Have you ever wondered how to say “rice” in different languages?
Whether you’re a culinary enthusiast, a traveler, or just curious about global food cultures, learning to say “rice” worldwide can enrich your appreciation for this staple.
This guide will explain the translations, pronunciations, and cultural contexts associated with the word “rice” in over 100 languages.
Why Knowing “Rice” Matters
The word “rice” doesn’t just refer to a grain; in many cultures, it symbolises sustenance, tradition, and shared meals.
Learning how to express this concept across languages helps deepen your connection to the cultural significance of rice as a universal food.
Saying “Rice” in European Languages
Western European Languages
- English: Rice (pronounced rahys)
- French: Riz (pronounced ree)
- German: Reis (pronounced rhys)
- Spanish: Arroz (pronounced ah-ROTH in Spain, ah-ROHS in Latin America)
- Italian: Riso (pronounced REE-soh)
- Portuguese: Arroz (pronounced ah-HROZ)
- Dutch: Rijst (pronounced ryst)
- Catalan: Arròs (pronounced ah-ROSS)
Northern European Languages
- Swedish: Ris (pronounced rees)
- Danish: Ris (pronounced rees)
- Norwegian: Ris (pronounced rees)
- Finnish: Riisi (pronounced REE-see)
- Icelandic: Hrísgrjón (pronounced hreess-gree-ohn)
Eastern European Languages
- Russian: Рис (pronounced rees)
- Polish: Ryż (pronounced rizh)
- Czech: Rýže (pronounced REE-zheh)
- Hungarian: Rizs (pronounced reesh)
- Slovak: Ryža (pronounced ree-zhah)
- Ukrainian: Рис (pronounced rees)
- Bulgarian: Ориз (pronounced o-REEZ)
- Serbian: Пиринач (pronounced pee-ree-nach)
Celtic Languages
- Irish Gaelic: Rís (pronounced rees)
- Scottish Gaelic: Reis (pronounced raysh)
- Welsh: Reis (pronounced rys)
Other European Languages
- Basque: Arroz (pronounced ah-ROTH)
- Maltese: Ross (pronounced ross)
- Albanian: Oriz (pronounced o-REEZ)
Saying “Rice” in Asian Languages
East Asian Languages
- Chinese (Simplified): 米饭 (pronounced mee-fan for cooked rice)
- Chinese (Traditional): 米飯 (pronounced mee-fan)
- Japanese: ご飯 (pronounced go-han for cooked rice) or 米 (kome for uncooked rice)
- Korean: 밥 (pronounced bap for cooked rice) or 쌀 (ssal for uncooked rice)
South Asian Languages
- Hindi: चावल (pronounced CHAH-wul)
- Bengali: চাল (pronounced chal)
- Tamil: அரிசி (pronounced ah-ree-see)
- Urdu: چاول (pronounced chah-wal)
- Punjabi: ਚਾਵਲ (pronounced chah-val)
- Telugu: బియ్యం (pronounced bee-yum)
- Gujarati: ચોખા (pronounced cho-khah)
- Kannada: ಅಕ್ಕಿ (pronounced ah-kee)
Southeast Asian Languages
- Thai: ข้าว (pronounced kao for cooked rice)
- Vietnamese: Gạo (pronounced gow for uncooked rice) or Cơm (pronounced kuhm for cooked rice)
- Indonesian: Nasi (pronounced NAH-see for cooked rice)
- Malay: Nasi (pronounced NAH-see)
- Khmer (Cambodian): អង្ករ (pronounced ahng-ka)
- Burmese (Myanmar): ထမင်း (pronounced tah-min)
Central Asian Languages
- Kazakh: Күріш (pronounced kew-reesh)
- Uzbek: Guruch (pronounced goo-rooch)
- Turkmen: Tüwi (pronounced too-wee)
- Tajik: Биринҷ (pronounced bir-inj)
Saying “Rice” in Middle-Eastern Languages
- Arabic: أرز (pronounced a-rooz)
- Hebrew: אורז (pronounced o-rez)
- Persian (Farsi): برنج (pronounced beh-RENG)
- Turkish: Pirinç (pronounced pee-REENCH)
- Kurdish (Sorani): برنج (pronounced ber-anj)
Saying “Rice” in African Languages
- Swahili: Mchele (pronounced m-che-leh for uncooked rice) or Wali (pronounced wah-lee for cooked rice)
- Zulu: Ilayisi (pronounced ee-lie-see)
- Afrikaans: Rys (pronounced rays)
- Amharic: ሩዝ (pronounced ruz)
- Yoruba: Iresi (pronounced ee-reh-see)
- Igbo: Osikapa (pronounced o-see-kah-pa)
- Hausa: Shinkafa (pronounced sheen-kah-fah)
- Somali: Bariis (pronounced bah-rees)
Saying “Rice” in Austronesian Languages
- Filipino (Tagalog): Bigas (pronounced bee-gahs for uncooked rice) or Kanin (pronounced kah-neen for cooked rice)
- Cebuano: Bugas (pronounced boo-gahs for uncooked rice)
- Maori: Raihi (pronounced rye-hee)
- Hawaiian: Laiki (pronounced lie-kee)
- Javanese: Sekul (pronounced seh-kool for cooked rice)
- Malagasy: Vary (pronounced vah-ree)
Saying “Rice” in Indigenous Languages
Native American Languages
- Quechua: Trigo (pronounced tree-go)
- Navajo: Ałk’ááh (pronounced ahl-kah)
Australian Aboriginal Languages
- Pitjantjatjara: Ngarara (no exact word, often referred to as a descriptive term for food)
More Translations of RICE in Different Languages
- Amharic (Ethiopia): ሩዝ (pronounced ruz)
- Georgian: ბრინჯი (pronounced brin-gee)
- Mongolian: Будаа (pronounced boo-da)
- Nepali: चामल (pronounced cha-mal)
- Sinhala (Sri Lanka): සහල් (pronounced sah-hal)
- Xhosa (South Africa): Umhlanga (pronounced oom-hlan-ga)
- Estonian: Riis (pronounced rees)
- Latvian: Rīsi (pronounced ree-see)
- French: Riz (pronounced ree)
- German: Reis (pronounced rhys)
- Spanish: Arroz (pronounced ah-ROHS)
- Italian: Riso (pronounced REE-soh)
- Portuguese: Arroz (pronounced ah-ROZ)
- Dutch: Rijst (pronounced ryst)
- Catalan: Arròs (pronounced ah-ROSS)
- Swedish: Ris (pronounced rees)
- Danish: Ris (pronounced rees)
- Norwegian: Ris (pronounced rees)
- Finnish: Riisi (pronounced REE-see)
- Icelandic: Hrísgrjón (pronounced hreess-gree-ohn)
- Russian: Рис (pronounced rees)
- Polish: Ryż (pronounced rizh)
- Czech: Rýže (pronounced REE-zheh)
- Hungarian: Rizs (pronounced reesh)
- Slovak: Ryža (pronounced ree-zhah)
- Ukrainian: Рис (pronounced rees)
- Bulgarian: Ориз (pronounced o-REEZ)
- Serbian: Пиринач (pronounced pee-ree-nach)
- Irish Gaelic: Rís (pronounced rees)
- Scottish Gaelic: Reis (pronounced raysh)
- Welsh: Reis (pronounced rys)
- Basque: Arroz (pronounced ah-ROTH)
- Maltese: Ross (pronounced ross)
- Albanian: Oriz (pronounced o-REEZ)
- Chinese (Simplified): 米饭 (pronounced mee-fan for cooked rice)
- Chinese (Traditional): 米飯 (pronounced mee-fan)
- Japanese: ご飯 (pronounced go-han for cooked rice) or 米 (kome for uncooked rice)
- Korean: 밥 (pronounced bap for cooked rice) or 쌀 (ssal for uncooked rice)
- Hindi: चावल (pronounced CHAH-wul)
- Bengali: চাল (pronounced chal)
- Tamil: அரிசி (pronounced ah-ree-see)
- Urdu: چاول (pronounced chah-wal)
- Punjabi: ਚਾਵਲ (pronounced chah-val)
- Telugu: బియ్యం (pronounced bee-yum)
- Gujarati: ચોખા (pronounced cho-khah)
- Kannada: ಅಕ್ಕಿ (pronounced ah-kee)
- Thai: ข้าว (pronounced kao for cooked rice)
- Vietnamese: Gạo (pronounced gow for uncooked rice) or Cơm (pronounced kuhm for cooked rice)
- Indonesian: Nasi (pronounced NAH-see for cooked rice)
- Malay: Nasi (pronounced NAH-see)
- Khmer (Cambodian): អង្ករ (pronounced ahng-ka)
- Burmese (Myanmar): ထမင်း (pronounced tah-min)
- Kazakh: Күріш (pronounced kew-reesh)
- Uzbek: Guruch (pronounced goo-rooch)
- Turkmen: Tüwi (pronounced too-wee)
- Tajik: Биринҷ (pronounced bir-inj)
- Arabic: أرز (pronounced a-rooz)
- Hebrew: אורז (pronounced o-rez)
- Persian (Farsi): برنج (pronounced beh-RENG)
- Turkish: Pirinç (pronounced pee-REENCH)
- Kurdish (Sorani): برنج (pronounced ber-anj)
- Swahili: Mchele (pronounced m-che-leh for uncooked rice) or Wali (pronounced wah-lee for cooked rice)
- Zulu: Ilayisi (pronounced ee-lie-see)
- Afrikaans: Rys (pronounced rays)
- Yoruba: Iresi (pronounced ee-reh-see)
- Igbo: Osikapa (pronounced o-see-kah-pa)
- Hausa: Shinkafa (pronounced sheen-kah-fah)
- Somali: Bariis (pronounced bah-rees)
- Filipino (Tagalog): Bigas (pronounced bee-gahs for uncooked rice) or Kanin (pronounced kah-neen for cooked rice)
- Cebuano: Bugas (pronounced boo-gahs for uncooked rice)
- Maori: Raihi (pronounced rye-hee)
- Hawaiian: Laiki (pronounced lie-kee)
- Javanese: Sekul (pronounced seh-kool for cooked rice)
- Malagasy: Vary (pronounced vah-ree)
- Quechua: Arroz (pronounced a-ROS)
- Navajo: Néhxodiiʼ (approximate pronunciation neh-ho-dee)
- Pitjantjatjara: Ngarara (descriptive term for food)
- Tongan: Laise (pronounced LIE-see)
- Fijian: Rai (pronounced RAI)
- Samoan: Araisa (pronounced ah-RYE-sah)
- Lao: ເຂົາໜົມ (pronounced khao-nhom)
- Cantonese: 飯 (pronounced faan)
- Pashto: وريجې (pronounced vri-jay)
- Galician: Arroz (pronounced ah-ROTH)
- Greenlandic: Savaasa (pronounced sah-vah-sah)
- Armenian: Բրինձ (pronounced brintz)
- Sinhalese: Ratu (pronounced ra-too)
- Inuktitut: ᐃᒃᐱᒧᑦ (pronounced ik-pi-mut)
- Nigerian Pidgin: Rice (pronounced rye-s)
- Aymara: Asparu (approximate pronunciation ahs-pah-roo)
- Twi: Mmɛ (pronounced m-meh)
- Luxembourgish: Räis (pronounced rye-s)
- Chichewa: Mpunga (pronounced mm-poonga)
- Shona: Mupunga (pronounced moo-poo-nga)
- Zulu: Ilayisi (pronounced ee-LAI-see)
- Azerbaijani: Düyü (pronounced doo-yoo)
- Malayalam: അരിപ്പ (pronounced a-ree-pah)
- Basque: Arroz (pronounced ah-ROTH)
- Galician: Arroz (pronounced ah-ROTH)
- Armenian: Բրինձ (pronounced brintz)
Pronunciation Guide and Cultural Insights
Mastering the pronunciation of “rice” in different languages highlights respect for the diversity of food culture and traditions worldwide.
Tips for Proper Pronunciation
- Listen and Repeat: Utilize audio resources or language apps to hear native speakers.
- Phonetic Guides: Refer to the phonetic spelling for clarity.
- Practice Regularly: Repetition will help you gain confidence.
Cultural Significance
Rice plays a significant role in many cultures as a symbol of nourishment and community:
- Staple Food: Rice is a primary food source in Asia, Latin America, and parts of Africa.
- Festivals and Rituals: In many Asian cultures, rice is integral to traditional ceremonies and rituals.
- Symbol of Prosperity: In some cultures, rice symbolizes abundance and wealth, especially during weddings and celebrations.
Translation, Meaning, and Usage in Sentences
Examples in Different Languages
French
- Translation: Riz
- Meaning: Rice
- Sentence: Le riz est un aliment de base. (Rice is a staple food.)
Russian
- Translation: Рис
- Meaning: Rice
- Sentence: Рис – основная пища. (Rice is a primary food.)
Swahili
- Translation: Wali
- Meaning: Rice (cooked)
- Sentence: Wali hupikwa na samaki. (Rice is cooked with fish.)
Arabic
- Translation: أرز
- Meaning: Rice
- Sentence: الأرز هو غذاء أساسي. (Rice is a staple food.)
Hindi
- Translation: चावल
- Meaning: Rice
- Sentence: चावल भारत का प्रमुख आहार है। (Rice is India’s main food.)
Conclusion
Learning how to say “rice” in various languages reveals the universal significance of this simple yet essential food across diverse cultures.
Each translation reflects a region’s unique relationship with rice, whether as a staple food, a symbol of prosperity, or a part of traditional celebrations.
Exploring these terms helps connect us to the shared values and traditions surrounding rice worldwide.
Whether exploring culinary languages, connecting with people, or deepening your cultural understanding, knowing how to express “rice” adds a meaningful layer to your language journey.
Take this knowledge with you to enhance conversations, celebrate global diversity, and appreciate the cultural importance of one of the world’s most cherished grains.
Source: University of Illinois’ Program in Translation and Interpreting Program