How to say “young” in 53 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 Vietnamese, where bạn is the 94th most used word.
- Afrikaans jong #258
- Albanian re #206
- Arabic آنسة young woman #398
- Armenian ջահել #214
- Basque mutil boy, young man #220
- Bengali বাচ্চা young, infantile #235
- Bosnian momci a young man, lad #315
- Bulgarian млад young, youthful #1,101
- Catalan noi boy, young man #256
- Chinese 小伙子 young man; young fellow; lad #637
- Croatian momci a young man, lad #492
- Czech mladý #1,097
- Danish unge #577
- Dutch jongen a young: a young being, especially an… #280
- English baby A very young human, particularly from birth… #269
- Esperanto juna #452
- Estonian neiu a young unmarried woman, a teenager, or a… #1,527
- Finnish nuori #749
- French jeune #423
- Galician novo the young people #161
- Georgian ახალგაზრდა young, youthful #213
- German junge #288
- Greek νέα young, youthful #243
- Hebrew צעיר #642
- Hindi युवा #667
- Hungarian fiatal #627
- Icelandic ungfrú miss, young lady #413
- Indonesian muda #412
- Italian ragazzi boy, young man #218
- Korean 어린 to be young, to be little, to be a child;… #395
- Latvian puiši young man, youth, boy #326
- Lithuanian mergina young woman, girl, lass #263
- Macedonian девојка girl, young female, maiden #222
- Malay budak young person; child #230
- Malayalam ആൺകുട്ടി boy, young male #1,264
- Norwegian jente girl; young woman #398
- Persian جوان #648
- Polish młody #1,086
- Portuguese rapaz boy; young man; lad; youngster #345
- Romanian tânăr #1,020
- Russian молодой #1,501
- Serbian momci a young man, lad #312
- Slovak mladý #543
- Slovenian mlad #673
- Spanish joven young, youthful #504
- Swedish ung #740
- Tagalog itoy term of address for a young boy #1,251
- Tamil இளம் young, tender #407
- Telugu యువ young, youthful #348
- Turkish genç #370
- Ukrainian дівчина young girl, girl #647
- Urdu نوجوان young; young man; teenager #401
- Vietnamese bạn you, a young person in your twenties #94
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.