How to say “write” in 48 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 Afrikaans, where skryf is the 200th most used word.
- Afrikaans skryf To write #200
- Albanian shkruar to write #639
- Arabic أكتب to dictate something to, to make someone write #1,123
- Armenian գրել to write #902
- Basque idatzi to write #249
- Bengali লেখা to write #410
- Bosnian piše to write #703
- Bulgarian пиша to write #1,267
- Catalan escriure to write #873
- Croatian piše to write #677
- Czech píše to write #1,371
- Danish skrive to write #648
- Dutch schrijven to write #887
- Esperanto skribis to write #503
- Estonian kirjutama to write #1,377
- Finnish kirjoittaa to write #1,142
- French écrit to write #652
- Galician escribir to write #751
- German geschrieben to write, to write out #1,005
- Greek γράφει to write, pen #1,431
- Hebrew כתב to write #874
- Hindi लिखा to write #1,030
- Hungarian írta to write #1,506
- Icelandic skrifa to write #367
- Indonesian menulis to write #549
- Italian scritto to write #636
- Latvian rakstīts to write by means of writing; to make, form… #878
- Lithuanian rašo to write #930
- Macedonian пишува to write #571
- Malay tulis to write #896
- Malayalam എഴുത് to write #1,145
- Norwegian skrive to write #620
- Persian نوشتن to write #1,538
- Polish napisał to write #2,065
- Portuguese escrever to write #932
- Romanian scrie to write #695
- Russian писать to write #1,577
- Serbian piše to write #656
- Slovak napísať to write #840
- Slovenian pisati to write #815
- Spanish escribir to write #1,152
- Swedish skriva to write, to type, to copy; to put letters… #597
- Tagalog sumulat to write #1,123
- Tamil எழுதிய to write #1,308
- Turkish yazan to write, write down, inscribe #2,205
- Ukrainian писати to write #1,512
- Urdu لکھنا to note down, write down #1,701
- Vietnamese viết to write #535
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.