“North” is a cardinal direction, representing one of the four main points on a compass. It is a fundamental concept in navigation and geography, understood across different cultures and languages. In this article, we’ll explore how the word for “north” is expressed in various languages around the world, from the most commonly spoken languages to some of the lesser-known ones.
Here is a list of how to say “north” in 70 different languages:
- Albanian (🇦🇱) – Veri | Pronunciation: Veh-ree
- Arabic (Standard) (🇸🇦) – شمال (Shamal) | Pronunciation: Sha-mal
- Armenian (🇦🇲) – հյուսիս (Hyusis) | Pronunciation: Hyu-sis
- Azerbaijani (🇦🇿) – Şimal | Pronunciation: Shi-mal
- Basque (🇪🇸) – Ipar | Pronunciation: Ee-par
- Belarusian (🇧🇾) – Поўнач (Pounach) | Pronunciation: Pohw-nach
- Bengali (🇧🇩) – উত্তর (Uttar) | Pronunciation: Oo-tor
- Bosnian (🇧🇦) – Sjever | Pronunciation: Sye-ver
- Bulgarian (🇧🇬) – Север (Sever) | Pronunciation: Se-ver
- Catalan (🇪🇸 – Catalonia) – Nord | Pronunciation: Nord
- Czech (🇨🇿) – Sever | Pronunciation: Se-ver
- Danish (🇩🇰) – Nord | Pronunciation: Nord
- Dutch (🇳🇱) – Noord | Pronunciation: Nord
- English (🇺🇸 / 🇬🇧) – North | Pronunciation: North
- Estonian (🇪🇪) – Põhi | Pronunciation: Puh-hee
- Farsi (Persian) (🇮🇷) – شمال (Shomal) | Pronunciation: Sho-mal
- Finnish (🇫🇮) – Pohjoinen | Pronunciation: Poh-hoi-nen
- French (🇫🇷) – Nord | Pronunciation: Nord
- Georgian (🇬🇪) – ჩრდილოეთი (Chrdiloeti) | Pronunciation: Chrd-ilo-eti
- German (🇩🇪) – Norden | Pronunciation: Nor-den
- Greek (🇬🇷) – Βορράς (Vorras) | Pronunciation: Vor-ras
- Hebrew (🇮🇱) – צפון (Tzafon) | Pronunciation: Tza-fon
- Hindi (🇮🇳) – उत्तर (Uttar) | Pronunciation: Oo-tar
- Hungarian (🇭🇺) – Észak | Pronunciation: Eh-sak
- Icelandic (🇮🇸) – Norðurland | Pronunciation: Nor-ður-land
- Indonesian (🇮🇩) – Utara | Pronunciation: Oo-tah-rah
- Irish Gaelic (🇮🇪) – Tuaisceart | Pronunciation: Too-ish-cart
- Italian (🇮🇹) – Nord | Pronunciation: Nord
- Japanese (🇯🇵) – 北 (Kita) | Pronunciation: Kee-tah
- Kazakh (🇰🇿) – Солтүстік (Soltüstik) | Pronunciation: Sol-tus-tik
- Khmer (Cambodian) (🇰🇭) – ជើង (Choeng) | Pronunciation: Chuhng
- Korean (🇰🇷) – 북쪽 (Bukjjok) | Pronunciation: Book-jjok
- Kurdish (🇮🇶 / 🇸🇾 / 🇹🇷 / 🇮🇷) – Bakur | Pronunciation: Ba-koor
- Kyrgyz (🇰🇬) – Түндүк (Tündük) | Pronunciation: Tün-dük
- Lao (🇱🇦) – ເໜືອ (Nuea) | Pronunciation: Nua
- Latvian (🇱🇻) – Ziemeļi | Pronunciation: Zie-me-ļi
- Lithuanian (🇱🇹) – Šiaurė | Pronunciation: Sha-oo-re
- Luxembourgish (🇱🇺) – Norden | Pronunciation: Nor-den
- Macedonian (🇲🇰) – Север (Sever) | Pronunciation: Se-ver
- Malay (🇲🇾 / 🇮🇩) – Utara | Pronunciation: Oo-tah-rah
- Maltese (🇲🇹) – Tramuntana | Pronunciation: Tra-moon-ta-na
- Mandarin Chinese (🇨🇳) – 北 (Běi) | Pronunciation: Bay
- Marathi (🇮🇳) – उत्तर (Uttar) | Pronunciation: Oo-tar
- Mongolian (🇲🇳) – Хойд (Khoid) | Pronunciation: Khoyd
- Nepali (🇳🇵) – उत्तर (Uttar) | Pronunciation: Oo-tar
- Norwegian (🇳🇴) – Nord | Pronunciation: Nord
- Pashto (🇦🇫) – شمال (Shamal) | Pronunciation: Sha-mal
- Polish (🇵🇱) – Północ | Pronunciation: Poo-nohts
- Portuguese (🇵🇹 / 🇧🇷) – Norte | Pronunciation: Nor-teh
- Romanian (🇷🇴) – Nord | Pronunciation: Nord
- Russian (🇷🇺) – Север (Sever) | Pronunciation: Se-ver
- Serbian (🇷🇸) – Север (Sever) | Pronunciation: Se-ver
- Sinhala (🇱🇰) – උතුරු (Uthuru) | Pronunciation: Oo-thu-roo
- Slovak (🇸🇰) – Sever | Pronunciation: Se-ver
- Slovenian (🇸🇮) – Sever | Pronunciation: Se-ver
- Somali (🇸🇴) – Waqooyi | Pronunciation: Wah-koh-yee
- Spanish (🇪🇸) – Norte | Pronunciation: Nor-teh
- Swahili (🇰🇪 / 🇹🇿) – Kaskazini | Pronunciation: Kah-ska-zee-nee
- Swedish (🇸🇪) – Norr | Pronunciation: Nor
- Tajik (🇹🇯) – Шимол (Shimol) | Pronunciation: Shi-mol
- Tamil (🇮🇳) – வடக்கு (Vadakku) | Pronunciation: Va-dak-koo
- Telugu (🇮🇳) – ఉత్తర (Uttara) | Pronunciation: Oo-tah-rah
- Thai (🇹🇭) – เหนือ (Nuea) | Pronunciation: Nuh-a
- Turkish (🇹🇷) – Kuzey | Pronunciation: Koo-zey
- Ukrainian (🇺🇦) – Північ (Pivnich) | Pronunciation: Peev-neech
- Urdu (🇵🇰) – شمال (Shumal) | Pronunciation: Shoo-mal
- Uzbek (🇺🇿) – Shimol | Pronunciation: Shi-mol
- Vietnamese (🇻🇳) – Bắc | Pronunciation: Bahk
- Welsh (🇬🇧 – Wales) – Gogledd | Pronunciation: Gog-ledh
- Yoruba (🇳🇬) – Ariwa | Pronunciation: Ah-ree-wah