How to say “witness” in 39 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 Armenian, where վկա is the 267th most used word.
- Afrikaans getuie #918
- Arabic حي to experience, to witness #815
- Armenian վկա eyewitness, witness #267
- Bengali সাক্ষী witness, eye-witness #974
- Bosnian svjedok #2,180
- Bulgarian свидетел #1,206
- Catalan testimoni #1,306
- Chinese 目睹 to witness; to see with one's own eyes #2,223
- Croatian svjedok #1,553
- Czech svědek #2,225
- Danish vidne #1,269
- Dutch getuige as shown by, judging by, witness #1,030
- Estonian tunnistaja #1,418
- French témoin #1,114
- Galician testemuña #1,570
- German zeugen witness, wit, deponent, attestor, voucher #1,707
- Greek μάρτυρας #1,723
- Hindi गवाह #2,197
- Icelandic vitni #690
- Indonesian saksi #1,064
- Italian testimone #1,337
- Lithuanian liudininkas #2,187
- Macedonian сведок #1,144
- Malay saksi #973
- Malayalam സാക്ഷി #671
- Norwegian vitne a witness #1,279
- Persian شاهد witness; eyewitness; testifier #807
- Portuguese testemunha #1,515
- Romanian martor witness, onlooker, voucher #1,404
- Russian свидетель eyewitness, witness #2,370
- Serbian svedok #1,755
- Slovenian priča #501
- Spanish testigo #1,384
- Swedish vittne a witness #2,123
- Tagalog saksi eyewitness; witness #1,367
- Tamil சாட்சி witness, testament, eye-witness #1,329
- Telugu సాక్షి #1,008
- Turkish tanık #1,309
- Urdu گواہ #369
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.