How to say “wife” in 41 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.
- esposa/esˈposa/ Spanish
- жена[ʐɨˈna] Russian
- زوجة/zaw.d͡ʒa/ Arabic
- 妻子/t͡ɕʰi⁵⁵ d͡z̥ɹ̩²/ Chinese
- 부인[puin] Korean
- पत्नी/pət̪.niː/ Hindi
“wife” in Spanish: esposa · Italian: moglie · Chinese: 妻子 · Korean: 부인 · Russian: жена · Arabic: زوجة · Hindi: पत्नी · Turkish: karısı
It is commonest in Chinese, where 妻子 is the 125th most used word.
Wife in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans weduwee/ˈviə̯dyˌviə̯/ widow, surviving wife, dowager #922
- Arabic زوجة/zaw.d͡ʒa/ #548
- Basque emazte/eˈmas̻ˌte/ #559
- Bengali বউ/bou̯/ #820
- Bosnian supruga/ˈsuprʊɡɐ/ wife, female spouse #1,260
- Catalan esposa[əsˈpɔ.zə] wife; female equivalent of espòs #1,140
- Chinese 妻子/t͡ɕʰi⁵⁵ d͡z̥ɹ̩²/ #125
- Croatian supruga/ˈsuprʊɡɐ/ wife, female spouse #963
- Czech manželka[ˈmanʒɛlka] #1,798
- Danish kone[ˈkʰoːnə] #288
- English queen/kwiːn/ The wife, consort, or widow of a king #1,000
- Esperanto edzino/eˈd͡zino/ #247
- Estonian abikaasa/ˈɑb̥iˌkɑˑsɑ/ spouse, husband, wife #580
- Finnish vaimoni/ˈvaimonɪ/ #747
- Galician esposa/esˈposa/ #679
- Georgian ცოლი[t͡sʰo̞li] #408
- Hindi पत्नी/pət̪.niː/ #347
- Hungarian feleségül[ˈfɛlɛʃeːɡyl] #1,913
- Icelandic eiginkona[ˈeijɪnˌkʰɔːna] #1,262
- Indonesian istri/ˈistri/ #602
- Italian moglie/ˈmoʎ.ʎe/ #304
- Korean 부인[puin] #260
- Latvian sieva/ˈsieʋa/ #439
- Lithuanian pati[pɐˈtʲɪ] #220
- Macedonian сопруга[ˈsɔpruɡa] wife, female spouse #900
- Malay isteri/ˌistəˈri/ #372
- Malayalam ഭാര്യ/b(ʱ)aːɾjɐ/ #163
- Polish żona/ˈʐɔ.na/ #537
- Romanian soția/ˈsotsja/ #2,316
- Russian жена[ʐɨˈna] #482
- Serbian supruga/ˈsuprʊɡɐ/ wife, female spouse #1,216
- Slovak manželka/manʒelka/ #778
- Slovenian žena/ʒɛ̀ːna/ #235
- Spanish esposa/esˈposa/ #363
- Swedish fru/frʉː/ #264
- Tamil மனைவி/mɐnɐɪ̯ʋiː/ #181
- Telugu భార్య/bʱaːɾja/ #140
- Turkish karısı/kaɾɯˈsɯ/ #1,096
- Ukrainian молода[mɔɫɔˈda] bride, newlywed wife #1,951
- Urdu بیوی/biː.ʋiː/ #348
- Vietnamese vợ[vəː˧˨ʔ] #397
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.