First words

The Most Common First Words, in Every Language

Updated 14 July 2026 · 6 min read

A baby in Bucharest says "mama". So does a baby in Berlin, a baby in Bogotá, and a baby in Beijing, give or take a vowel. Four cities, four unrelated languages, four families who will never meet. One word.

That's not a coincidence, and it isn't because "mama" travels well. First words are decided less by the language a baby hears than by the mouth a baby has. Which means the most common first words are very nearly the same words everywhere.

The list first. Then the reason it looks the way it does.

The 25 words babies reach for first

These come from the lexicon inside Saylings, where we track the 100 most common first words across 30+ languages. Eight of them fit on a screen. Scroll sideways and read the rows, not the columns.

See all eight languages, including German, Italian, Portuguese and Mandarin →

#	Category	English	Spanish	French	German	Italian	Portuguese	Mandarin	Romanian
1	Family	mama	mamá	maman	mama	mamma	mamã	妈妈 (māma)	mama
2	Family	dada	papá	papa	papa	papà	papá	爸爸 (bàba)	tată
3	Family	baby	bebé	bébé	baby	bambino	bebê	宝宝 (bǎobao)	bebeluș
4	Family	grandma	abuela	mamie	oma	nonna	avó	奶奶 (nǎinai)	bunica
5	Family	grandpa	abuelo	papi	opa	nonno	avô	爷爷 (yéye)	bunic
6	Animal	dog	perro	chien	hund	cane	cachorro	狗 (gǒu)	câine
7	Animal	cat	gato	chat	katze	gatto	gato	猫 (māo)	pisică
8	Animal	bird	pájaro	oiseau	vogel	uccello	pássaro	鸟 (niǎo)	pasăre
9	Animal	fish	pez	poisson	fisch	pesce	peixe	鱼 (yú)	pește
10	Animal	duck	pato	canard	ente	anatra	pato	鸭子 (yāzi)	rață
11	Food	milk	leche	lait	milch	latte	leite	牛奶 (niúnǎi)	lapte
12	Food	water	agua	eau	wasser	acqua	água	水 (shuǐ)	apă
13	Food	apple	manzana	pomme	apfel	mela	maçã	苹果 (píngguǒ)	măr
14	Food	banana	plátano	banane	banane	banana	banana	香蕉 (xiāngjiāo)	banană
15	Food	bread	pan	pain	brot	pane	pão	面包 (miànbāo)	pâine
16	Food	cookie	galleta	biscuit	keks	biscotto	biscoito	饼干 (bǐnggān)	biscuit
17	Food	juice	jugo	jus	saft	succo	suco	果汁 (guǒzhī)	suc
18	Food	egg	huevo	œuf	ei	uovo	ovo	鸡蛋 (jīdàn)	ou
19	Food	cheese	queso	fromage	käse	formaggio	queijo	奶酪 (nǎilào)	brânză
20	Food	rice	arroz	riz	reis	riso	arroz	米饭 (mǐfàn)	orez
21	Body	eye	ojo	œil	auge	occhio	olho	眼睛 (yǎnjing)	ochi
22	Body	nose	nariz	nez	nase	naso	nariz	鼻子 (bízi)	nas
23	Body	mouth	boca	bouche	mund	bocca	boca	嘴巴 (zuǐba)	gură
24	Body	ear	oreja	oreille	ohr	orecchio	orelha	耳朵 (ěrduo)	ureche
25	Body	hand	mano	main	hand	mano	mão	手 (shǒu)	mână

From the Saylings first-words lexicon: 100 common first words, 30+ languages. Mandarin shown with pinyin.

Run a finger along the family rows. Mama, mamá, maman, mamma, māma. Papa, papà, bàba. Different continents, same two syllables. Then look at what fills the rest of the list: food, animals, body parts, and a handful of small, bossy words like "more" and "up".

Your baby won't say all 25, and certainly not in this order. It's a menu, not a syllabus. Most children pick the handful that matter most in their own kitchen.

Why every language picked the same words

In 1962, the linguist Roman Jakobson published a short paper with a title that sounds like a toddler wrote it: "Why 'Mama' and 'Papa'?" His question was the one you're asking now. Why do wildly unrelated languages use nearly the same words for mother and father? Romanian and Mandarin share almost nothing, yet both call her mama.

His answer holds up sixty years later. M, p and b are the easiest consonants a human mouth can produce: you just close your lips. A baby can see exactly how it's done every time you speak. Add the easiest vowel, the open "ah", and repeat, because repetition is what babbling does. "Ma-ma." "Pa-pa." "Ba-ba."

Every baby on earth babbles these syllables, in every language, months before meaning arrives. And in every culture, the people leaning over the crib heard the babble and decided it was their name. Babies didn't learn our words for mother and father. We adopted theirs.

A first vocabulary is a toolbox

Sort the full 100-word lexicon by category and a pattern falls out. Objects and action words dominate, food and animals follow close behind, then body parts, family, and feelings. The same shape, in every language we track.

First words make more sense once you see them as tools. A one-year-old talks about the people who love them, the things they eat, the creatures that move and make noise, and the levers that make adults do things. "More" refills the bowl. "Up" summons a lift. "No" is a full sentence. A toddler's first fifty words are rarely for describing the world. They're for operating it.

When should you expect them?

Most babies say a first true word between 10 and 14 months, with a wide, ordinary range on both sides. The CDC's 12-month checklist expects a baby to call a parent "mama", "dada" or another special name.

By 19 to 24 months, ASHA expects a child to use and understand at least 50 different words. Nearly all of those fifty come from the categories in the table above.

If the timing is the part you're wondering about, our milestone chart by age lays out what the CDC and ASHA each expect at 12, 15, 18, 24 and 30 months.

Two languages, one list

Raising a bilingual child? The list doubles in the best way. "Dog" and "câine" are two different words in the ledger, even though they name the same animal. The total across both languages is what tells you how a bilingual child is really doing. Measure one language alone and a perfectly typical child looks behind. We cover the bookkeeping properly in raising a bilingual baby.

Common questions

What are the most common first words?

Family names come first almost everywhere: mama, dada, papa and their local variants. After that, babies pick from the same categories in every language: food, animals, and the little levers that move adults, like more, up, no and bye-bye.

Why do babies say mama and dada first?

Because they're the easiest sounds a mouth can make. M, p and b are made by simply closing the lips, so babies can see exactly how it's done. And "ma-ma" is repeated babble a baby can manage months before other sounds. Jakobson's argument: parents adopted these babbles as names, not the other way round.

Do animal sounds and words like "uh-oh" count as first words?

Yes. A word is a consistent sound used with a consistent meaning. If "woof" always means dog and "baba" always means bottle, they count, mispronunciation and all. Names and word approximations count too.

Are first words the same in every language?

Strikingly similar. The family words are near-identical across unrelated languages, and the rest of a first vocabulary draws on the same categories everywhere: family, food, animals, body parts, and simple action words. The sounds are local; the list is universal.

This article is general information for parents, not medical advice. Every child develops at their own pace. If you have concerns about your child's speech or hearing, talk to your pediatrician.