Post #994993
2026-04-07 14:20 UTC
Replies (19)
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@thermia@sk.girlthi.ng 2026-04-07 23:32
@memdmp@catgirl.center knowing a bit of Finnish throws most of the suggestions out of the window hmm trying to figure out if there are any good common similar words between Finnish and English
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@o76923@kitty.social 2026-04-07 20:20
@memdmp@catgirl.center Taxi is usually the answer to this question. Taxi or some phonologically similar word is present in over 130 languages widely distributed around the world. It's because they're all named after a German invention called a "taximeter" from the 1890s. Since they're especially useful to travelers, the word spread quickly as a loan word.
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@labria@social.yeschenko.com 2026-04-07 18:55
@memdmp fresh one: taxi/hotel? From common root: mama, I’d say
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@Canageek@wandering.shop 2026-04-07 15:54
@memdmp Mama, it's very similar in almost every language, because it's one of the first sounds a baby can make. so its structures determined by a physical property of human vocal cord development. @WizardOfDocs
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@davep@infosec.exchange 2026-04-07 15:52
@memdmp I know "jockey" is one of the few words that went from English to French. Do other countries/languages also use it?
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@xeno@hexokina.se 2026-04-07 15:46
@memdmp@catgirl.center probably something technical and a noun but with the common form only using common phones, like cyclotron is: 🇮🇹ciclotrone 🇩🇪Zyklotron 🇪🇸ciclotrón 🇫🇷cyclotron 🇳🇱cyclotron 🇩🇰cyklotron 🇳🇴syklotron 🇸🇪cyklotron 🇵🇱cyklotro 🇨🇿cyklotron 🇱🇹ciklotronas 🇬🇷κύκλοτρο (kýklotro) 🇪🇪 tsüklotron 🇫🇮 syklotroni 🇺🇦 циклотрон (tsyklotron)
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@alexia@shrimp.starlightnet.work 2026-04-07 15:31
@memdmp something like ananas probably, tho I'm not a linguist and this is just a fun fact I know
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@Hanuwu@uwu.social 2026-04-07 15:28
@memdmp Unrelated, but I find it funny that 'Si' in Italian sounds exactly like the Chinese word for 'yes'.
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@sigmasternchen@comfy.social 2026-04-07 15:21
@memdmp@catgirl.center Not a linguist, but my guess would be something modern that got adopted from English. "computer", or "internet", or something like that.
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@CenTdemeern1@eepy.moe 2026-04-07 15:03
@memdmp@catgirl.center I've been told before that it's "stop" but I'm not sure I believe it
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@skye@void.rehab 2026-04-07 15:00
@memdmp hmmm well there's probably something better but the obvious answer is ananas
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@Transbian_Arsonists@catwithaclari.net 2026-04-07 14:59
@memdmp@catgirl.center probably coffee, im mostly just guessing tho - posted by Seraphine Headmate Hopper
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@saxnot@chaos.social 2026-04-08 05:41
@memdmp perhaps of interest: https://linguistics.stackexchange.com/questions/17400/worldwide-map-or-data-for-linguistic-distance
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@valk@social.treehouse.systems 2026-04-08 05:25
@memdmp Numbers (especially two) sound vaguely similar. Very similar words i believe tend to be similar mostly by virtue of being loaned very aggressively, not by divergence / sound changes.
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@sodiboo@gaysex.cloud 2026-04-08 04:48
@memdmp@catgirl.center I think "hospital" is a decent one. from Latin "hospitale". in my native languages, we notably say "sjukhus", but according to Wiktionary, "hospital" is archaic Swedish, and any Norwegian speaker would recognize it from "Rikshospitalet" (a hospital), at the very least. it's also archaic German, and French calls it a "hôpital", which is close enough. others have pointed out that travel accomodations are almost a universal language. taxi, hotel, etc. and yeah, it's not hard to see how those have an advantage in becoming loan words. and of course, this is a bit of a cop out, but like, place names? notably, in Europe, "Europe"/"Europa"/"Evropa" all sound almost the same in every language. likewise, the Euro currency is pretty similar. really, *any" currency name is generally pretty standardized. talk about a "dollar" and almost all of Europe will probably assume you mean US dollars. at the very least, they'll understand that you mean currency. again, this is probably because of international trade and/or travel. "police" is another contender. I reckon why this and "hospital" are so universal is because they are emergency services. everyone needs to be able to identify and contact them in a life-threatening situation. for police in particular, it's important to recognize them on the road if you're getting pulled over. again, the common denominator for almost everything here is "Stuff That Tourists Frequently Interact With" I feel like in the European languages i know, "cafe" and "restaurant" are pretty standard too. again, essential for any tourist to be able to identify. so, they have relatively standardized names. notable exception to the tourist rule I guess: cars and trains are called anything in the languages I speak. "bil"/"Auto", "Zug"/"tåg". those sound nothing alike. but buses seem to have a pretty standard name. my hunch is that this has something to do with being part of traffic; there are bus lanes with markings that say "bus" or "buss". but car lanes don't say "car". they're just the default. so I suppose the second, weaker criteria, is that tourists have to interact with it in writing. usually by reading.
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@pink@mk.absturztau.be 2026-04-07 16:01
@memdmp@catgirl.center Kindergarten
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@green@mk.absturztau.be 2026-04-07 16:00
@memdmp@catgirl.center i know the funny thing about tea, is that it's either called "tea" or "chai" and basically nothing else
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@Hothrin@transfem.social 2026-04-07 15:17
@memdmp@catgirl.center croissant?
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@memdmp@catgirl.center 2026-04-07 14:29
cc @yvanspijk@toot.community I've been told to ping you