How to Say "Clock" in 60 Languages
The word for clock changes a lot from one language to the next, but most of the words grow from just a few roots: bell, hour, and the old Greek name for a timepiece. Below are 60 translations, with romanizations for non-Latin scripts and notes on where one word covers both clock and watch.
Where the word comes from
English clock first shows up in the late 14th century, spelled clokke. Dictionaries trace it to Middle Dutch clocke, which meant both bell and clock, and from there through the Picard or Old North French cloque to Medieval Latin clocca, a bell. That Latin word is probably Celtic, related to Old Irish clocc and Welsh cloch, and is thought to be imitative, echoing the clank of a bell.
The bell link is not an accident. Britannica notes that the first mechanical clocks may have been used in monasteries to ring a bell calling monks to prayer, and Etymonline says the English word originally meant a clock with bells. Before it, English used the Old English dægmæl, a day measure, and the Latin-based horologe. Today dictionaries such as Merriam-Webster define a clock as a timekeeping device other than a watch, one not meant to be worn or carried.
Other languages fall into a few families. The Greek hōrológion, built on hōra, hour, became Latin horologium, which gave French horloge, Italian orologio, Portuguese relógio, and Catalan rellotge, the source of Spanish reloj; modern Greek ρολόι is the same word with its first vowel worn away. Many other words simply mean hour: German Uhr and Hungarian óra come from Latin hora, Arabic sāʿa spread into Turkish saat and Swahili saa, Russian часы comes from час, hour, and Hebrew sha'on is built from sha'a. Dutch klok, Swedish klocka, Irish clog, Finnish kello, and Estonian kell still mean bell as well as clock.
East Asian words have their own stories. Japanese 時計 (tokei) is written with the characters for time and measure, though Wiktionary notes that the older spelling was 土圭, the name of an ancient Chinese sundial, and the modern characters were chosen to fit the sound. Korean 시계 (sigye) uses the same characters. In Chinese, 钟 (zhōng) means both bell and clock, while a watch is 表 (biǎo), and Vietnamese đồng hồ comes from Chinese words for a copper pot, an old name for a water clock.
"Clock" around the world
| Language | Word | Say it / romanized | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Afrikaans | uurwerk | Klok, borrowed from Dutch, also means clock; a watch is a horlosie. | |
| Albanian | orë | Also used for a watch. | |
| Amharic | ሰአት | säʾät | |
| Arabic | ساعة | sāʿa | Also means hour and watch. |
| Armenian | ժամացույց | žamacʻuycʻ | Also used for a watch. |
| Basque | erloju | Ordulari is also used; both can mean watch. | |
| Bengali | ঘড়ি | ghoṛi | Also used for a watch. |
| Bulgarian | часовник | časovnik | Also used for a watch. |
| Catalan | rellotge | Also used for a watch; the source of Spanish reloj. | |
| Chinese (Cantonese) | 鐘 | zung1 | Also means bell; a watch is 錶 (biu1). |
| Chinese (Mandarin) | 钟 / 时钟 | zhōng / shízhōng | 钟 also means bell; a watch is 表 (biǎo). |
| Czech | hodiny | A plural noun linked to hodina, hour; a watch is hodinky. | |
| Danish | ur | A wristwatch is armbåndsur. | |
| Dutch | klok | Also means bell; a watch is usually a horloge. | |
| Esperanto | horloĝo | ||
| Estonian | kell | Also means bell, and is used for a watch. | |
| Finnish | kello | Also means bell, watch, and o'clock. | |
| French | horloge | Used for clocks only; a watch is une montre. | |
| Georgian | საათი | saati | Also used for a watch. |
| German | Uhr | Also means watch, and o'clock (drei Uhr). | |
| Greek | ρολόι | rolói | Also means watch. |
| Hebrew | שעון | sha'on | Also means watch; built from sha'a, hour. |
| Hindi | घड़ी | ghaṛī | Also used for a watch. |
| Hungarian | óra | Also means hour, watch, and o'clock. | |
| Icelandic | klukka | Úr is also used and is the word for a watch. | |
| Indonesian | jam | Also means hour; a wristwatch is jam tangan. | |
| Irish | clog | Also means bell; a watch is uaireadóir. | |
| Italian | orologio | Also means watch. | |
| Japanese | 時計 | tokei | Also means watch; a wristwatch is 腕時計 (udedokei). |
| Khmer | នាឡិកា | niəlekaa | Also used for a watch. |
| Korean | 시계 | sigye | Also means watch; written 時計 in hanja. |
| Latin | horologium | ||
| Latvian | pulkstenis | Also used for a watch; laikrādis is a less common synonym. | |
| Lithuanian | laikrodis | Also means watch; built from laikas, time, and rodyti, to show. | |
| Malayalam | ഘടികാരം | ghaṭikāraṁ | |
| Maltese | arloġġ | ||
| Marathi | घड्याळ | ghaḍyāḷ | Also used for a watch. |
| Māori | karaka | ||
| Norwegian (Bokmål) | klokke | Also used for a watch. | |
| Persian | ساعت | sâ'at | Also used for a watch. |
| Polish | zegar | A watch is zegarek, the diminutive form. | |
| Portuguese | relógio | Also means watch. | |
| Romanian | ceas | Also means hour and watch. | |
| Russian | часы | chasy (časý) | Also means watch; a plural noun from час, hour. |
| Serbo-Croatian | sat / сат | Also means watch; časovnik is also used. | |
| Sinhala | ඔරලෝසුව | oralōsuwa | |
| Slovene | ura | Also means watch. | |
| Spanish | reloj | Also means watch. | |
| Swahili | saa | Also means hour, and is used for o'clock. | |
| Swedish | klocka | Also means bell and watch; ur is a synonym. | |
| Tagalog | orasan | Built from oras; relo is also used. | |
| Tamil | கடிகாரம் | kaṭikāram | A wristwatch is kaikkaṭikāram. |
| Telugu | గడియారం | gaḍiyāraṁ | A wristwatch is cēti gaḍiyāraṁ. |
| Thai | นาฬิกา | naa-lí-gaa | Also used for a watch, and in formal speech for hour. |
| Turkish | saat | Also means hour, watch, and meter. | |
| Ukrainian | годинник | hodynnyk | Also used for a watch. |
| Urdu | گھڑی | ghaṛī | Also used for a watch. |
| Vietnamese | đồng hồ | Also means watch and meter; literally copper pot. | |
| Welsh | cloc | A watch is oriawr or oriadur. | |
| Yiddish | זייגער | zeyger | A watch is zeygerl, the diminutive. |
Questions people ask
Do other languages use the same word for clock and watch?
Many do. Spanish reloj, Italian orologio, German Uhr, Japanese tokei, and Russian chasy all cover both, and context or a compound word makes the difference clear. Others keep them apart: French uses horloge and montre, Polish zegar and zegarek, and Czech hodiny and hodinky.
Why does the word clock sound like a word for bell?
Because it started as one. English clock comes from Middle Dutch clocke and Medieval Latin clocca, both meaning bell, since the earliest mechanical clocks were tied to ringing bells. Dutch klok and Swedish klocka still mean bell today.
Why do so many languages call a clock saat or saa?
These words come from Arabic sāʿa, which means hour as well as clock and watch. It passed into Turkish through Ottoman Turkish and into Swahili, and similar words for clock are used across the Middle East, the Caucasus, and Central Asia, such as Persian sâ'at, Georgian saati, and Kazakh sağat.