How to say “guilty” in 36 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.
- culpable/kulˈpable/ Spanish
- جان/d͡ʒaːnin/ Arabic
- 有罪/joʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ t͡su̯eɪ̯⁵¹/ Chinese
- दोषी/d̪oː.ʂiː/ Hindi
- ένοχος/ˈenoˌxos/ Greek
- אשם/aˈʃem/ Hebrew
“guilty” in Spanish: culpable · French: coupable · German: schuldig · Italian: colpevole · Portuguese: culpado · Chinese: 有罪 · Arabic: جان · Hindi: दोषी
It is commonest in Swedish, where skyldig is the 655th most used word.
Guilty in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans skuldig/ˈskœl.dəχ/ #732
- Albanian fajtor/fajˈtoɾ/ #1,296
- Arabic جان/d͡ʒaːnin/ guilty, delinquent, criminal, flagrant,… #1,672
- Armenian մեղավոր/meʁɑˈvoɾ/ #840
- Bengali দোষী/d̪oʃi/ guilty, offending #813
- Bosnian kriv/krîːʋ/ guilty, culpable #733
- Bulgarian виновен[viˈnɔvɛn] guilty, culpable #776
- Catalan culpable[kulˈpab.blə] guilty; culpable #1,364
- Chinese 有罪/joʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ t͡su̯eɪ̯⁵¹/ #938
- Croatian kriv/krîːʋ/ guilty, culpable #656
- Danish skyldig/skyldi/ #1,414
- Dutch schuldig/ˈsxʏl.dəx/ #803
- Esperanto kulpas/ˈkulpas/ to be guilty #647
- Finnish syyllinen/ˈsyːlːinen/ #1,889
- French coupable/ku.pabl/ #1,009
- German schuldig/ˈʃʊldɪç/ guilty, culpable #1,285
- Greek ένοχος/ˈenoˌxos/ #1,758
- Hebrew אשם/aˈʃem/ guilty, responsible #947
- Hindi दोषी/d̪oː.ʂiː/ guilty, culpable, at fault #1,505
- Hungarian bűnös[ˈbyːnøʃ] criminal, guilty, culpable #1,807
- Icelandic sekur[ˈsɛːkʏr] #1,376
- Italian colpevole/kolˈpe.vo.le/ #1,384
- Korean 죄책감[ˈt͡ɕwe̞(ː)t͡ɕʰɛk̚k͈a̠m] feeling of culpability; guilty conscience #1,824
- Latvian vainīgs/ˈʋaiːniːɡs/ #889
- Macedonian виновен[ˈvinɔvɛn] guilty, culpable #740
- Malayalam കുറ്റബോധം/kurrɐboːd̪(ʱ)ɐm/ feeling guilty; remorse; guilt #944
- Norwegian skyldig/ˈʃʏldɪ/ #1,278
- Persian مقصر[mo.ʁæs.séɹ] guilty, culpable, responsible, at fault #1,218
- Polish winny/ˈvin.nɘ/ #1,990
- Portuguese culpado/kuwˈpa.du/ #1,568
- Romanian vinovat/ˌvi.noˈvat/ guilty, culpable #1,177
- Serbian kriv/krîːʋ/ guilty, culpable #682
- Spanish culpable/kulˈpable/ guilty, culpable #1,206
- Swedish skyldig/ˈsxyldɪɡ/ #655
- Turkish suçlu/sut͡ʃˈɫu/ #768
- Ukrainian винен[ˈʋɪnen] #1,036
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) and Catalan (upc_ona (ca_ES), CC BY-SA 4.0).
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.