How to say “uncle” in 46 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.
- tío/ˈtio/ Spanish
- дядя[ˈdʲædʲə] Russian
- 삼촌[sʰa̠mt͡ɕʰo̞n] Korean
- अंकल/əŋ.kəl/ Hindi
- θείος/ˈθi.os/ Greek
- דוד/doːd/ Hebrew
“uncle” in Spanish: tío · French: oncle · German: onkel · Italian: zio · Portuguese: tio · Korean: 삼촌 · Russian: дядя · Hindi: अंकल
It is commonest in Spanish, where tío is the 333rd most used word.
Uncle in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans oom/oəm/ #355
- Albanian xhaxha/dʒadʒa/ paternal uncle #1,044
- Armenian հորեղբայր/hoɾeχˈpɑjɾ/ paternal uncle #652
- Basque osaba/os̺aba/ #405
- Bengali মামা/ma.ma/ maternal uncle #614
- Bosnian ujak/ûjaːk/ maternal uncle #1,515
- Bulgarian чичо[ˈt͡ʃit͡ʃo̟] paternal uncle #521
- Catalan oncle[ˈoŋ.klə] #708
- Chinese 叔叔/ʂu⁵⁵ ʂu²/ paternal uncle #267
- Croatian ujak/ûjaːk/ maternal uncle #1,448
- Czech strýc[ˈstriːt͡s] #2,428
- Danish onkel/ˈonˀɡəl/ #700
- Dutch oom/oːm/ #768
- Esperanto onklo/ˈonklo/ #498
- Estonian onu/ˈonu/ #592
- French oncle/ɔ̃kl/ #763
- Galician tío/ˈtio/ #362
- Georgian ძია[d͡ziä] #821
- German onkel/ˈɔŋkəl/ #726
- Greek θείος/ˈθi.os/ #1,284
- Hebrew דוד/doːd/ #654
- Hindi अंकल/əŋ.kəl/ #1,332
- Hungarian bácsi[ˈbaːt͡ʃi] #1,574
- Icelandic frændi[ˈfraintɪ] an uncle #453
- Indonesian paman/ˈpaman/ #581
- Italian zio/ˈd͡zi.o/ #860
- Korean 삼촌[sʰa̠mt͡ɕʰo̞n] uncle; male sibling of a parent #577
- Latvian tēvoci/ˈteːʋuot͡si/ #1,182
- Lithuanian dėdė[²ˈdʲeːdʲeː] #717
- Macedonian чичко[ˈt͡ʃit͡ʃkɔ] #800
- Malay paman/ˈpaman/ #1,399
- Malayalam വല്യച്ഛൻ/ʋɐljɐt͡ʃt͡ʃ(ʰ)ɐn/ older paternal uncle #1,434
- Norwegian onkel/ˈʊŋkəl/ an uncle #836
- Persian عمو[ʔæ.muː] paternal uncle #652
- Polish wujek/ˈvu.jɛk/ maternal uncle #1,927
- Portuguese tio/ˈt͡ʃi.u/ #732
- Russian дядя[ˈdʲædʲə] #1,058
- Serbian ujak/ûjaːk/ maternal uncle #1,646
- Slovak strýko/striːkɔ/ paternal uncle #589
- Slovenian stric/strìːt͡s/ #365
- Spanish tío/ˈtio/ #333
- Swedish farbror/ˈfarbruːr/ a paternal uncle #941
- Telugu మామ/maːma/ maternal uncle #1,413
- Turkish amca/amˈd͡ʒa/ paternal uncle, one's father's brother #949
- Ukrainian дядько[ˈdʲadʲkɔ] #1,186
- Urdu انکل/əŋ.kəl/ #1,451
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.