How to say “guilty” in 36 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 Esperanto, where kulpas is the 647th most used word.
- Afrikaans skuldig #732
- Albanian fajtor #1,296
- Arabic جان guilty, delinquent, criminal, flagrant,… #1,672
- Armenian մեղավոր #840
- Bengali দোষী guilty, offending #813
- Bosnian kriv guilty, culpable #733
- Bulgarian виновен guilty, culpable #776
- Catalan culpable guilty; culpable #1,364
- Chinese 有罪 #938
- Croatian kriv guilty, culpable #656
- Danish skyldig #1,414
- Dutch schuldig #803
- Esperanto kulpas to be guilty #647
- Finnish syyllinen #1,889
- French coupable #1,009
- German schuldig guilty, culpable #1,285
- Greek ένοχος #1,758
- Hebrew אשם guilty, responsible #947
- Hindi दोषी guilty, culpable, at fault #1,505
- Hungarian bűnös criminal, guilty, culpable #1,807
- Icelandic sekur #1,376
- Italian colpevole #1,384
- Korean 죄책감 feeling of culpability; guilty conscience #1,824
- Latvian vainīgs #889
- Macedonian виновен guilty, culpable #740
- Malayalam കുറ്റബോധം feeling guilty; remorse; guilt #944
- Norwegian skyldig #1,278
- Persian مقصر guilty, culpable, responsible, at fault #1,218
- Polish winny #1,990
- Portuguese culpado #1,568
- Romanian vinovat guilty, culpable #1,177
- Serbian kriv guilty, culpable #682
- Spanish culpable guilty, culpable #1,206
- Swedish skyldig #655
- Turkish suçlu #768
- Ukrainian винен #1,036
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.