How to say “destroy” 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.
- destruir/desˈtɾwiɾ/ Spanish
- уничтожить[ʊnʲɪt͡ɕˈtoʐɨtʲ] Russian
- ביער/biˈʔeʁ/ Hebrew
- തകർക്കുക/t̪aɡarkkuɡa/ Malayalam
“destroy” in Spanish: destruir · French: détruire · German: zerstört · Italian: distrutto · Russian: уничтожить
It is commonest in Vietnamese, where phá is the 462nd most used word.
Destroy in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans verwoes/fərˈvus/ to destroy; to devastate #826
- Albanian prish[pɻiʃ] to destroy #1,020
- Arabic محق/maħaqa/ to efface, to blot out, to destroy, to… #425
- Armenian ավերել/ɑveˈɾel/ to ruin, destroy, devastate #1,477
- Basque suntsitu/s̺unt͡s̺itu/ to destroy, to be destroyed #495
- Bosnian uništiti/ǔniʃtiti/ to destroy, annihilate #1,258
- Bulgarian убия[oˈbijɐ] to kill, to slay, to destroy, to murder, to… #527
- Catalan destruir[dəs.tɾuˈi] to destroy #1,238
- Croatian uništiti/ǔniʃtiti/ to destroy, annihilate #917
- Czech zničit[ˈzɲɪt͡ʃɪt] to destroy #1,128
- Danish ødelægge/øːðəlɛɡə/ to destroy #837
- Dutch vernietigen/vərˈni.tə.ɣə(n)/ to destroy #1,243
- Esperanto detrui/deˈtrui/ to destroy #2,036
- Finnish tuhota/ˈtuhotɑˣ/ to destroy #1,411
- French détruire/de.tʁɥiʁ/ to destroy #1,280
- Galician tirar/tiˈɾaɾ/ to discard; to destroy #1,323
- German zerstört/tsɛɾʃˈtœɾt/ to destroy, demolish, devastate, eliminate #1,223
- Hebrew ביער/biˈʔeʁ/ to destroy, remove #1,379
- Icelandic eyða[ˈeiːða] to destroy, bring to nothing #2,267
- Indonesian menghancurkan/məŋhantˈʃurkan/ to destroy #501
- Italian distrutto/disˈtrut.to/ to destroy, wipe out or ruin #1,692
- Latvian iznīcināt/ˈiz-niːt͡sinaːt/ to destroy #1,138
- Lithuanian sunaikinti[sʊnɐɪ¹ˈkʲɪnʲtʲɪ] to destroy #703
- Macedonian уништи[ˈuniʃti] to destroy, annihilate, exterminate,… #584
- Malay musnah/ˈmusnah/ to destroy #1,141
- Malayalam തകർക്കുക/t̪aɡarkkuɡa/ to destroy #2,428
- Norwegian ødelegge/ˈøːdəˌlɛɡə/ to destroy, lay waste to #790
- Polish zniszczyć/ˈzɲiʂ.t͡ʂɘt͡ɕ/ to destroy #1,388
- Romanian distruge/disˈtru.d͡ʒe/ to destroy #1,135
- Russian уничтожить[ʊnʲɪt͡ɕˈtoʐɨtʲ] to destroy, to annihilate, to obliterate, to… #1,599
- Serbian uništiti/ǔniʃtiti/ to destroy, annihilate #1,389
- Spanish destruir/desˈtɾwiɾ/ to destroy #2,136
- Tagalog sirain/siˈɾaʔin/ to destroy; to ruin #817
- Ukrainian знищити[ˈznɪʃt͡ʃete] to destroy, to annihilate, to obliterate #1,243
- Vietnamese phá[faː˧˦] to destroy, to demolish #462
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 Catalan (upc_ona (ca_ES), CC BY-SA 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.