How to say “week” 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.
- semana/seˈmana/ Spanish
- أسبوع/ʔus.buːʕ/ Arabic
- 星期/ɕiŋ⁵⁵ t͡ɕʰi⁵⁵/ Chinese
- 일주일[iʎt͡ɕ͈uiɭ] Korean
- सप्ताह/səp.t̪ɑːɦ/ Hindi
- εβδομάδα/evðoˈmaða/ Greek
“week” in Spanish: semana · French: semaine · German: woche · Italian: settimana · Portuguese: semana · Chinese: 星期 · Korean: 일주일 · Arabic: أسبوع
It is commonest in Persian, where هفته is the 199th most used word.
Week in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans weke/ˈviəkə/ #328
- Albanian javë/javə/ #375
- Arabic أسبوع/ʔus.buːʕ/ #612
- Basque aste/as̺te/ #321
- Bengali সপ্তাহ/ʃɔpt̪aho/ #431
- Bosnian tjedan/tjêdan/ #910
- Bulgarian седмица[ˈsɛdmit͡sɐ] #367
- Catalan setmana[səmˈma.nə] #435
- Chinese 星期/ɕiŋ⁵⁵ t͡ɕʰi⁵⁵/ #286
- Croatian tjedan/tjêdan/ #523
- Czech týden[ˈtiːdɛn] #522
- Danish uge/ˈuːə/ #458
- Dutch weken/ʋeː.kə(n)/ week, period of seven days #564
- English weekend/ˈwiˌkɛnd/ The break in the working week, usually two… #1,346
- Esperanto semajno/seˈmai̯no/ #1,254
- Estonian nädal/ˈnæd̥ɑl/ #771
- Finnish viikon/ˈviːkon/ #885
- French semaine/sə.mɛn/ #436
- Galician semana/seˈmana/ #369
- Georgian კვირა[kʼʷiɾä] #1,049
- German woche/ˈvɔxə/ #496
- Greek εβδομάδα/evðoˈmaða/ #681
- Hebrew שבוע/ʃɔːˈvuːʕ/ week, period of seven days #515
- Hindi सप्ताह/səp.t̪ɑːɦ/ #547
- Icelandic vika[ˈvɪːka] #1,850
- Indonesian minggu/ˈmiŋɡu/ #360
- Italian settimana/set.tiˈma.na/ #413
- Korean 일주일[iʎt͡ɕ͈uiɭ] A week; seven days #750
- Latvian nedēļas/ˈnedeːʎas/ #562
- Lithuanian savaitė[sɐ¹ˈʋɑˑɪtʲeː] #1,512
- Malay minggu/ˈmiŋɡu/ #374
- Malayalam ആഴ്ച/aːɻt͡ʃɐ/ #562
- Norwegian uke/ˈʉːkə/ a week #535
- Persian هفته[hæf.t̪ʰé] #199
- Polish tydzień/ˈtɘ.d͡ʑɛɲ/ #727
- Portuguese semana/seˈmɐ̃.nɐ/ #383
- Romanian săptămâni[səptəˈmɨnʲ] #640
- Serbian tjedan/tjêdan/ #1,252
- Slovak týždeň/tiːʒɟeɲ/ #320
- Slovenian teden/téːdən/ #237
- Spanish semana/seˈmana/ #325
- Swedish veckor/ˈvɛkːuːr/ a week, a period of 7 days #601
- Tamil வாரம்/ʋɑːɾɐm/ #253
- Telugu వారాలు/ˈʋaːraːlu/ #947
- Turkish hafta/hafˈta/ #262
- Ukrainian тиждень[ˈtɪʒdenʲ] #727
- Urdu ہفتہ/ɦəf.t̪ɑ(ː)/ week, sennight #962
- Vietnamese tuần[twən˨˩] #421
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.