How to say “horrible” in 30 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.
- horrible/oˈrible/ Spanish
- ഭയാനകമായ/bʱɐjaːnɐkɐmaːjɐ/ Malayalam
- وحشتناک/væhʃætnɒːk/ Persian
“horrible” in Spanish: horrible · French: horrible · Italian: orribile · Portuguese: horrível
It is commonest in Urdu, where خوفناک is the 640th most used word.
Horrible in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans aaklige/ˈɑːkləxə/ #1,230
- Bengali কাণ্ড/kanɖo/ sin, horrible mistake, incident, event #2,087
- Bosnian užasan/ûʒaːsan/ terrible, horrible, awful #2,462
- Bulgarian ужасен[oˈʒa̟sɛn] terrible, horrible, awful #1,354
- Catalan horrible[uˈrib.blə] #1,098
- Chinese 糟糕/t͡sɑʊ̯⁵⁵ kɑʊ̯⁵⁵/ terrible; awful; horrible #207
- Czech hrozný[ˈɦrozniː] horrible, terrible, awful #1,603
- Estonian õudne/ˈɤu̯d̥ne/ horrible, terrible, awful, ghastly, dreadful #1,628
- Finnish kamalaa/ˈkamalaː/ horrible, terrible, awful, ghastly #1,524
- French horrible/ɔ.ʁibl/ #1,098
- Galician horrible/oˈrible/ #1,384
- Greek απαίσιο/aˈpesjo/ awful, dreadful, horrible appalling, terrible #1,526
- Hebrew נוראי/noʁaˈ(ʔ)i/ Terrible, horrible, awful: extremely bad #1,348
- Hindi भयानक/bʱəjɑːnək/ scary, horrible, terrifying #839
- Italian orribile/orˈri.bi.le/ horrible, loathsome #1,373
- Latvian šausmīgi/ˈʃausmiːɡi/ horrible, terrible, awful, horribly,… #1,386
- Lithuanian siaubingas[sʲɛʊ¹ˈbʲɪŋɡɐs] terrible, awful, horrible #1,414
- Macedonian ужасен[ˈuʒasɛn] horrible, dreadful, horrid, awful #1,798
- Malay menakutkan/mənaˈkutkan/ scary; horrible #595
- Malayalam ഭയാനകമായ/bʱɐjaːnɐkɐmaːjɐ/ horrible, scary #1,329
- Persian وحشتناک/væhʃætnɒːk/ horrible, terrible, awful #958
- Polish okropne/ɔˈkrɔp.nɛ/ awful, horrible, terrible #1,808
- Portuguese horrível/oˈʁi.vew/ cause of horror; horrible; terrible #974
- Romanian groaznic/ˈɡro̯az.nik/ dreadful, terrible, horrible, awful, hateful #1,209
- Serbian užasan/ûʒaːsan/ terrible, horrible, awful #2,290
- Slovak hrozný/ɦrɔzniː/ horrible, terrible, awful #1,033
- Slovenian grozen/ɡrɔ́ːzən/ horrible, terrible #788
- Spanish horrible/oˈrible/ #875
- Turkish felaket/fe.laːˈcet/ horrendous, terrible, horrible #2,003
- Urdu خوفناک/xɔːf.nɑːk/ horrible, terrifying, frightful, dreadful #640
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.