How to say “sun” in 43 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.
- sol/ˈsol/ Spanish
- солнце[ˈsont͡sə] Russian
- الشمس/aʃʃams/ Arabic
- 태양[tʰɛja̠ŋ] Korean
- ήλιος/ˈi.ʎos/ Greek
- חמה/χaˈma/ Hebrew
“sun” in Spanish: sol · French: soleil · Portuguese: sol · Korean: 태양 · Russian: солнце · Arabic: الشمس · Turkish: güneş · Greek: ήλιος
It is commonest in Tagalog, where araw is the 83rd most used word.
Sun in other languages, A to Z
- Albanian dielli/diɛɫi/ #847
- Arabic الشمس/aʃʃams/ definite of شَمْس; the sun #407
- Basque eguzki/eɡus̻ki/ #1,074
- Bengali সূর্য/ʃuɹd͡ʒo/ the sun #716
- Bosnian sunce/sûːnt͡se/ #1,032
- Bulgarian слънце[ˈsɫɤnt͡sɛ] #1,784
- Catalan sol[ˈsɔl] #249
- Croatian sunce/sûːnt͡se/ #1,082
- Czech slunce[ˈslunt͡sɛ] #1,011
- Danish solen/ˈsoːˀlən/ #1,215
- Dutch zon/zɔn/ sun, Sun #1,018
- English day/deɪ̯/ The time when the Sun is above the horizon… #148
- Esperanto suno/ˈsuno/ the Sun #529
- Estonian päike/ˈpæi̯ke/ #1,101
- Finnish aurinko/ˈɑu̯riŋko/ the Sun #2,147
- French soleil/sɔ.lɛj/ #865
- Galician sol/ˈsol/ #468
- Greek ήλιος/ˈi.ʎos/ #1,713
- Hebrew חמה/χaˈma/ #1,552
- Indonesian matahari/mataˈhari/ #669
- Korean 태양[tʰɛja̠ŋ] sun; the Sun #1,649
- Latvian saule[ˈsāū̯lɛ] #1,121
- Lithuanian saulės/ˈsɑuleːs/ #806
- Macedonian сонце[ˈsɔnt͡sɛ] #1,398
- Malay hangat/ˈhaŋat/ hot, but not because of being left in the sun #1,411
- Malayalam രവി/ɾɐʋi/ #2,061
- Norwegian solen/¹suː.lən/ #1,638
- Persian خورشید[xoɹ.ʃíːd̪̥] the sun #1,949
- Polish słońce/ˈswɔɲ.t͡sɛ/ #1,622
- Portuguese sol/ˈsɔw/ sun; sunlight, sunshine #819
- Romanian soarele/ˈso̯a.re.le/ #1,370
- Russian солнце[ˈsont͡sə] #1,584
- Serbian sunce/sûːnt͡se/ #919
- Slovak slnko/sl̩nkɔ/ #731
- Slovenian sonce/sóːnt͡sɛ/ #505
- Spanish sol/ˈsol/ #813
- Swedish solen/ˈsuːlɛn/ #1,255
- Tagalog araw/ˈʔaɾaw/ #83
- Tamil எல்/ɛl/ #356
- Telugu పరిధి/ˈparidʰi/ the halo of the sun or moon #1,021
- Turkish güneş/ɟyˈneʃ/ #741
- Ukrainian сонце[ˈsɔnt͡se] #1,196
- Urdu سورج/suː.ɾəd͡ʒ/ Sun, sun #567
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.