How to say “hurt” in 30 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 Indonesian, where sakit is the 222nd most used word.
- Afrikaans beseer to hurt, to injure, to wound #1,152
- Albanian lëndoj to hurt, touch #1,501
- Arabic ضرر damage, injury, hurt, harm, mischief #1,837
- Basque mindu to hurt #1,030
- Bosnian povrijediti to hurt, injure, wound #1,453
- Bulgarian нараня to wound, to hurt, to injure #1,786
- Catalan ferit #1,343
- Chinese 傷害 to injure; to hurt #1,598
- Croatian povrijediti to hurt, injure, wound #1,185
- Czech bolí to hurt, to ache #872
- Dutch gewond to wound, hurt #1,100
- English smart To hurt or sting #899
- Finnish sattuu to hurt, be sore #966
- Georgian ტკივილი pain, ache, hurt #855
- German verletzt to hurt, to injure #805
- Hindi चोट injury, hurt, wound #414
- Hungarian fáj to hurt, ache, be sore #730
- Icelandic meiddur hurt, wounded #1,737
- Indonesian sakit ill; sick; hurt #222
- Latvian sāp to hurt #825
- Macedonian боли to hurt, ache #534
- Polish boli to hurt #980
- Portuguese ferido injured, hurt, sore, wounded #1,870
- Romanian doare to hurt, ache #912
- Serbian povrediti to hurt, injure, wound #1,722
- Slovak bolí to hurt #532
- Slovenian boleti to hurt, to ache, to cause pain #1,779
- Spanish herido hurt, injured #1,523
- Tagalog saktan to hurt #980
- Vietnamese đau to be hurt; to be wounded #404
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.