How to say “white” in 49 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.
- blanco/ˈblanko/ Spanish
- белый[ˈbʲeɫəj] Russian
- أبيض/ʔab.jadˤ/ Arabic
- לבן/laːˈbaːn/ Hebrew
- თეთრი[tʰe̞tʰɾi] Georgian
- սպիտակ/spiˈtɑk/ Armenian
“white” in Spanish: blanco · German: weißen · Italian: bianco · Portuguese: branco · Russian: белый · Arabic: أبيض · Turkish: beyaz
It is commonest in Tamil, where வெள்ளை is the 246th most used word.
White in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans wit/vət/ #564
- Albanian bardhë/ˈbaɾðə/ #538
- Arabic أبيض/ʔab.jadˤ/ #1,036
- Armenian սպիտակ/spiˈtɑk/ #806
- Bengali শ্বেত/ʃet̪/ #2,170
- Bulgarian бял[bʲa̟ɫ] #1,298
- Catalan blanc[ˈblaŋ] #1,003
- Chinese 白人/paɪ̯³⁵ ɻən³⁵/ white person; Caucasian #696
- Czech bílý[ˈbiːliː] #1,947
- Danish hvide/ˈviːðə/ #737
- Dutch witte/ˈʋɪ.tə/ #1,029
- English milk/mɛlk/ A white liquid produced by the mammary glands… #1,450
- Esperanto blanka/ˈblanka/ #972
- Estonian valge/ˈvɑlɡ̊e/ #726
- Finnish valkoinen/ˈʋɑlkoi̯nen/ #1,670
- French blanc/blɑ̃/ white color #970
- Galician branco/ˈbɾaŋko/ #517
- Georgian თეთრი[tʰe̞tʰɾi] #308
- German weißen/ˈvaɪ̯sən/ #1,592
- Greek λευκό/lefˈko/ The colour white #1,425
- Hebrew לבן/laːˈbaːn/ #630
- Hungarian fehér[ˈfɛɦeːr] #606
- Icelandic hvítur[ˈkʰviːtʏr] #1,330
- Indonesian putih/ˈputih/ #634
- Italian bianco/ˈbjan.ko/ #1,182
- Korean 백인[pɛɡin] white person #913
- Latvian balto/ˈbaltuo/ #1,408
- Lithuanian balta[bɐl.ˈtɐ] #1,617
- Macedonian бел[bɛɫ] #945
- Malay putih/ˈputih/ Being white in colour #567
- Malayalam വെളുത്ത/ʋeɭut̪t̪ɐ/ #651
- Norwegian hvite[ˈʋîː.tɛ̝] #730
- Persian سفید[se.fiːd̪̥] #1,248
- Polish biały/ˈbja.wɘ/ #1,933
- Portuguese branco/ˈbɾɐ̃.ku/ #1,067
- Romanian alb/ˈalb/ #1,033
- Russian белый[ˈbʲeɫəj] #1,699
- Serbian beli/ˈbɛlɪ/ #1,839
- Slovak biely/bɪ̯eli/ #911
- Slovenian bel/bèːʋ/ #1,145
- Spanish blanco/ˈblanko/ #835
- Swedish vita/ˈviːta/ #864
- Tagalog puti/puˈtiʔ/ #752
- Tamil வெள்ளை/ʋɛɭːɐɪ̯/ #246
- Telugu తెలుపు/t̪elupu/ #401
- Turkish beyaz/beˈjɑz/ #503
- Ukrainian білий[ˈbʲiɫei̯] #1,851
- Urdu سفید/sə.feːd̪/ #417
- Vietnamese trắng[t͡ɕaŋ˧˦] #784
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.