How to say “sweet” in 46 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 Afrikaans, where lief is the 162nd most used word.
- Afrikaans lief nice, sweet #162
- Albanian ëmbël #712
- Arabic حلوى candy, confection, sweet pastry #1,028
- Armenian անուշ #482
- Basque gozo #1,180
- Bengali মিষ্টি #610
- Bosnian sladak #1,323
- Bulgarian сладък #1,393
- Catalan dolç #1,782
- Chinese 甜蜜 sweet; sweet-tasting #1,081
- Croatian sladak #1,521
- Danish søde #634
- Dutch lieverd a person who is kind or sweet; a sweetheart #596
- English honey A sweet, viscous, gold-colored fluid produced… #505
- Esperanto dolĉa sweet, having a taste similar to sugar and… #1,628
- Estonian magus #1,872
- French gentil kind, sweet #628
- Georgian ტკბილი #1,265
- German süß #992
- Greek γλυκιά sweet in taste #530
- Hebrew מתוק Sweet: having a pleasant taste, akin to that… #652
- Hindi मिठाई sweet, dessert #1,628
- Hungarian édes #621
- Icelandic sætur sweet, saccharine, sugary #834
- Indonesian manis #593
- Italian dolce #966
- Korean 과자 sweet; confection #2,078
- Lithuanian mielas nice, sweet #530
- Macedonian сладок #1,078
- Malay manis #800
- Malayalam മധുരം a sweet, dessert #950
- Norwegian søtt #1,359
- Polish słodki #2,210
- Portuguese doce sweet, sugary #1,435
- Romanian dulce #1,155
- Russian милый dear, sweet #774
- Serbian sladak #1,335
- Slovak sladký #1,385
- Slovenian sladek #1,362
- Spanish dulce #901
- Swedish söt #1,014
- Tagalog matamis #1,395
- Tamil இனிய sweet, pleasant, delightful #230
- Telugu మిఠాయి #700
- Turkish tatlı sweet; having a pleasant taste, akin to that… #537
- Vietnamese ngọt #1,343
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.