How to say “world” in 47 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.
- mundo/ˈmundo/ Spanish
- عالم/ʕaː.lam/ Arabic
- 세상[ˈsʰe̞(ː)sʰa̠ŋ] Korean
- दुनिया/d̪ʊ.nɪ.jɑː/ Hindi
- γη/ˈʝi/ Greek
- სამყარო[sämχʼäɾo̞] Georgian
“world” in Spanish: mundo · French: monde · German: welt · Italian: mondo · Portuguese: mundo · Korean: 세상 · Arabic: عالم · Hindi: दुनिया
It is commonest in Tagalog, where mundo is the 92nd most used word.
World in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans wêreld/ˈvɛːrəlt/ #225
- Albanian tokë/tɔkə/ land, earth, world; ground, floor #469
- Arabic عالم/ʕaː.lam/ #443
- Armenian աշխարհ/ɑʃˈχɑɾ/ world, universe #1,466
- Basque mundu/mundu/ #231
- Bengali বিশ্ব/biʃːo/ globe; world #947
- Bosnian svijet/sʋjêːt/ #577
- Bulgarian свят[svʲa̟t] world, earth, universe #359
- Chinese 世上/ʂɻ̩⁵¹⁻⁵³ ʂɑŋ⁵¹/ in all of the world; in the whole world; on… #538
- Croatian svijet/sʋjêːt/ #433
- Czech svět[ˈsvjɛt] #497
- Danish verden[ˈʋaɐ̯d̥n̩] #249
- Dutch wereld/ˈʋeː.rəlt/ #287
- English physical/ˈfɪz.ɪ.kəl/ Pertaining to the world as understood through… #2,110
- Esperanto mondo/ˈmondo/ #166
- Estonian maailma/ˈmɑːi̯lmɑ/ #376
- Finnish maailman/ˈmɑː(ˌ)ilmɑn/ the Earth, the world #512
- French monde/mɔ̃d/ #135
- Galician mundo/ˈmundo/ #129
- Georgian სამყარო[sämχʼäɾo̞] world, Universe #528
- German welt/vɛlt/ #266
- Greek γη/ˈʝi/ world, earth #565
- Hebrew העולם/(h)a(ʔ)oˈlam/ the world: singular definite form of עוֹלָם #315
- Hindi दुनिया/d̪ʊ.nɪ.jɑː/ #206
- Hungarian világ[ˈvilaːɡ] #385
- Icelandic heiminum/ˈheiːmɪnʏm/ #466
- Indonesian dunia/duˈnia/ #182
- Italian mondo/ˈmon.do/ #262
- Korean 세상[ˈsʰe̞(ː)sʰa̠ŋ] #527
- Latvian pasaulē/ˈpasauleː/ #324
- Lithuanian pasaulio[pɐ¹ˈsɑˑʊlʲo̟ː] #323
- Macedonian свет[svɛt] #307
- Malay dunia/ˈdunia/ #168
- Malayalam ലോകം/loːɡɐm/ #167
- Persian دنیا[d̪oɲ.jɒː] #534
- Polish świat/ˈɕfjat/ #455
- Portuguese mundo/ˈmũ.du/ #216
- Romanian lumea/ˈlume̯a/ #183
- Serbian svijet/sʋjêːt/ #1,222
- Slovak svet/svet/ the world #277
- Spanish mundo/ˈmundo/ world, earth #164
- Swedish världen/ˈvæːɖɛn/ #326
- Tagalog mundo/munˈdo/ world; the earth #92
- Tamil உலகம்/ʊlɐɡɐm/ world, earth #409
- Turkish dünya/dyn.jaː/ #326
- Ukrainian світ[sʲʋʲit] #371
- Urdu دنیا/d̪ʊn.jɑː/ #117
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) and Estonian (news (et_EE), CC BY 4.0).
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.