How to say “write” in 48 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.
- escribir/eskɾiˈbiɾ/ Spanish
- писать[pʲɪˈsatʲ] Russian
- लिखा/lɪ.kʰɑː/ Hindi
- γράφει/ˈɣrafi/ Greek
- כתב/kaːˈtab/ Hebrew
- գրել/ɡəˈɾel/ Armenian
“write” in Spanish: escribir · French: écrit · German: geschrieben · Italian: scritto · Portuguese: escrever · Russian: писать · Hindi: लिखा · Turkish: yazan
It is commonest in Afrikaans, where skryf is the 200th most used word.
Write in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans skryf[skrəi̯f] To write #200
- Albanian shkruar/ʃkɾuaɾ/ to write #639
- Arabic أكتب/ʔaktaba/ to dictate something to, to make someone write #1,123
- Armenian գրել/ɡəˈɾel/ to write #902
- Basque idatzi/idat͡s̻i/ to write #249
- Bengali লেখা/lɛkʰa/ to write #410
- Bosnian piše/ˈpiʃɛ/ to write #703
- Bulgarian пиша[ˈpiʃɐ] to write #1,267
- Catalan escriure[əsˈkɾiw.ɾə] to write #873
- Croatian piše/ˈpiʃɛ/ to write #677
- Czech píše[ˈpiːʃɛ] to write #1,371
- Danish skrive/skriːvə/ to write #648
- Dutch schrijven/ˈsxrɛi̯və(n)/ to write #887
- Esperanto skribis/ˈskribis/ to write #503
- Estonian kirjutama/ˈkirjutɑmɑ/ to write #1,377
- Finnish kirjoittaa/ˈkirjoi̯tːɑːˣ/ to write #1,142
- French écrit/e.kʁi/ to write #652
- Galician escribir/eskɾiˈbiɾ/ to write #751
- German geschrieben/ɡəˈʃʁiːbən/ to write, to write out #1,005
- Greek γράφει/ˈɣrafi/ to write, pen #1,431
- Hebrew כתב/kaːˈtab/ to write #874
- Hindi लिखा/lɪ.kʰɑː/ to write #1,030
- Hungarian írta[ˈiːrtɒ] to write #1,506
- Icelandic skrifa[ˈskrɪːva] to write #367
- Indonesian menulis/məˈnulis/ to write #549
- Italian scritto/ˈskrit.to/ to write #636
- Latvian rakstīts/ˈrakstiːts/ to write by means of writing; to make, form… #878
- Lithuanian rašo[²ˈrɑːʃoː] to write #930
- Macedonian пишува[ˈpiʃuva] to write #571
- Malay tulis/ˈtules/ to write #896
- Malayalam എഴുത്/eɻud̪ɨ/ to write #1,145
- Norwegian skrive/ˈskriːvə/ to write #620
- Persian نوشتن[ne.veʃ.t̪ʰǽn] to write #1,538
- Polish napisał/naˈpi.saw/ to write #2,065
- Portuguese escrever/is.kɾeˈve(ʁ)/ to write #932
- Romanian scrie[ˈskri.e] to write #695
- Russian писать[pʲɪˈsatʲ] to write #1,577
- Serbian piše/ˈpiʃɛ/ to write #656
- Slovak napísať/napiːsac/ to write #840
- Slovenian pisati/pìːsati/ to write #815
- Spanish escribir/eskɾiˈbiɾ/ to write #1,152
- Swedish skriva/²skriːva/ to write, to type, to copy; to put letters… #597
- Tagalog sumulat/suˈmulat/ to write #1,123
- Tamil எழுதிய/ɛɻʊd̪ɪjɐ/ to write #1,308
- Turkish yazan/jaˈzan/ to write, write down, inscribe #2,205
- Ukrainian писати[peˈsate] to write #1,512
- Urdu لکھنا/lɪkʰ.nɑː/ to note down, write down #1,701
- Vietnamese viết[viət̚˧˦] to write #535
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.