How to say “devil” in 43 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.
- mala/ˈmala/ Spanish
- чёрт[t͡ɕɵrt] Russian
- 魔鬼/mu̯ɔ³⁵ ku̯eɪ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/ Chinese
- शैतान/ʃɛː.t̪ɑːn/ Hindi
- διάβολο/ðiˈavoˌlo/ Greek
- ეშმაკის[e̞ʃmäkʼis] Georgian
“devil” in Spanish: mala · German: teufel · Italian: diavolo · Portuguese: diabo · Chinese: 魔鬼 · Russian: чёрт · Hindi: शैतान · Turkish: şeytan
It is commonest in Icelandic, where fjandinn is the 130th most used word.
Devil in other languages, A to Z
- Albanian dreq/dɾɛcɕ/ #154
- Arabic شيطان/ʃaj.tˤaːn/ Satan, shaitan, the Devil #1,687
- Basque deabru/deabru/ the Devil, Satan #660
- Bengali দেও/deo̯/ demon, devil #1,539
- Bosnian vrag/ʋrâːɡ/ #1,278
- Bulgarian дявол[ˈdʲa̟voɫ] #1,613
- Catalan dimonis[diˈmɔ.nis] the hell, the devil, on earth; expletive used… #746
- Chinese 魔鬼/mu̯ɔ³⁵ ku̯eɪ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/ devil; demon; fiend; an embodiment of evil #569
- Croatian vrag/ʋrâːɡ/ #936
- Czech čertu[ˈt͡ʃɛrtu] #1,121
- Danish fanden[ˈfanən] the hell, the devil #193
- Dutch duivel/ˈdœy̯vəl/ #1,605
- Esperanto diablo/diˈablo/ #660
- Estonian kurat/ˈkurɑt/ a devil, an evil spirit #178
- Finnish saatana/ˈsɑːtɑnɑ/ devil, Satan #2,014
- Galician demo/ˈdɛ.mo̝/ devil; demon #955
- Georgian ეშმაკის[e̞ʃmäkʼis] #1,502
- German teufel/ˈtɔɪ̯fəl/ the Devil, Satan #453
- Greek διάβολο/ðiˈavoˌlo/ The Devil, devil #1,609
- Hindi शैतान/ʃɛː.t̪ɑːn/ #1,240
- Hungarian ördög[ˈørdøɡ] #1,544
- Icelandic fjandinn/ˈfjantɪn/ devil, demon, fiend #130
- Italian diavolo/ˈdja.vo.lo/ devil, demon, fiend, Satan #373
- Korean 마[ma̠] jinx; devil, demon; evil spirit / influence #80
- Latvian velns[ˈvǣlns] the Devil; Satan #184
- Lithuanian velnias[¹ˈʋʲæˑlʲnʲɛs] devil; demon #179
- Macedonian ѓавол[ˈɟavɔɫ] #1,671
- Malay syaitan[ʃai̯.tan] Satan, the Devil #1,007
- Malayalam ചെകുത്താൻ/t͡ʃeɡut̪t̪aːn/ devil, satan #1,664
- Norwegian faen[fɑːən] the Devil, Satan #138
- Persian شیطان[ʃej.t̪ʰɒ́ːn] #1,412
- Polish diabła/ˈdja.bwa/ #614
- Portuguese diabo/d͡ʒiˈa.bu/ devil; demon; fiend #901
- Romanian naiba/naj.ba/ devil, deuce #174
- Russian чёрт[t͡ɕɵrt] devil, demon #453
- Serbian đavo/d͡ʑâʋoː/ #1,527
- Slovak diabol/ɟɪ̯abɔl/ #1,079
- Slovenian hudič/xudìːt͡ʃ/ #676
- Spanish mala/ˈmala/ #642
- Swedish katt/ˈkatː/ the devil, Satan #1,905
- Tamil பிசாசு/pɪtʃɑːtʃɯ/ devil, goblin; spirit of malevolent character #901
- Turkish şeytan/ʃejˈtan/ devil, satan #996
- Ukrainian чорт[t͡ʃɔrt] devil, demon, Satan, evil spirit or force #272
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) and Slovenian (artur (sl_SI), CC BY 4.0).
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.