How to say “wake” in 33 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 Vietnamese, where nhân is the 165th most used word.
- Albanian zgjova to wake up, rouse #1,745
- Arabic استيقظ to wake up #1,146
- Armenian զարթնել to wake up #1,749
- Basque esnatu to wake up, to awake #329
- Bosnian probuditi to wake, wake up, awake, awaken #2,202
- Catalan desperta to wake, awaken, wake up #1,450
- Chinese 起床 to get up; to get out of bed; to wake up #717
- Croatian probuditi to wake, wake up, awake, awaken #1,815
- Danish vågn to awake, to wake #1,142
- Esperanto vekiĝu to wake up #1,154
- Estonian ärgata To recover from sleep; wake up after sleep #2,187
- Finnish herää to wake up, awake, awaken #1,182
- Georgian გაიღვიძე to wake up, to awake #475
- German wachen wake, vigil #1,966
- Greek ξύπνησα to awake, wake up #2,276
- Hebrew העיר To wake, awaken, wake up #355
- Hindi जाग to wake up #1,230
- Hungarian ébredj to wake up #2,466
- Icelandic vakna to wake up, to awaken #857
- Indonesian terjaga wake up #2,402
- Macedonian разбуди to wake up #605
- Malay bangun to wake up; to get up #321
- Norwegian vakt to wake up someone; wake someone, awaken #1,229
- Polish obudź to wake #2,064
- Portuguese acordo to awake; to wake up #450
- Romanian trezi to get up, wake up #2,239
- Slovak prebudiť to wake up #2,410
- Spanish tras after, following, in the wake of; upon #753
- Swedish vaknar to wake up #1,662
- Tagalog gumising to wake up; to awake #592
- Turkish uyan to wake, wake up, awaken, waken #1,047
- Urdu جاگ wake; wakefulness #602
- Vietnamese nhân because of; in the wake of; in the aftermath… #165
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.