How to say “thief” in 39 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.
- لص/lisˤsˤ/ Arabic
- 小偷/ɕi̯ɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ tʰoʊ̯⁵⁵/ Chinese
- 도둑[to̞duk̚] Korean
- चोर/t͡ʃoːɾ/ Hindi
- գող/ɡoʁ/ Armenian
- திருடி/t̪ɪɾʊɖiː/ Tamil
“thief” in German: dieb · Italian: ladro · Portuguese: ladrão · Chinese: 小偷 · Korean: 도둑 · Arabic: لص · Hindi: चोर · Turkish: hırsız
It is commonest in Telugu, where దొంగ is the 476th most used word.
Thief in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans dief/ˈdif/ A thief #1,158
- Albanian hajdut/hajdut/ #1,267
- Arabic لص/lisˤsˤ/ thief, robber #1,971
- Armenian գող/ɡoʁ/ #1,051
- Basque lapur/lapur/ #833
- Bengali চোর/t͡ʃoɾ/ robber, thief, burglar #646
- Bosnian lopov/lǒːpoʋ/ thief, crook #1,878
- Bulgarian крадец[krɐˈdɛt͡s] #1,619
- Catalan lladre[ˈʎa.ðɾə] thief, burglar #1,565
- Chinese 小偷/ɕi̯ɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ tʰoʊ̯⁵⁵/ thief; petty thief #949
- Croatian lopov/lǒːpoʋ/ thief, crook #1,955
- Czech zloděj[ˈzloɟɛj] #2,297
- Danish tyv[ˈtˢywˀ] #2,354
- Dutch dief/dif/ a thief, one who steals #2,158
- Estonian varas/ˈvɑrɑs/ #1,489
- French voleur/vɔ.lœʁ/ robber, thief #2,003
- Galician ladrón/laˈdɾoŋ/ thief; robber; rogue; crook #1,480
- German dieb/diːp/ #2,428
- Hindi चोर/t͡ʃoːɾ/ thief, robber, burglar #1,073
- Hungarian tolvaj[ˈtolvɒj] #2,352
- Indonesian pencuri/pənˈt͡ʃuri/ #1,129
- Italian ladro/ˈla.dro/ thief, lift #2,338
- Korean 도둑[to̞duk̚] #1,646
- Latvian zaglis[zaɡlis] #1,557
- Lithuanian vagis[ʋɐˈɡʲɪs] #1,168
- Macedonian крадец[ˈkradɛt͡s] #1,470
- Malay pencuri/pənˈt͡ʃuri/ #802
- Malayalam കള്ളൻ/kɐɭɭɐn/ #1,927
- Persian دزد[d̪ozd̪̥] thief, burglar, robber, stealer #914
- Portuguese ladrão/laˈdɾɐ̃w̃/ #2,051
- Serbian lopov/lǒːpoʋ/ thief, crook #1,828
- Slovak zlodej/zlɔɟej/ #1,046
- Slovenian tat/tát/ #962
- Tagalog magnanakaw/ˌmaɡnaˈnakaw/ thief; robber #519
- Tamil திருடி/t̪ɪɾʊɖiː/ #796
- Telugu దొంగ/ˈdonɡa/ thief, robber #476
- Turkish hırsız/hɯɾsɯz/ thief, burglar #1,561
- Urdu چور/t͡ʃoːɾ/ #1,145
- Vietnamese trộm[t͡ɕom˧˨ʔ] #811
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.