How to say “tree” in 48 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.
- 나무[na̠mu] Korean
- δέντρο/ˈðen.dro/ Greek
- עץ/et͡s/ Hebrew
- ხე[χe̞] Georgian
- গাছ/ɡat͡ʃʰ/ Bengali
- മരം/mɐɾɐm/ Malayalam
“tree” in French: arbre · German: baum · Portuguese: árvore · Korean: 나무 · Turkish: ağaç · Greek: δέντρο
It is commonest in Telugu, where మాకు is the 54th most used word.
Tree in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans bome/ˈbʊə.mə/ #644
- Albanian pemë/pɛːm/ fruit tree #1,086
- Arabic أراك/ʔaraːk/ toothbrush tree #320
- Armenian բուն/bun/ tree trunk #904
- Basque zuhaitz/s̻uai̯t͡s̻/ #638
- Bengali গাছ/ɡat͡ʃʰ/ #479
- Bosnian drvo/dr̩̂ʋo/ #1,347
- Bulgarian ела[ɛˈɫa] fir tree #194
- Catalan oliver[u.liˈβe] olive tree #500
- Croatian drvo/dr̩̂ʋo/ #1,546
- Czech strom[ˈstrom] #2,204
- Danish træ/trɛːˀ/ #1,343
- Dutch boom/boːm/ #1,327
- Esperanto arbo/ˈarbo/ #570
- Estonian puu/ˈpuː/ #1,010
- French arbre/aʁbʁ/ #1,662
- Galician árbore/ˈaɾboɾe/ #1,066
- Georgian ხე[χe̞] #963
- German baum/baʊ̯m/ #1,662
- Greek δέντρο/ˈðen.dro/ #1,346
- Hebrew עץ/et͡s/ #917
- Hindi कदम/kə.d̪əm/ kadam, burflower tree, Leichhardt pine #444
- Hungarian tönkre[ˈtøŋkrɛ] stump, tree stump #1,726
- Icelandic tré[ˈtʰrjɛː] #780
- Indonesian sejarah[səˈd͡ʒarah] family tree, pedigree #757
- Italian pero/ˈpe.ro/ pear tree #823
- Korean 나무[na̠mu] #711
- Latvian koka/ˈkuoka/ #1,616
- Lithuanian medžio[²ˈmʲæːd͡ʒʲo̟ː] #1,275
- Macedonian дрво[ˈdr̩vɔ] a tree #979
- Malay pokok/ˈpokok/ #724
- Malayalam മരം/mɐɾɐm/ #443
- Norwegian treet/treː.e/ #2,108
- Persian درخت[d̪æ.ɹǽxt̪ʰ] #750
- Portuguese árvore/ˈaʁ.vo.ɾi/ #1,467
- Romanian copac/koˈpak/ #1,691
- Serbian drvo/dr̩̂ʋo/ #1,341
- Slovak strom/strɔm/ #1,013
- Slovenian drevo/drɛʋóː/ #659
- Spanish hayas/ˈaʝas/ beech, beech tree #1,189
- Swedish träd/trɛː(d)/ a tree #1,584
- Tagalog puno/ˈpunoʔ/ #393
- Tamil மருதாணி/mɐɾʊd̪ɑːɳiː/ henna tree, mignonette tree #1,250
- Telugu మాకు/maːku/ #54
- Turkish ağaç/aˈat͡ʃ/ #1,630
- Ukrainian дерево[ˈdɛrewɔ] #1,412
- Urdu درخت/d̪ə.ɾəxt̪/ #759
- Vietnamese thụ[tʰu˧˨ʔ] a tree #1,549
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.