How to say “hell” in 43 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.
- demonios/deˈmonjos/ Spanish
- ад[at] Russian
- नरक/nə.ɾək/ Hindi
- κόλαση/ˈko.la.si/ Greek
- ჯანდაბა[d͡ʒändäbä] Georgian
- դժոխք/dəˈʒoχkʰ/ Armenian
“hell” in Spanish: demonios · German: hölle · Portuguese: inferno · Russian: ад · Hindi: नरक · Turkish: cehennem · Greek: κόλαση
It is commonest in Danish, where fanden is the 193rd most used word.
Hell in other languages, A to Z
- Albanian ferr/fɛr/ hell, heck #752
- Armenian դժոխք/dəˈʒoχkʰ/ #1,333
- Bengali নরক/nɔɾok/ hell; naraka #1,333
- Bosnian pakao/pǎkao/ #1,163
- Bulgarian ад[at] hell, inferno, perdition #2,262
- Catalan dimonis[diˈmɔ.nis] the hell, the devil, on earth; expletive used… #746
- Croatian pakao/pǎkao/ #1,083
- Czech pekla[ˈpɛkla] #1,822
- Danish fanden[ˈfanən] the hell, the devil #193
- Dutch hel/ɦɛl/ hell, an infernal afterlife #962
- Esperanto infero/inˈfero/ #761
- Estonian põrgu/ˈpɤrɡ̊u/ #802
- Finnish hitto/ˈhitːo/ damn, heck, hell, rats or crap #452
- French putain/py.tɛ̃/ fuck, fucking hell, bloody hell #340
- Galician inferno/iɱˈfɛɾno̝/ #1,345
- Georgian ჯანდაბა[d͡ʒändäbä] #200
- German hölle/ˈhœlə/ #657
- Greek κόλαση/ˈko.la.si/ hell, inferno, a place of anguish and… #990
- Hebrew לעזאזל/laʔazaˈzel/ Damn!, Hell! #99
- Hindi नरक/nə.ɾək/ hell, underworld, purgatory #401
- Hungarian francba[ˈfrɒnd͡zbɒ] damn, hell #405
- Icelandic helvítis[ˈhɛl.viːtɪs] #315
- Indonesian persetan/pərˈsetan/ to hell with #770
- Korean 도대체[to̞dɛt͡ɕʰe̞] on earth; the hell #271
- Latvian ellē/ˈelleː/ #609
- Lithuanian pragaras[²ˈprɑːɡɐrɐs] #1,521
- Macedonian пекол[ˈpɛkɔɫ] #1,607
- Malay neraka/nəˈraka/ #563
- Malayalam നരകം/n̪ɐɾɐɡɐm/ #906
- Norwegian helvete/ˈhɛlvətə/ Hell; a place of suffering for the damned #208
- Persian جهنم[d͡ʒæ.ɦæn.nǽm] #588
- Portuguese inferno/ĩˈfɛʁ.nu/ #965
- Romanian dracului/ˈdra.ku.luj/ Used as an intensifier or filler: the hell #755
- Russian ад[at] hell, Hades #1,963
- Serbian pakao/pǎkao/ #1,153
- Slovak peklo/ˈpɛkɫɔ/ #919
- Slovenian pekel/pəkə́ʋ/ #563
- Spanish demonios/deˈmonjos/ the hell, on earth #550
- Swedish helvete/ˈhɛlˌvɛtɛ/ #239
- Tagalog impiyerno/ʔimpiˈeɾno/ inferno; hell #784
- Tamil நரகம்/nɐɾɐɡɐm/ #266
- Turkish cehennem/d͡ʒe.henˈnem/ hell, inferno #1,648
- Urdu جہنم/d͡ʒə.ɦən.nəm/ #386
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 Slovenian (artur (sl_SI), CC BY 4.0).
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.