How to say “crime” in 40 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.
- crimen/ˈkɾimen/ Spanish
- преступление[prʲɪstʊˈplʲenʲɪje] Russian
- جريمة/d͡ʒa.riː.ma/ Arabic
- 범죄[ˈpɘ(ː)md͡ʑwe̞] Korean
- अपराध/əp.ɾɑːd̪ʱ/ Hindi
- έγκλημα/ˈeŋɡliˌma/ Greek
“crime” in Spanish: crimen · Italian: crimine · Portuguese: crime · Korean: 범죄 · Russian: преступление · Arabic: جريمة · Hindi: अपराध · Turkish: suç
It is commonest in Arabic, where جريمة is the 406th most used word.
Crime in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans misdaad/ˈməs.dɑːt/ #856
- Albanian faji/faji/ misdeed, wrong; crime #555
- Arabic جريمة/d͡ʒa.riː.ma/ crime, transgression, offense, fault #406
- Armenian հանցանք/hɑnˈt͡sʰɑnkʰ/ crime; offense #908
- Bengali অপরাধ/ɔpoɾad̪ʱ/ crime, offence, fault #577
- Bosnian zločin/zlǒt͡ʃin/ #1,476
- Bulgarian престъпление[prɛstɐˈplɛniɛ] #1,179
- Catalan crim[ˈkɾim] violent crime #894
- Chinese 犯罪/fän⁵¹⁻⁵³ t͡su̯eɪ̯⁵¹/ to commit a crime #475
- Croatian zločin/zlǒt͡ʃin/ #1,287
- Czech zločin[ˈzlot͡ʃɪn] #1,609
- Danish forbrydelse/forˈbrødɛlsə/ crime, felony #1,953
- Dutch aanklacht/ˈaːŋ.klɑxt/ indictment, charge against a crime #1,955
- Estonian kuritegu/ˈkuriteɡ̊u/ #1,466
- Georgian დანაშაული[d̥änäʃäuli] #794
- German tatort/ˈtaːtˌʔɔʁt/ crime scene #2,420
- Greek έγκλημα/ˈeŋɡliˌma/ crime, felony #1,229
- Hebrew עבירה/aveˈʁa/ crime, violation #2,055
- Hindi अपराध/əp.ɾɑːd̪ʱ/ crime, offence #996
- Icelandic glæpur[ˈklaiːpʏr] #1,513
- Indonesian kejahatan/kəd͡ʒaˈhatan/ #724
- Italian crimine/ˈkri.mi.ne/ #1,147
- Korean 범죄[ˈpɘ(ː)md͡ʑwe̞] #853
- Latvian noziegums/ˈnuozieɡums/ #1,957
- Lithuanian nusikaltimas[nʊsʲɪkɐlʲˈtʲɪmɐs] crime, offense #1,474
- Macedonian криминал[krimiˈnaɫ] crime, criminal activity #1,981
- Malay jenayah/d͡ʒəˈnajah/ #707
- Norwegian åstedet/ˈoːˌsteːdə/ a crime scene #2,418
- Persian جرم[d͡ʒoɹm] crime; offense #683
- Portuguese crime/ˈkɾĩ.mi/ #684
- Romanian crimă/ˈkrimə/ major crime, offence, or wrongdoing; felony #774
- Russian преступление[prʲɪstʊˈplʲenʲɪje] crime, criminal act, offense #1,926
- Serbian zločin/zlǒt͡ʃin/ #1,348
- Slovenian zločin/zlɔt͡ʃíːn/ #609
- Spanish crimen/ˈkɾimen/ #977
- Tagalog krimen/kɾiˈmen/ #1,254
- Tamil பாவம்/pɑːʋɐm/ sin, crime, evil #1,322
- Turkish suç/sut͡ʃ/ crime, offense #662
- Urdu جرم/d͡ʒʊɾm/ crime; sin #850
- Vietnamese phạm[faːm˧˨ʔ] to commit a crime, or to violate #484
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), Catalan (upc_ona (ca_ES), 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.