How to say “accident” in 41 different languages
Every one of these is a word that turns up in ordinary speech, not a dictionary curiosity — the number beside it is where it ranks in that language.
- accidente/aɡθiˈdente/ Spanish
- 事故/ʂɻ̩⁵¹⁻⁵³ ku⁵¹/ Chinese
- 사고[ˈsʰa̠(ː)ɡo̞] Korean
- दुर्घटना/d̪ʊɾɡʱəʈnɑː/ Hindi
- ατύχημα/aˈti.çi.ma/ Greek
- תאונה/te(ʔ)uˈna/ Hebrew
“accident” in Spanish: accidente · French: accident · German: unfall · Portuguese: acidente · Chinese: 事故 · Korean: 사고 · Hindi: दुर्घटना · Turkish: kaza
It is commonest in Malayalam, where അപകടം is the 299th most used word.
Accident in other languages, A to Z
- Arabic صدفة/sˤud.fa/ chance, accident, coincidence #1,833
- Armenian պատահականություն/pɑtɑhɑkɑnuˈtʰjun/ coincidence, chance, accident #751
- Bengali দুর্ঘটনা/d̪uɾɡʱɔʈona/ accident, mishap #818
- Bosnian nesreća/něsret͡ɕa/ #1,532
- Chinese 事故/ʂɻ̩⁵¹⁻⁵³ ku⁵¹/ accident; mishap #767
- Croatian nesreća/něsret͡ɕa/ #1,294
- Czech náhodou[ˈnaːɦodou̯] by accident #786
- Danish ulykke/uløkə/ #1,429
- Dutch toeval/ˈtu.vɑl/ accident, chance #1,746
- English find/ˈfaɪ̯nd/ To encounter or discover by accident; to… #144
- Esperanto akcidento/akt͡siˈdento/ #1,399
- Estonian avarii/ˈɑvɑriː/ breakdown, crash, accident #2,171
- Finnish onnettomuus/ˈonːetːomuːs/ #2,191
- French accident/ak.si.dɑ̃/ #735
- German unfall/ˈʊnˌfal/ #1,058
- Greek ατύχημα/aˈti.çi.ma/ accident, mishap #805
- Hebrew תאונה/te(ʔ)uˈna/ #921
- Hindi दुर्घटना/d̪ʊɾɡʱəʈnɑː/ accident, mishap #1,114
- Hungarian baleset[ˈbɒlɛʃɛt] #1,080
- Icelandic slys[ˈstlɪːs] #799
- Korean 사고[ˈsʰa̠(ː)ɡo̞] an accident #526
- Latvian negadījums/ˈneɡadiːjums/ mishap, accident, incident, mischance #2,125
- Lithuanian avarija[ɐ²ˈʋɑːrʲɪjɛ] accident, breakdown, wreck, crash #1,811
- Malay kemalangan[kə.maˈlaŋ.an] #704
- Malayalam അപകടം/ɐbɐɡɐɖɐm/ #299
- Norwegian ulykke/ˈʉːˌlʏkə/ #1,319
- Persian تصادف[t̪ʰæ.sɒː.d̪óf] accident, crash #842
- Polish wypadek/vɘˈpa.dɛk/ #724
- Portuguese acidente/a.siˈdẽ.t͡ʃi/ #775
- Romanian accident/ˌaktʃiˈdent/ #772
- Russian случайно[sɫʊˈt͡ɕæjnə] accidentally, by accident #1,224
- Serbian nesreća/něsret͡ɕa/ #1,423
- Slovak nehoda/ɲeɦɔda/ accident, mishap #724
- Slovenian nesreča/nɛˈsreːtʃa/ #478
- Spanish accidente/aɡθiˈdente/ #790
- Swedish olycka/²uːˌlʏkːa/ an accident #1,166
- Tagalog pasumala/pasuˈmalaʔ/ #1,388
- Tamil விபத்து/ʋɪbɐt̪ːɯ/ accident; calamity #603
- Turkish kaza[kɑˈzɑː] #924
- Urdu حادثہ/ɦɑː.d̪ɪ.sɑ(ː)/ #1,482
- Vietnamese nạn[naːn˧˨ʔ] accident, danger, calamity, disaster,… #543
The speaker reads the word in the voice the LangX app uses for that language — synthesised, not a recording of a native speaker, so treat it as a guide. A row without a button has no reading we are free to use, or none we trust, yet. Voices for Bengali (google (bn_BD), CC BY-SA 4.0), Estonian (news (et_EE), CC BY 4.0), Slovenian (artur (sl_SI), CC BY 4.0) and Vietnamese (vais1000 (vi_VN), CC BY 4.0).
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.