How to say “who” around the world

227 languages · 227 in their own spelling

quién · कौन · কে谁 · siapa · chiwho · ఎవరు · wer啥人 · 누구 · 邊個مَن · مين · 麼人ai · hú · iyya誰 · ta · 底人Other shapes

Dots of one colour begin with a similar sound. Colours group words by the class of their first consonant (a sound-class method used in linguistics): words that begin alike share a colour. This shows resemblance, not common origin — proving relationship needs case-by-case comparison. Readable forms come from Wiktionary translation tables; many smaller languages come from the ASJP word lists, in ASJP’s simplified transcription.

Language	Word	Romanization	Family
Chinese	谁	shuí	Sino-Tibetan
English	who		Indo-European
Spanish	quién		Indo-European
Hindi	कौन	kaun	Indo-European
Arabic	مَن	man	Afro-Asiatic
Bengali	কে	ke	Indo-European
Indonesian	siapa		Austronesian
Portuguese	quem		Indo-European
French	qui		Indo-European
Russian	кто	kto	Indo-European
Japanese	誰	dare	Japonic
Turkish	kim		Turkic
Telugu	ఎవరు	evaru	Dravidian
Wu Chinese	啥人		Sino-Tibetan
Korean	누구	nugu	Koreanic
German	wer		Indo-European
Vietnamese	ai		Austroasiatic
Tamil	யார்	yār	Dravidian
Cantonese	邊個		Sino-Tibetan
Urdu	کَون	kaun	Indo-European
Italian	chi		Indo-European
Egyptian Arabic	مين	mīn	Afro-Asiatic
Gujarati	કોણ	koṇ	Indo-European
Western Farsi	کِی	kī	Indo-European
Min Nan Chinese	啥人	siáⁿ-lâng	Sino-Tibetan
Hakka Chinese	麼人	má-ngìn	Sino-Tibetan
Nigerian Pidgin	hú		Indo-European
Levantine Arabic	مين	mīn	Afro-Asiatic
Hausa	wā̀nē nḕ		Afro-Asiatic
Polish	kto		Indo-European
Yoruba	ta		Atlantic-Congo
Malayalam	ആര്	ārŭ	Dravidian
Burmese	ဘယ်သူ	bhaisu	Sino-Tibetan
Sudanese Arabic	منو	minu	Afro-Asiatic
Moroccan Arabic	شكون	škūn	Afro-Asiatic
Igbo	ònye		Atlantic-Congo
Ukrainian	хто	xto	Indo-European
Uzbek	kim		Turkic
Romanian	cine		Indo-European
Dutch	wie		Indo-European
Amharic	ማን	man	Afro-Asiatic
Thai	ใคร	krai	Tai-Kadai
Serbian-Croatian-Bosnian	ко̏		Indo-European
Khmer	អ្នកណា	nĕək naa	Austroasiatic
Turkmen	kim		Turkic
Cebuano	kinsa		Austronesian
Sinhala	කවුද	kawuda	Indo-European
Greek	ποιος	poios	Indo-European
Kurdish	kî		Indo-European
Hijazi Arabic	مين	mīn	Afro-Asiatic
Tajik	кӣ	ki	Indo-European
Kazakh	кім	kim	Turkic
Hungarian	ki		Uralic
Nyanja	ndani		Atlantic-Congo
Tunisian Arabic	شكُون	škūn	Afro-Asiatic
Czech	kdo		Indo-European
Uighur	كىم	kim	Turkic
Afrikaans	wie		Indo-European
Min Dong Chinese	底人	diē-nè̤ng	Sino-Tibetan
Haitian	kimoun		Indo-European
Swedish	vem		Indo-European
Azerbaijani	kim		Turkic
Iloko	sino		Austronesian
Bulgarian	кой	koj	Indo-European
Hiligaynon	sin-o		Austronesian
Belarusian	хто	xto	Indo-European
Neapolitan	chi		Indo-European
Central Kurdish	کێ	kê	Indo-European
Kashmiri	کُس	kus	Indo-European
Kikuyu	nũũ		Atlantic-Congo
Danish	hvem		Indo-European
Slovak	kto		Indo-European
Finnish	kuka		Uralic
Lao	ໃຜ	phai	Tai-Kadai
Norwegian	hvem		Indo-European
Tatar	кем	kem	Turkic
Catalan	qui		Indo-European
Guarani	máva		Tupian
Kirghiz	ким	kim	Turkic
Armenian	ով	ov	Indo-European
Balinese	nyen		Austronesian
Lithuanian	kas		Indo-European
Tok Pisin	husat		Indo-European
Lombard	chi		Indo-European
Georgian	ვინ	vin	Kartvelian
Waray	hin-o		Austronesian
Albanian	kush		Indo-European
Mongolian	хэн	xen	Mongolic-Khitan
Chadian Arabic	ياتو	yātu	Afro-Asiatic
Bikol	siisay		Austronesian
Galician	quen		Indo-European
Pampanga	ninu		Austronesian
Slovenian	kdó		Indo-European
Esperanto	kiu		Artificial Language
Macedonian	кој	koj	Indo-European
Zhuang	bouxlawz		Tai-Kadai
Rohingya	hon		Indo-European
Afar	iyya		Afro-Asiatic
Limburgan	wae		Indo-European
Latvian	kas		Indo-European
Quechua	pi		Quechuan
Scots	wha		Indo-European
Chechen	мила	mila	Nakh-Daghestanian
Estonian	kes		Uralic
Bashkir	кем	kem	Turkic
Tibetan	སུ	su	Sino-Tibetan
Pangasinan	siopa		Austronesian
Tausug	hisiyu		Austronesian
Kinaray-a	sin-o		Austronesian
Central Okinawan	誰	tā	Japonic
Nuer	ɛŋa		Nilotic
Western Frisian	wa		Indo-European
South Sudanese Creole Arabic	minuu		Afro-Asiatic
Kalmyk	кен	ken	Mongolic-Khitan
Talysh	ki		Indo-European
Basque	nor		Isolates
Chuvash	кам	kam	Turkic
Welsh	pwy		Indo-European
Krio	udat		Indo-European
Rusyn	хто	xto	Indo-European
Morisyen	kisann-la		Indo-European
Walloon	kî		Indo-European
Kara-Kalpak	kim		Turkic
Maltese	min		Afro-Asiatic
Crimean Tatar	kim		Turkic
Occitan	qual		Indo-European
Vlax Romani	kon		Indo-European
Mari	кӧ	kö	Uralic
Tetum	sé		Austronesian
Asturian	quién		Indo-European
Yakut	ким	kim	Turkic
Kumyk	ким	kim	Turkic
Ibanag	sinni		Austronesian
Ingush	мала	mala	Nakh-Daghestanian
Papiamento	ken		Indo-European
Icelandic	hver		Indo-European
Ngazidja Comorian	nɗopvi		Atlantic-Congo
Karachay-Balkar	ким	kim	Turkic
Tuvinian	кым	kım	Turkic
Saho	iyya		Afro-Asiatic
Zeelandic	wie		Indo-European
Māori	wai		Austronesian
Kipchak Urum	ким	kim	Turkic
Irish	cé		Indo-European
Western Highland Purepecha	ne		Tarascan
Aromanian	tsine		Indo-European
Kashubian	chto		Indo-European
Breton	piv		Indo-European
Mwani	nani		Atlantic-Congo
Nogai	ким	kim	Turkic
Faroese	hvør		Indo-European
Scottish Gaelic	cò		Indo-European
Southern Altai	кем	kem	Turkic
Sanskrit	कः	kaḥ	Indo-European
Khakas	кем	kem	Turkic
Dungan	сый	sɨy	Sino-Tibetan
Romansh	tgi		Indo-European
Plains Cree	awina		Algic
Higaonon	sin-o		Austronesian
Kajtak	ча	ča	Nakh-Daghestanian
Wakhi	ku		Indo-European
Evenki	ңи		Tungusic
Upper Sorbian	chto		Indo-European
Cherokee	ᎦᎪ	gago	Iroquoian
Yagnobi	ках	kax	Indo-European
Louisiana Creole	ki		Indo-European
Aragonese	quí		Indo-European
Nheengatu	awá		Tupian
Lower Sorbian	chto		Indo-European
Chukchi	мэӈин	mėṇin	Chukotko-Kamchatkan
Siksiká	tahkaa		Algic
Jejueo	누게	nuge	Koreanic
Rapanui	aai		Austronesian
Dolgan	ким		Turkic
Mrassu Shor-Tutal	кем	kem	Turkic
Lakota	tuwé		Siouan
Interlingua	qui		Artificial Language
Northern Mansi	хотьют	hotʹût	Uralic
Taos Northern Tiwa	pʼų́		Kiowa-Tanoan
Aleut	kiin		Eskimo-Aleut
Ingrian	ken		Uralic
Taiga Sayan Turkic	ӄум	qum	Turkic
Karaim	kim		Turkic
Chickasaw	kata		Muskogean
Chamicuro	na'shanana		Arawakan
Chinook Jargon	ɬaksta		Chinookan
Aklanon	sin-o		Austronesian
Gulf Arabic	منو	minu	Afro-Asiatic
Aramaic	מַן	man	Afro-Asiatic
Classical-Middle Armenian	ո	o	Indo-European
Kriol	hu		Indo-European
Dalmatian	ci		Indo-European
Dargwa	чи	či	Nakh-Daghestanian
Old Dutch-Old Frankish	wie		Indo-European
Old French	qui		Indo-European
Old Frisian	hwā		Indo-European
Gothic	𐍈𐌰𐍃	ƕas	Indo-European
Ancient Greek	τίς	tís	Indo-European
Hebrew	מִי	mi	Afro-Asiatic
Hmong Daw	leej twg		Hmong-Mien
Old Irish	cía		Indo-European
Javanese	sapa		Austronesian
Kawi	syapa		Austronesian
Latin	quis		Indo-European
Linngithigh	a'inh		Pama-Nyungan
Lautu	ahung		Sino-Tibetan
Malay	siapa		Austronesian
Middle English	who		Indo-European
Classical Nahuatl	āc		Uto-Aztecan
Ojibwa	awenen		Algic
Church Slavic	къто	kŭto	Indo-European
Old Russian	къто	kŭto	Indo-European
Old English	hwā		Indo-European
Old Saxon	hwē		Indo-European
Iron Ossetian	чи	ḱi	Indo-European
Eastern Panjabi	ਕੌਣ	kauṇă	Indo-European
Sundanese	saha		Austronesian
Tagalog	sino		Austronesian
Muslim Tat	ki		Indo-European
Tokharian A	kus		Indo-European
Tokharian B	kᵤse		Indo-European
Tooro	oha		Atlantic-Congo
Ugaritic	𐎎𐎊	my	Afro-Asiatic
Ho-Chunk	peežega		Siouan
Yiddish	ווער	ver	Indo-European
Irish Anglo-Norman	fho		Indo-European
Dimli	kom		Indo-European