ukrasti/ǔkrasti/ to steal #1,852
- Czech ukradl[ˈukradl̩] to steal #1,290
- Danish stjal/stjaːˀl/ to steal #886
- Dutch gestolen/ɣəsˈtoːlən/ to steal #745
- English rob/ɹɑb/ To steal from, especially using force or… #2,177
- Esperanto ŝtelis/ˈʃtelis/ to steal #627
- Estonian varastama/ˈvɑrɑstɑmɑ/ to steal #2,485
- Finnish varasti/ˈvarastɪ/ to steal, thieve, purloin #2,226
- Galician roubar/rowˈbaɾ/ to steal #1,421
- German gestohlen/ɡəˈʃtoːlən/ to steal #1,097
- Hebrew גנב/ɡaˈnav/ to steal #937
- Hindi चुरा/t͡ʃʊ.ɾɑː/ to steal #1,016
- Icelandic stela/ˈstɛːla/ to steal #687
- Indonesian mencuri/mənˈt͡ʃuri/ to steal #553
- Italian rubato/ruˈba.to/ to steal #976
- Latvian nozaga/ˈnuozaɡa/ to steal #1,202
- Lithuanian vogti/ˈʋoːkʲtʲɪ/ to steal #1,818
- Macedonian украде[ˈukradɛ] to steal #930
- Norwegian stjal/ˈstjɑːl/ to steal #869
- Polish ukradł/ˈu.kradw/ to steal #2,293
- Portuguese roubar/ʁo(w)ˈba(ʁ)/ to steal #1,095
- Romanian fura/fuˈra/ to steal #2,269
- Slovak ukradnúť/ukradnuːc/ to steal #1,020
- Slovenian ukrasti/ukràːsti/ to steal #985
- Swedish stal/stɑːl/ to steal #987
- Tagalog magnakaw/maɡˈnakaw/ to steal #1,244
- Tamil திருடு/t̪ɪɾʊɖɯ/ to steal #2,112
- Turkish çalmak/t͡ʃɑɫˈmɑk/ to steal #2,136
- Urdu لوٹنا/luːʈnɑː/ to loot, steal #1,740
- Vietnamese cắp[kap̚˧˦] to filch, to steal #1,110
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 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.