How to say “fault” in 37 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.
It is commonest in Telugu, where తప్పు is the 89th most used word.
- Afrikaans skuld guilt, fault #273
- Albanian gabim mistake, error, fault #337
- Arabic عيب fault, defect, deficiency, failing #2,439
- Basque erru fault, blame #1,540
- Bengali দোষ #383
- Bosnian greška #777
- Catalan culpa fault, blame #465
- Chinese 毛病 fault; defect; breakdown; trouble; mishap #964
- Croatian greška #1,002
- Czech chyba #627
- Estonian viga mistake, error, fault #236
- French tort #1,071
- Georgian ბრალი #967
- German fehler fault, error, mistake #632
- Greek φταίω to be to blame, be at fault, be in the wrong #1,350
- Hebrew אשמה blame; fault #1,265
- Hindi दोष #1,330
- Hungarian hiba mistake, error, fault #1,298
- Italian colpa #382
- Latvian vaina fault, guilt #554
- Macedonian вина guilt, fault #870
- Malayalam കുറ്റം #286
- Persian اشتباه mistake, fault, error #211
- Polish winy guilt, fault #1,958
- Portuguese culpa #519
- Romanian vina guilt, fault #443
- Russian вина guilt, fault; blame #738
- Serbian greška #778
- Slovak chyba #397
- Spanish culpa #460
- Tagalog kasalanan sin; guilt; fault #234
- Tamil குற்றம் fault, blemish, defect, flaw, error #431
- Telugu తప్పు an error, fault, mistake, offence #89
- Turkish hata error, fault, mistake #569
- Ukrainian вина guilt, fault; blame #634
- Urdu دوش blame, fault #765
- Vietnamese lỗi mistake, fault, error #121
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.