How to say “crazy” in 43 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.
It is commonest in Urdu, where پاگل is the 125th most used word.
- Afrikaans mal #487
- Albanian budalla fool, crazy person #423
- Arabic مجنون mad, crazy, insane, possessed #328
- Armenian խենթ crazy, mad, foolish #1,422
- Basque zoratu to go crazy, go mad, lose your mind #928
- Bosnian lud #641
- Bulgarian луд crazy, mad, insane #616
- Catalan boig crazy, mad #605
- Chinese 瘋狂 mad; crazy; mentally deranged #2,380
- Croatian lud #678
- Danish gal crazy, mad, insane #1,286
- Dutch gek crazy, mad #262
- English mad Insane; crazy; mentally deranged #677
- Esperanto freneza insane, crazy, mad #836
- Estonian hull crazy, mad #454
- Finnish hullu crazy, mad, insane, lunatic #544
- French fou mad, crazy #477
- Galician tolo madman, crazy #435
- Georgian გიჟი crazy, mad, lunatic #1,176
- German verrückt crazy, mad #416
- Greek τρελός #770
- Hebrew מטורף crazy, insane #461
- Hungarian bolond #1,118
- Indonesian gila crazy, insane #219
- Italian pazzo crazy, insane, mad #854
- Latvian traki mad, crazy, madly, crazily, very; adverbial… #939
- Lithuanian pamišęs crazy, mad, insane #1,182
- Macedonian луд mad, insane, crazy #427
- Norwegian gale insane; crazy; out of one's mind; mad #1,313
- Persian دیوانه mad, insane, crazy #2,102
- Polish szalony crazy, mad, insane #1,761
- Portuguese louco crazy, mad, insane #807
- Romanian nebun crazy, insane #558
- Russian сумасшедший mad, crazy #2,237
- Serbian lud #643
- Slovenian nor crazy, insane, mad #334
- Spanish loco crazy, insane, mad, nuts #425
- Swedish galen crazy, mad, insane #472
- Tagalog baliw insane; crazy; mad #487
- Turkish deli crazy, mad, insane #538
- Ukrainian божевільний mad, lunatic, crazy, insane, retarded #1,491
- Urdu پاگل crazy, mad, insane #125
- Vietnamese rồ to go mad, to go crazy, to become insane #1,158
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.