How to say “town” in 36 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.
- pueblo/ˈpweblo/ Spanish
- مدينة/ma.diː.na/ Arabic
- πόλη/ˈpoli/ Greek
- ქალაქი[kʰäɫäkʰi] Georgian
- শহর/ʃɔhoɾ/ Bengali
- ഊര്/uːɾɨ/ Malayalam
“town” in Spanish: pueblo · French: ville · Italian: città · Arabic: مدينة · Greek: πόλη
It is commonest in Georgian, where ქალაქი is the 288th most used word.
Town in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans dorp/dɔrp/ #538
- Arabic مدينة/ma.diː.na/ town, city #351
- Basque herri/heri/ village, town #440
- Bengali শহর/ʃɔhoɾ/ town, city #437
- Bosnian grad/ɡrâːd/ city, town #455
- Bulgarian града[ɡrɐˈdɤ] town, city #379
- Chinese 城市/ʈ͡ʂʰɤŋ³⁵ ʂɻ̩⁵¹/ city; town #231
- Croatian grad/ɡrâːd/ city, town #454
- Danish byen/ˈbyːˀən/ town, city #355
- Dutch stad/stɑt/ city, town #370
- Esperanto urbo/ˈurbo/ city, town #360
- Finnish kaupungin/ˈkaupuŋŋɪn/ town, city #998
- French ville/vil/ town, city #329
- Galician vila/ˈbila/ town; urban settlement smaller than a cidade… #764
- Georgian ქალაქი[kʰäɫäkʰi] town, city #288
- Greek πόλη/ˈpoli/ town; city #316
- Hebrew בחייך/beχaˈjeχa/ come on, get out of town, expression of… #258
- Hungarian város[ˈvaːroʃ] city, town #846
- Icelandic hverfi[ˈkʰvɛrvɪ] section of a town or city; district,… #1,485
- Italian città/t͡ʃitˈta/ town, city #630
- Latvian pilsētā/ˈpilsæːtaː/ city, town #654
- Lithuanian miestelis[mʲiɛ²ˈsʲtʲæːlʲɪs] #2,021
- Macedonian град[ɡrat] city, town #368
- Malay bandar/ˈbanda(r)/ A city or town #260
- Malayalam ഊര്/uːɾɨ/ town, village #381
- Norwegian byen/ˈbyːən/ town, city #308
- Persian شهر[ʃæɦɹ] city, town #173
- Polish miasta/ˈmjas.ta/ city, town #693
- Portuguese cidade/siˈda.d͡ʒi/ city, town #289
- Romanian oraș/oˈraʃ/ city, town #2,369
- Russian город[ˈɣorət] city, town #631
- Serbian grad/ɡrâːd/ city, town #459
- Spanish pueblo/ˈpweblo/ town, village #566
- Swedish staden/ˈstɑːdɛn/ a city, a town #804
- Tagalog kababayan/kabaˈbajan/ fellow resident of the same town or province;… #681
- Tamil உள்ளூர்/ʊɭːuːɾ/ heart of a town, interior of a village #442
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).
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.