COCONUT Language

"Coconut" in different languages

Language	Where Spoken	Word or Phrase	Pronunciation, Meaning, and Other Comments
Czech	Czech Republic	Kokosovy`ooech	Accent is over the y, and second o in ooech has a slash of some sort. Thanks to josh on The WELL for this info.
Dihevi	Maldives	Kurumba	Ku-room-bah
Esperanto	Good question!	Kokoso	It's pronounced exactly as it's written (as are all Esperanto words): the K's and the S are pronounced like K and S in English, and the O's are all pronounced like the O in "forty"; the accent is on the next-to-last syllable. So it's pronounced "ko-KO-so". (Thanks to Steve MacGregor, stevemac@indirect.com, for this information).
Filipino	Philippines	Buko Butong (Visayan) Niyog Lubi	Not sure about the pronunciations. Anyone know? According to Manuel Ontal, Jr. (montal@ionetwork.com): Butong (Bisayan) and buko mean young coconut, and Lubi (bisayan) means coconut. Niyog is an older coconut.
Japanese	Japan	Kookos, or Kookospahkina	Koh-kos-spah-kee-nah, (diareses over each "a") Thanks to josh@well.com for this info.
French	France, French Territories	Noix de coco	Nwah-deh-coco
German	Germany	Kokosnuss	Ko-ko-snoos (snoos rhymes with "goose")
Hawaiian	Hawaii	Niu	NEE-oo
Hindi	Hindi	Khopra	KO-pra (from which the word "copra" comes!)
Indonesian	Indonesia	Kelapa Klopo Kerambil	KE is like the sound of cu in curve, LA is the sound of la in large, PA is like the sound of pa in park. (Thanks to "Yogi (Bear) Zainuddin", ybear@gladstone.uoregon.edu for this information). In Java it's pronounced kel-o-po. In Central Java it's pronounced k-ram-bil. (Thanks to gayatri@netcom.com for this info.)
Japanese	Japan	Kokoyashi no mi	Ko-ko-yah-shee (coconut palm), no (no=of), mee (mi=fruit). Thanks to ongaku@well.com for this info.
Khmer	Cambodia	Dong	Not sure. Anyone? Source: Khmer phrases web page.
Kiswahili	Kenya	Nazi	Nah-zee (Thanks to Joseph Nyachiro, jnyachir@gpu.srv.ualberta.ca, for this information). "In swahili it depends what stage the coconut is in. After pollination the young fruit is called Danga. Second stage will be called kitale. Third stage will be dafu (SINGULAR) Madafu (plural). Fourth stage will be koroma. 5th stage is Nazi. The last stage when you want extract oil from coconut is Mbata." -- kibokoyao (ki@myhost.com)
Magyar	Hungary	ko'kuszdio'	? Thanks to josh@well.com for this info.
Nauruan	Nauru	eanakiwi or ini	Based on Delaporte's 1907 Geram-Nauruan dictionary. Unfortunately no pronunciation information so we'll have to guess. Anyone know? You can see the dictionary a trussel.com's page located here.
Pitkern	Pitcairn Island	Cocknut, or Coc'nut	Cock-nut
Portuguese	Portugal, Brazil , Macau	Coco	The stress falls on the first syllable, and the final "o" sounds more like a "u." So the pronunciation would be something along the lines of "KO-ku". Note: f you put the stress on the wrong syllable ("ko-KO"), you are basically saying a child's word for "excrement." This word must be written using an accent to indicate the stress being on a syllable other than the second-to-last.
Somali	Somalia	Qumbe	D. Mohamed says, "I don't think the correct pronouncation of this word can be written in english. So look for your nearest Somali fellow, who can tell you the pronouncation or the correct way of saying this word." (Thanks to dalmer@pce.net for this info).
Somoan	Western Somoa	Niu	Nee-ooo.
Spanish	Spain, C.America, S.America	Coco	Coh-coh
Swahili	Kenya, other African countries	Lots of coconut-related words: ununu utangule usumba kisamli joya *shata kidaka kitale	ununu is the fiber from inner skin of coconut leaf stalk; utangule are the strips of fan-palm leaf, used for plaiting; usumba are soaked coconut fibers, used for making string; kisamli is the Pemba coconut palm, nuts only used for drinking; joya is the spongy substance inside coconut shell; shata are the lees from making coconut oil; kidaka* is the coconut in first stage of growth on stem; kitale is the coconut in second stage of growth. Source: http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/swahili/7immatr.html.
Tamil	Sri Lanka	Thenggai	"thay-ing-gai".
Thai	Thailand	look ma-praao or ma-phrao	"Pronounced like this: /look3/ /ma1/ /praao1/ where 3=falling tone and 1=mid tone". (Thanks to Mark F.Verfaillie, ma.verfa@innet.be, for this information).
Tongan	Tonga	Niu	Nee-oo (Thanks to Paul Clark, samtur@Mailhost.tpnet.co.nz, for this information).
Trobriand	Trobriand Islands	Nuya	Noo-yah (?) Thanks to kathbran@well.com for this info.
Vietnamese	Vietnam	Tra'i du*`a	tra'i: tr + ie (as in die) stress on the ie to produce a HIGHER tone du*`a: z + ur (as in spur) stress on the ur to produce a LOWER tone (Thanks to "'TEKNO' Duan Tran" at duantran@u.washington.edu).