How to say “witch” in 33 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.
- bruja/ˈbɾuxa/ Spanish
- 女巫/ny²¹⁴⁻²¹ u⁵⁵/ Chinese
- 마녀[ma̠ɲʌ̹] Korean
- चुड़ैल/t͡ʃʊ.ɽɛːl/ Hindi
- μάγισσα/ˈmajisˌsa/ Greek
- מכשפה/meχaʃeˈfa/ Hebrew
“witch” in Spanish: bruja · French: sorcière · German: hexe · Italian: strega · Portuguese: bruxa · Chinese: 女巫 · Korean: 마녀 · Hindi: चुड़ैल
It is commonest in Esperanto, where sorĉistino is the 575th most used word.
Witch in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans heks/ɦɛks/ #1,265
- Albanian shtrigë/ʃtɾiːɡ/ Shtriga, a vampiric witch in traditional… #2,200
- Arabic ساحرة/saː.ħi.ra/ sorceress, witch #1,335
- Basque sorgin/s̺orɡin/ witch, evil, crone #1,056
- Bengali ডাইনি/ɖai̯ni/ a witch #1,263
- Bosnian veštica/ʋěʃtit͡sa/ witch, sorceress #2,252
- Bulgarian вещица[ˈvɛʃtit͡sɐ] witch, sorceress #2,114
- Catalan bruixa[ˈbɾu.ʃə] #1,389
- Chinese 女巫/ny²¹⁴⁻²¹ u⁵⁵/ witch; sorceress #967
- Croatian vještica/ʋjěʃtit͡sa/ witch, sorceress #1,731
- Danish heks/ˈhɛɡs/ a witch #1,847
- Dutch heks/ɦɛks/ #2,055
- Esperanto sorĉistino/sort͡ʃisˈtino/ witch, sorceress #575
- Estonian nõid/nɤi̯d̥/ #1,234
- French sorcière/sɔʁ.sjɛʁ/ witch, sorceress #2,322
- German hexe/ˈhɛk.sə/ witch, sorceress #2,019
- Greek μάγισσα/ˈmajisˌsa/ witch, sorceress #2,055
- Hebrew מכשפה/meχaʃeˈfa/ #1,837
- Hindi चुड़ैल/t͡ʃʊ.ɽɛːl/ witch, demoness #1,601
- Icelandic norn[ˈnɔrtn̥] #1,843
- Italian strega/ˈstre.ɡa/ witch, hag #2,436
- Korean 마녀[ma̠ɲʌ̹] witch, sorceress #1,958
- Latvian ragana[ˈɾaɡana] #1,747
- Lithuanian ragana[²ˈrɑːɡɐnɐ] #1,236
- Macedonian вештерка[ˈvɛʃtɛrka] witch, sorceress #1,690
- Persian ساحره[sɒː.ɦe.ɹé] witch, sorceress #2,396
- Portuguese bruxa/ˈbɾu.ʃɐ/ #2,338
- Serbian veštica/ʋěʃtit͡sa/ witch, sorceress #1,621
- Slovak bosorka/bɔsɔrka/ #2,426
- Slovenian čarovnica/t͡ʃarɔ́ːʋnit͡sa/ #789
- Spanish bruja/ˈbɾuxa/ witch, sorceress #2,377
- Tagalog bruha/ˈbɾuha/ hag; witch #2,113
- Urdu ڈائن/ɖɑː.ɪn/ witch; sorceress #1,101
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.