How to say “curse” in 35 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.
- maldición/maldiˈθjon/ Spanish
- لعنة/laʕ.na/ Arabic
- 저주[ˈt͡ɕɘ(ː)d͡ʑu] Korean
- लानत/lɑː.nət̪/ Hindi
- κατάρα/kaˈtara/ Greek
- անեծք/ɑˈnet͡skʰ/ Armenian
“curse” in Spanish: maldición · Italian: maledizione · Portuguese: maldição · Korean: 저주 · Arabic: لعنة · Hindi: लानत · Turkish: lanet · Greek: κατάρα
It is commonest in Telugu, where తిట్టు is the 203rd most used word.
Curse in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans vloek/ˈfluk/ curse, oath #741
- Albanian mallkim/maɫkim/ #1,594
- Arabic لعنة/laʕ.na/ curse, anathema, an instance of malediction #1,416
- Armenian անեծք/ɑˈnet͡skʰ/ curse, damnation, imprecation; anathema #726
- Basque madarikatu/madaɾikatu/ to damn, to curse something or someone #607
- Bengali গালি/ɡali/ curse, abuse, swearword, profanity #1,604
- Bosnian kunem/ˈkunɛm/ to curse #717
- Bulgarian кълна[kɐɫˈnɤ] to curse, to damn #838
- Catalan maleït[mə.ləˈit] to curse #697
- Croatian kunem/ˈkunɛm/ to curse #767
- Danish forbandede/fɒˈbanˀəðə/ to curse #1,127
- Dutch vloek/vluk/ #2,471
- Esperanto malbeno/malˈbeno/ #1,504
- Galician maldición[malˈdiθiˈon] #2,260
- Greek κατάρα/kaˈtara/ #2,085
- Hindi लानत/lɑː.nət̪/ #713
- Icelandic bölvun[ˈpœlvʏn] #1,528
- Italian maledizione/ma.le.ditˈt͡sjo.ne/ curse, spell, malediction, bane #1,253
- Korean 저주[ˈt͡ɕɘ(ː)d͡ʑu] #2,129
- Malayalam ശാപം/ʃaːbɐm/ #1,127
- Norwegian forbanna/fɔrˈbɑnɑ/ to curse #1,808
- Persian لعنت[læʔ.nǽt̪ʰ] curse, execration #370
- Portuguese maldição/maw.d͡ʒiˈsɐ̃w̃/ #1,776
- Serbian kunem/ˈkunɛm/ to curse #735
- Slovak kliatba/kʎɪ̯adba/ #1,762
- Slovenian prekletstvo/prɛkléːtstʋɔ/ #1,024
- Spanish maldición/maldiˈθjon/ #884
- Swedish svär/ˈsvɛːr/ to swear, to curse; to use offensive language #1,094
- Tagalog sumpa/sumˈpaʔ/ curse; wishing of evil #1,069
- Tamil சாபம்/tʃɑːbɐm/ #605
- Telugu తిట్టు/tiʈːu/ a curse #203
- Turkish lanet/laːnet/ curse, malediction, damnation #215
- Ukrainian прокляття[prɔˈklʲatʲːɐ] curse, malediction, perdition, execration,… #1,311
- Urdu لعنت/lənət̪/ curse, anathema, imprecation #412
- Vietnamese chửi[t͡ɕɨj˧˩] to insult; to abuse; to curse; to scold #2,174
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), 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.