How to say “sword” in 41 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.
- espada/esˈpada/ Spanish
- سيف/sajf/ Arabic
- तलवार/t̪əl.ʋɑːɾ/ Hindi
- σπαθί/spaˈθi/ Greek
- חרב/ħarb/ Hebrew
- ხმალი[χmäli] Georgian
“sword” in Spanish: espada · French: épée · German: schwert · Italian: spada · Portuguese: espada · Arabic: سيف · Hindi: तलवार · Turkish: kılıç
It is commonest in Tagalog, where espada is the 209th most used word.
Sword in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans swaard/ˈswɑːrt/ #995
- Albanian shpata/ʃpata/ #1,355
- Arabic سيف/sajf/ sword, sabre, foil, rapier, scimitar #1,948
- Armenian սուսեր/suˈseɾ/ thin sword, rapier, epee #434
- Basque ezpata/es̻pata/ #538
- Bengali তরবারি/t̪ɔɾbaɾi/ sword, scimiter #1,247
- Bosnian mač/mât͡ʃ/ #1,731
- Bulgarian меч[mɛt͡ʃ] #2,033
- Catalan espasa[əsˈpa.zə] #780
- Croatian mač/mât͡ʃ/ #1,620
- Czech meč[ˈmɛt͡ʃ] #1,779
- Danish sværd[ˈsʋɛˀɐ̯] #1,706
- Dutch zwaard/zʋaːrt/ a sword, heavy blade weapon #1,714
- Estonian mõõk/ˈmɤːk/ #1,370
- French épée/e.pe/ #2,082
- Galician espada/esˈpada/ sword, which is designed to cut, stab, slash… #997
- Georgian ხმალი[χmäli] sword, longsword #709
- German schwert/ʃveːrt/ #1,760
- Greek σπαθί/spaˈθi/ #1,772
- Hebrew חרב/ħarb/ #1,772
- Hindi तलवार/t̪əl.ʋɑːɾ/ #998
- Indonesian pedang/pəˈdaŋ/ #865
- Italian spada/ˈspa.da/ #1,871
- Korean 칼[kʰa̠ɭ] knife, sword #418
- Latvian zobenu/ˈzuobænu/ #1,381
- Macedonian меч[mɛt͡ʃ] #950
- Malayalam അതി/ɐd̪i/ #923
- Norwegian sverd/ˈsværd/ a sword #2,253
- Persian شمشیر[ʃæm.ʃiːɹ] sword, scimitar, shamshir #1,883
- Portuguese espada/isˈpa.dɐ/ sword, which is designed to cut, stab, slash… #1,660
- Serbian mač/mât͡ʃ/ #1,601
- Slovak meč/met͡ʃ/ #901
- Slovenian meč/mɛ́t͡ʃ/ #596
- Spanish espada/esˈpada/ sword, which is designed to cut, stab, slash… #1,796
- Swedish svärd/ˈsvæːrd/ a sword #2,097
- Tagalog espada/ʔesˈpada/ #209
- Tamil வாள்/ʋɑːɭ/ sword, scimitar, saw, plough, scissors #641
- Turkish kılıç/kɯˈɫɯt͡ʃ/ #1,893
- Ukrainian меч[mɛt͡ʃ] #1,492
- Urdu تلوار/t̪əl.ʋɑːɾ/ a sword #762
- Vietnamese kiếm[kiəm˧˦] #383
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), 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.