How to say “evil” 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.
- 악[a̠k̚] Korean
- बदमाश/bəd̪.mɑːʃ/ Hindi
- רע/raʕ/ Hebrew
- ბოროტება[b̥o̞ɾo̞tʼe̞bä] Georgian
- չարիք/t͡ʃʰɑˈɾikʰ/ Armenian
- தீய/t̪iːjɐ/ Tamil
“evil” in Korean: 악 · Hindi: बदमाश
It is commonest in Slovak, where zlé is the 232nd most used word.
Evil in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans kwade/ˈkwɑːdə/ #2,188
- Albanian keqe/kɛcɕɛ/ bad, evil, wicked, naughty #268
- Arabic سيئ/saj.jiʔ/ bad, evil #678
- Armenian չարիք/t͡ʃʰɑˈɾikʰ/ evil, harm, something bad #456
- Basque gaizto/ɡai̯s̻to/ evil, mean #816
- Bengali খারাপ/kʰaɾap/ bad; gone bad; evil #136
- Bosnian zao/zâo/ evil, malicious, bad, mean, wicked #686
- Bulgarian зло[zɫɔ] evil, malice #1,838
- Croatian zao/zâo/ evil, malicious, bad, mean, wicked #1,452
- Czech zlé[ˈzlɛː] #1,407
- Danish ondt/ˈɔnˀd/ #383
- English devil/ˈdɛvəl/ An evil creature, the objectification of a… #1,378
- Estonian kurat/ˈkurɑt/ a devil, an evil spirit #178
- Finnish paha/ˈpɑhɑ/ bad, evil, ill #650
- Georgian ბოროტება[b̥o̞ɾo̞tʼe̞bä] evil, malice, spite #1,391
- German schlechte/ˈʃlɛçtə/ bad, evil, wicked #1,237
- Greek κακό/kaˈko/ bad, evil, ill, wicked #367
- Hebrew רע/raʕ/ An evil, trouble; something bad #248
- Hindi बदमाश/bəd̪.mɑːʃ/ evil, wicked #1,133
- Hungarian gonosz[ˈɡonos] evil, evil-minded, malicious, wicked, vile #968
- Icelandic vondur[ˈvɔntʏr] bad, evil #1,370
- Indonesian jahat/ˈd͡ʒahat/ bad; evil #523
- Korean 악[a̠k̚] evil; wickedness #1,370
- Latvian ļaunu/ˈʎaunu/ evil, wicked #1,620
- Macedonian зло[zɫɔ] evil, wickedness, malice #1,485
- Malay jahat/ˈd͡ʒahat/ bad, evil #440
- Malayalam തിന്മ/t̪inmɐ/ evil; moral badness #2,125
- Norwegian onde/ˈʊnə/ bad, evil, wicked, vicious #1,389
- Persian شر[ʃæɹ(ː)] evil, wickedness #1,188
- Serbian zao/zâo/ evil, malicious, bad, mean, wicked #1,261
- Slovak zlé/zleː/ #232
- Slovenian zlo/zlɔ́/ #750
- Swedish onda/ˈɔnda/ #1,619
- Tagalog masama/masaˈmaʔ/ evil; bad #322
- Tamil தீய/t̪iːjɐ/ evil, wicked, sinful #1,017
- Telugu కీడు/ˈkiːɖu/ evil, harm, misfortune, danger #1,824
- Turkish fena/feˈna/ bad, evil #631
- Ukrainian біса[ˈbʲisɐ] evil spirit, demon #440
- Urdu خرابی/xɑː.ɾɑː.biː/ badness, evil, corruption #1,033
- Vietnamese ác[ʔaːk̚˧˦] cruel; evil; inhumane; merciless #849
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), 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.