How to say “doubt” in 41 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.
- duda/ˈduda/ Spanish
- 懷疑/xu̯aɪ̯³⁵ i³⁵/ Chinese
- αμφιβολία/aɱ.fi.voˈli.a/ Greek
- ספק/saˈfek/ Hebrew
- ეჭვი[e̞t͡ʃʼʷi] Georgian
- կասկած/kɑsˈkɑt͡s/ Armenian
“doubt” in Spanish: duda · French: doute · German: zweifel · Portuguese: dúvida · Chinese: 懷疑 · Turkish: şüphe · Greek: αμφιβολία
It is commonest in Bengali, where সন্দেহ is the 412th most used word.
Doubt in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans twyfel/ˈtvəi̯.fəl/ #605
- Albanian dyshim/dyʃim/ suspicion, doubt #885
- Arabic أجل/ʔa.d͡ʒal/ yes, indeed, no doubt #33
- Armenian կասկած/kɑsˈkɑt͡s/ #709
- Basque zalantza/s̻alant͡s̻a/ doubt, hesitation #909
- Bengali সন্দেহ/ʃɔnd̪eho/ doubt; suspicion; uncertainty #412
- Bosnian sumnje/ˈsumɲe/ doubt, suspicion #1,369
- Bulgarian съмнение[sɐmˈnɛniɛ] #1,545
- Catalan dubte[ˈdup.tə] #904
- Chinese 懷疑/xu̯aɪ̯³⁵ i³⁵/ to doubt; to suspect #2,364
- Croatian sumnje/ˈsumɲe/ doubt, suspicion #1,308
- Danish tvivl/tvivl/ #1,292
- Dutch twijfel/ˈtʋɛi̯.fəl/ doubt, uncertainty #1,440
- English sure/ʃʊɹ/ Without doubt, certainly #136
- Esperanto dubi/ˈdubi/ to doubt #688
- French doute/dut/ #602
- Galician dúbida/ˈdubida/ #826
- Georgian ეჭვი[e̞t͡ʃʼʷi] doubt, dubiety, suspicion #658
- German zweifel/ˈtsvaɪ̯fəl/ #1,871
- Greek αμφιβολία/aɱ.fi.voˈli.a/ doubt, uncertainty #1,939
- Hebrew ספק/saˈfek/ doubt, uncertainty #573
- Hindi बेशक/beː.ʃək/ undoubtedly, without a doubt, totally #548
- Icelandic eflaust/ˈɛvlœyst/ without a doubt, indubitably, doubtlessly #828
- Indonesian jelas/d͡ʒəˈlas/ free of ambiguity or doubt #339
- Lithuanian abejoju[ɐbʲɛ¹ˈjo̟ːjʊ̟] to doubt, to question #1,030
- Macedonian сомнеж[ˈsɔmnɛʃ] doubt, suspicion #2,193
- Malayalam സംശയം/sɐmʃɐjɐm/ #426
- Norwegian tvil/ˈtviːl/ a doubt #1,438
- Persian شک[ʃækʰʲ(kʰʲ)] #574
- Polish wątpię/ˈvɔnt.pjɛ/ to doubt #1,740
- Portuguese dúvida/ˈdu.vi.dɐ/ doubt, uncertainty #1,122
- Romanian îndoială/ɨn.doˈja.lə/ doubt, misgiving, incertitude #1,465
- Serbian sumnje/ˈsumɲe/ doubt, suspicion #1,284
- Slovenian dvom/dʋóːm/ #1,633
- Spanish duda/ˈduda/ #1,017
- Swedish tvivlar/ˈtvɪvlar/ to doubt, to be in doubt #2,266
- Tagalog agam/ˈʔaɡam/ doubt; suspicion #2,368
- Tamil சந்தேகம்/tʃɐnd̪eːɡɐm/ doubt, uncertainty, hesitation; suspicion #596
- Turkish şüphe/ʃypˈhe/ #1,468
- Urdu شک/ʃək/ doubt, uncertainty #736
- Vietnamese nghi[ŋi˧˧] to doubt, to suspect #635
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.