How to say “excuse” 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.
- معذرة/maʕ.ði.ra/ Arabic
- תירוץ/teˈʁut͡s/ Hebrew
- বাহানা/bahana/ Bengali
“excuse” in Portuguese: desculpa · Arabic: معذرة
It is commonest in Danish, where undskyld is the 127th most used word.
Excuse in other languages, A to Z
- Arabic معذرة/maʕ.ði.ra/ #659
- Armenian ներողություն/neɾoʁuˈtʰjun/ excuse me “forgiveness” #567
- Bengali বাহানা/bahana/ #2,263
- Bulgarian извинявам[izviˈnʲa̟vɐm] to forgive, excuse, pardon #1,366
- Catalan perdona/pərˈðonə/ to pardon, forgive, excuse #502
- Chinese 原諒/ɥɛn³⁵ li̯ɑŋ⁵¹/ to forgive; to excuse; to pardon #1,692
- Czech promiň[ˈpromɪɲ] sorry! excuse me! #254
- Danish undskyld/ˈonˌsɡylˀ/ to excuse #127
- Dutch sorry/ˈsɔ.ri/ sorry, pardon, excuse me #197
- English apologize/əˈpɑləˌd͡ʒaɪz/ To make an apology or excuse; to acknowledge… #1,397
- Esperanto pardonpetas/ˌpardonˈpetas/ to excuse oneself, ask for forgiveness #769
- Estonian vabandage/ˈvɑb̥ɑnd̥ɑɡ̊e/ excuse me, pardon me #412
- French pardon/paʁ.dɔ̃/ excuse me #376
- Georgian უკაცრავად[ukʼät͡sʰɾävätʰ] excuse me, sorry #237
- German entschuldigen/ɛntˈʃʊldɪɡən/ to excuse someone #544
- Greek συγχωρείτε/ˌsiŋxoˈrite/ to forgive, pardon, excuse #508
- Hebrew תירוץ/teˈʁut͡s/ #1,814
- Hindi मिस/mɪs/ pretext, pretence, excuse #1,143
- Icelandic fyrirgefðu/ˈfɪːrɪrcɛvðʏ/ excuse me, sorry #549
- Italian scusa/ˈsku.za/ apology, excuse #296
- Latvian atvainoties/ˈatʋaiːnuoties/ to excuse oneself #1,938
- Macedonian извини[ˈizvini] to forgive, excuse, pardon #156
- Norwegian unnskyld/ˈʉnːˌʃʏl(d)/ to excuse #165
- Persian معذرت[mæʔ.ze.ɹǽt̪ʰ] excuse; apology #387
- Polish przepraszam/pʂɛˈpra.ʂam/ sorry; I'm sorry, excuse me #90
- Portuguese desculpa/desˈkuw.pɐ/ excuse, pretext #180
- Romanian pardon/parˈdon/ pardon!, pardon me!, excuse me!, I beg your… #1,972
- Slovak výhovorka/viːɦɔvɔrka/ #2,326
- Spanish disculpe/disˈkulpe/ excuse me; pardon me #739
- Swedish ursäkta/ʉ̟ːˈʂɛkta/ excuse me!, pardon, I'm sorry! #211
- Tamil மன்னி/mɐnːiː/ to forgive, excuse, pardon #1,732
- Turkish pardon/ˈpaɾ.don/ pardon!, pardon me!, excuse me!, I beg your… #543
- Ukrainian вибачте[ˈʋɪbɐt͡ʃte] excuse me #241
- Urdu معذرت/məʔ.zə.ɾət̪/ apology, sorry; excuse #262
- Vietnamese cớ[kəː˧˦] reason, excuse, pretext #2,005
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 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.