Food is essential to our survival and is an integral part of our cultures and daily practices. The word for “food” varies widely across the world, each with its own linguistic heritage. Here is how to say “food” in 70 different languages, a fundamental term that connects us all, no matter where we are.
- Albanian (🇦🇱) – Ushqim | Pronunciation: Oosh-keem
- Arabic (Standard) (🇸🇦) – طعام (Ta’am) | Pronunciation: Ta-am
- Armenian (🇦🇲) – Ուտեստ (Utest) | Pronunciation: Oo-test
- Azerbaijani (🇦🇿) – Qida | Pronunciation: Ghee-dah
- Basque (🇪🇸) – Janari | Pronunciation: Ha-nar-ee
- Belarusian (🇧🇾) – Ежа (Ezha) | Pronunciation: Yeh-zha
- Bengali (🇧🇩) – খাবার (Khabar) | Pronunciation: Kha-bar
- Bosnian (🇧🇦) – Hrana | Pronunciation: Hra-na
- Bulgarian (🇧🇬) – Храна (Hrana) | Pronunciation: Hra-na
- Catalan (🇪🇸 – Catalonia) – Menjar | Pronunciation: Men-jar
- Czech (🇨🇿) – Jídlo | Pronunciation: Yeed-lo
- Danish (🇩🇰) – Mad | Pronunciation: Mad
- Dutch (🇳🇱) – Voedsel | Pronunciation: Vohd-sel
- English (🇺🇸 / 🇬🇧) – Food | Pronunciation: Food
- Estonian (🇪🇪) – Toit | Pronunciation: Toyt
- Farsi (Persian) (🇮🇷) – غذا (Ghaza) | Pronunciation: Gha-za
- Finnish (🇫🇮) – Ruoka | Pronunciation: Roo-oh-ka
- French (🇫🇷) – Nourriture | Pronunciation: Noo-ree-toor
- Georgian (🇬🇪) – საკვები (Sak’vebi) | Pronunciation: Sah-k’veh-bee
- German (🇩🇪) – Essen | Pronunciation: Es-sen
- Greek (🇬🇷) – Φαγητό (Fagitó) | Pronunciation: Fah-yee-to
- Hebrew (🇮🇱) – אוכל (Ochel) | Pronunciation: Oh-kel
- Hindi (🇮🇳) – भोजन (Bhojan) | Pronunciation: Bho-jan
- Hungarian (🇭🇺) – Étel | Pronunciation: Ay-tel
- Icelandic (🇮🇸) – Matur | Pronunciation: Mah-tur
- Indonesian (🇮🇩) – Makanan | Pronunciation: Ma-ka-nan
- Irish Gaelic (🇮🇪) – Bia | Pronunciation: Bee-a
- Italian (🇮🇹) – Cibo | Pronunciation: Chee-bo
- Japanese (🇯🇵) – 食べ物 (Tabemono) | Pronunciation: Tah-beh-moh-no
- Kazakh (🇰🇿) – Тамақ (Tamaq) | Pronunciation: Tah-mahk
- Khmer (Cambodian) (🇰🇭) – ម្ហូប (M’poh) | Pronunciation: M-poh
- Korean (🇰🇷) – 음식 (Eumsik) | Pronunciation: Oom-sheek
- Kurdish (🇮🇶 / 🇸🇾 / 🇹🇷 / 🇮🇷) – Xwarin | Pronunciation: Khwa-rin
- Kyrgyz (🇰🇬) – Тамак (Tamak) | Pronunciation: Tah-mahk
- Lao (🇱🇦) – ອາຫານ (Ahan) | Pronunciation: Ah-han
- Latvian (🇱🇻) – Ēdiens | Pronunciation: Ay-dyens
- Lithuanian (🇱🇹) – Maistas | Pronunciation: My-stas
- Luxembourgish (🇱🇺) – Iessen | Pronunciation: Ee-sen
- Macedonian (🇲🇰) – Храна (Hrana) | Pronunciation: Hra-na
- Malay (🇲🇾 / 🇮🇩) – Makanan | Pronunciation: Mah-kah-nahn
- Maltese (🇲🇹) – Ikel | Pronunciation: Ee-kel
- Mandarin Chinese (🇨🇳) – 食物 (Shíwù) | Pronunciation: Shrr-woo
- Marathi (🇮🇳) – अन्न (Anna) | Pronunciation: Ahn-na
- Mongolian (🇲🇳) – Хоол (Hool) | Pronunciation: Hool
- Nepali (🇳🇵) – खाना (Khana) | Pronunciation: Kha-na
- Norwegian (🇳🇴) – Mat | Pronunciation: Maht
- Pashto (🇦🇫) – خواړه (Khwaṛa) | Pronunciation: Khwa-ra
- Persian (Farsi) (🇮🇷) – غذا (Ghaza) | Pronunciation: Gha-za
- Polish (🇵🇱) – Jedzenie | Pronunciation: Yed-zhe-nye
- Portuguese (🇵🇹 / 🇧🇷) – Comida | Pronunciation: Ko-mee-da
- Romanian (🇷🇴) – Mâncare | Pronunciation: Muhn-cah-re
- Russian (🇷🇺) – Еда (Yeda) | Pronunciation: Yeh-da
- Serbian (🇷🇸) – Храна (Hrana) | Pronunciation: Hra-na
- Sinhala (🇱🇰) – ආහාර (Ahara) | Pronunciation: A-ha-ra
- Slovak (🇸🇰) – Jedlo | Pronunciation: Yed-lo
- Slovenian (🇸🇮) – Hrana | Pronunciation: Hrah-na
- Somali (🇸🇴) – Cunto | Pronunciation: Coon-to
- Spanish (🇪🇸) – Comida | Pronunciation: Ko-mee-da
- Swahili (🇰🇪 / 🇹🇿) – Chakula | Pronunciation: Cha-koo-la
- Swedish (🇸🇪) – Mat | Pronunciation: Maht
- Tajik (🇹🇯) – Ғизо (Ghizo) | Pronunciation: Ghee-zo
- Tamil (🇮🇳) – உணவு (Uṇavu) | Pronunciation: Oo-na-voo
- Telugu (🇮🇳) – ఆహారం (Aaharam) | Pronunciation: Aa-haa-ram
- Thai (🇹🇭) – อาหาร (Aahaan) | Pronunciation: Ah-han
- Turkish (🇹🇷) – Yiyecek | Pronunciation: Yee-yeh-jek
- Ukrainian (🇺🇦) – Їжа (Yizha) | Pronunciation: Yee-zha
- Urdu (🇵🇰) – خوراک (Khurak) | Pronunciation: Khoo-rak
- Uzbek (🇺🇿) – Ovqat | Pronunciation: Ov-qat
- Vietnamese (🇻🇳) – Thực phẩm | Pronunciation: Took-fam
- Welsh (🇬🇧 – Wales) – Bwyd | Pronunciation: Bwoo-id