How to say “strange” in 44 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.
- extraño/e(ɡ)sˈtɾaɲo/ Spanish
- غريب/ɣa.riːb/ Arabic
- 이상한[isaŋhan] Korean
- अजीब/ə.d͡ʒiːb/ Hindi
- παράξενο/paˈrakseˌno/ Greek
- מוזר/muˈzaʁ/ Hebrew
“strange” in Spanish: extraño · German: merkwürdig · Italian: strano · Korean: 이상한 · Arabic: غريب · Hindi: अजीब · Turkish: tuhaf · Greek: παράξενο
It is commonest in Arabic, where غريب is the 231st most used word.
Strange in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans vreemd/frɪəmt/ strange; odd #561
- Albanian çuditshme/t͡ʃuditʃmɛ/ strange, odd, peculiar, weird #427
- Arabic غريب/ɣa.riːb/ strange, peculiar, unusual #231
- Armenian տարօրինակ/tɑɾoɾiˈnɑk/ strange, weird, odd #301
- Bengali অদ্ভুত/ɔd̪bʱut̪/ strange, queer, odd #355
- Bosnian čudan/t͡ʃûdan/ strange, weird, odd #1,591
- Bulgarian странен[ˈstranɛn] strange, odd #1,434
- Chinese 奇怪/t͡ɕʰi³⁵ ku̯aɪ̯⁵¹/ odd; strange; surprising; unexpected #134
- Croatian čudan/t͡ʃûdan/ strange, weird, odd #1,421
- Czech divné[ˈɟɪvnɛː] strange, odd, surprising #973
- Danish mærkeligt/ˈmɛɐ̯ɡəlid/ weird, strange, odd #1,204
- Dutch vreemd/vreːmt/ strange, weird, odd #661
- English weird/ˈwiɚd/ Having an unusually strange character or… #714
- Esperanto stranga/ˈstranɡa/ strange, odd, peculiar #601
- Estonian imelik/ˈimelik/ strange, weird, odd #631
- Finnish outoa/ˈoutoa/ strange, weird #681
- French bizarre/bi.zaʁ/ bizarre, odd, strange, funny #572
- Georgian უცხო[ut͡sʰχo̞] #835
- German merkwürdig/ˈmɛʁkˌvʏʁdɪç/ strange, odd #2,119
- Greek παράξενο/paˈrakseˌno/ strange, weird, odd, bizarre #854
- Hebrew מוזר/muˈzaʁ/ strange, odd, bizarre, unusual, weird #308
- Hindi अजीब/ə.d͡ʒiːb/ #462
- Hungarian furcsa[ˈfurt͡ʃɒ] strange, odd, peculiar, curious, weird,… #541
- Indonesian aneh/ˈaneh/ strange, weird, odd, unusual #280
- Italian strano/ˈstra.no/ strange, odd, dodgy #502
- Korean 이상한[isaŋhan] strange, abnormal #299
- Latvian dīvaini/ˈdiːʋaiːni/ strange, odd, strangely, oddly; adverbial… #639
- Lithuanian keistas[ˈkʲɛjstɐs] strange, odd, peculiar #772
- Macedonian чуден[ˈt͡ʃudɛn] strange, peculiar, weird, odd, unusual #1,152
- Malay pelik/pəˈlek/ #422
- Malayalam വിചിത്രം/ʋid͡ʒit̪rɐm/ weird, uncanny, strange #750
- Norwegian rart/ˈrɑːʈ/ #581
- Persian عجیب[ʔæ.d͡ʒiːb̥] #1,071
- Polish dziwne/ˈd͡ʑiv.nɛ/ strange, odd, weird #587
- Portuguese estranho/isˈtɾɐ̃.ɲu/ odd; strange #493
- Romanian ciudat/t͡ʃuˈdat/ strange, unusual, weird #385
- Russian странно[ˈstranːə] strangely, strange, funnily, curiously,… #567
- Serbian čudan/t͡ʃûdan/ strange, weird, odd #1,370
- Slovak divný/ɟivniː/ strange, odd, surprising #1,143
- Spanish extraño/e(ɡ)sˈtɾaɲo/ strange, unusual, odd, weird, bizarre,… #641
- Swedish konstig/ˈkɔnstɪɡ/ weird, strange #1,640
- Turkish tuhaf/tuˈhaf/ #485
- Urdu عجیب/ə.d͡ʒiːb/ #345
- Vietnamese lạ[laː˧˨ʔ] strange; unfamiliar #580
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), Estonian (news (et_EE), 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.