How to say “thought” 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.
- فكرة/fik.ra/ Arabic
- 생각[sʰɛŋɡa̠k̚] Korean
- σκέψη/ˈscepsi/ Greek
- מחשבה/maχ.ʃaˈva/ Hebrew
- წარმოდგენა[t͡sʼäɾmo̞dɡe̞nä] Georgian
- চিন্তা/t͡ʃint̪a/ Bengali
“thought” in Italian: pensiero · Korean: 생각 · Arabic: فكرة · Turkish: fikir · Greek: σκέψη
It is commonest in Persian, where فکر is the 19th most used word.
Thought in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans gedagtes/xəˈdɐxtəs/ thought, idea #1,011
- Albanian mendim/men.dim/ #1,173
- Arabic فكرة/fik.ra/ thought, reflection #135
- Basque pentsaera/pent͡s̺aeɾa/ thought, way of thinking #2,080
- Bengali চিন্তা/t͡ʃint̪a/ #169
- Bulgarian мисъл[ˈmisɐɫ] thought, thought process, reflection #2,250
- Catalan pensaments/pənsəˈmens/ #1,828
- Chinese 想法/ɕi̯ɑŋ²¹⁴⁻³⁵ fä²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/ idea; thought; intention #192
- Czech myšlenky[ˈmɪʃlɛŋkɪ] idea, thought #1,678
- Danish tanker/tankər/ #1,180
- Dutch gedachten/ɣəˈdɑxtən/ thought, idea #916
- English mind/maɪnd/ The capability for rational thought #254
- Esperanto ideo/iˈdeo/ idea, thought, concept #482
- Estonian mõte/ˈmɤte/ thought, idea #421
- Finnish ajatus/ˈɑjɑtus/ #886
- French sentiments/sɑ̃tiˈmɑ̃/ a sentiment, general thought, sense or feeling #1,383
- Galician pensamento[pensaˈmentʊ] a thought; an idea #1,944
- Georgian წარმოდგენა[t͡sʼäɾmo̞dɡe̞nä] thought, opinion #791
- German gedanken/ɡəˈdaŋ.kən/ a thought ’] #965
- Greek σκέψη/ˈscepsi/ thought, mental activity #1,228
- Hebrew מחשבה/maχ.ʃaˈva/ #1,548
- Hindi सोच/soːt͡ʃ/ contemplation, thought, musing #325
- Icelandic hugur[ˈhʏːɣʏr] mind, thought #1,282
- Indonesian pikir/ˈpikir/ #132
- Italian pensiero/penˈsjɛ.ro/ #1,746
- Korean 생각[sʰɛŋɡa̠k̚] #218
- Latvian domā/ˈduomaː/ #111
- Lithuanian mintis[mʲɪnʲˈtʲɪs] #341
- Malay fikir/ˈfikir/ #132
- Malayalam വിചാരം/ʋid͡ʒaːɾɐm/ #325
- Norwegian tanken/ˈtɑːŋkən/ #1,360
- Persian فکر[fekʰʲɹ] #19
- Polish myśli/ˈmɘ.ɕli/ #224
- Romanian gând/ˈɡɨnd/ thought, idea #477
- Russian идея[ɪˈdʲejə] idea, thought, notion #495
- Slovak myšlienka/miʃʎɪ̯enka/ #1,054
- Slovenian misel/míːsəʋ/ #684
- Swedish tanke/²taŋːkɛ/ a thought #1,143
- Tagalog palagay/palaˈɡaj/ opinion; thought #360
- Tamil யோசனை/joːtʃɐnɐɪ̯/ thought, idea #691
- Telugu ఆలోచన/aːloːt͡ɕana/ thought, looking at, or examining #117
- Turkish fikir/fiˈciɾ/ thought, idea #487
- Ukrainian думка[ˈdumkɐ] #1,340
- Urdu خیال/xə.jɑːl/ thought, idea, opinion; reasoning,… #105
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.