How to say “thought” in 44 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 Persian, where فکر is the 19th most used word.
- Afrikaans gedagtes thought, idea #1,011
- Albanian mendim #1,173
- Arabic فكرة thought, reflection #135
- Basque pentsaera thought, way of thinking #2,080
- Bengali চিন্তা #169
- Bulgarian мисъл thought, thought process, reflection #2,250
- Catalan pensaments #1,828
- Chinese 想法 idea; thought; intention #192
- Czech myšlenky idea, thought #1,678
- Danish tanker #1,180
- Dutch gedachten thought, idea #916
- English mind The capability for rational thought #254
- Esperanto ideo idea, thought, concept #482
- Estonian mõte thought, idea #421
- Finnish ajatus #886
- French sentiments a sentiment, general thought, sense or feeling #1,383
- Galician pensamento a thought; an idea #1,944
- Georgian წარმოდგენა thought, opinion #791
- German gedanken a thought ’] #965
- Greek σκέψη thought, mental activity #1,228
- Hebrew מחשבה #1,548
- Hindi सोच contemplation, thought, musing #325
- Icelandic hugur mind, thought #1,282
- Indonesian pikir #132
- Italian pensiero #1,746
- Korean 생각 #218
- Latvian domā #111
- Lithuanian mintis #341
- Malay fikir #132
- Malayalam വിചാരം #325
- Norwegian tanken #1,360
- Persian فکر #19
- Polish myśli #224
- Romanian gând thought, idea #477
- Russian идея idea, thought, notion #495
- Slovak myšlienka #1,054
- Slovenian misel #684
- Swedish tanke a thought #1,143
- Tagalog palagay opinion; thought #360
- Tamil யோசனை thought, idea #691
- Telugu ఆలోచన thought, looking at, or examining #117
- Turkish fikir thought, idea #487
- Ukrainian думка #1,340
- Urdu خیال thought, idea, opinion; reasoning,… #105
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.