How to say “idiot” 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 Tamil, where முட்டாள் is the 186th most used word.
- Albanian debil moron, idiot #1,820
- Arabic مغفل fool, idiot, moron #1,975
- Bengali বেকুব fool; dumb; idiot; dunce #1,089
- Bosnian budala fool, idiot, simpleton #1,131
- Bulgarian идиот #698
- Catalan estúpida dolt, idiot, simpleton #1,499
- Chinese 笨蛋 fool; idiot; silly #333
- Croatian budala fool, idiot, simpleton #1,164
- Czech idiot #1,360
- Danish idiot an idiot, imbecile, fool #616
- Dutch idioot an idiot #780
- Esperanto stultulo #512
- Finnish idiootti #1,053
- Georgian იდიოტი #1,143
- German idiot idiot; moron #863
- Greek βλάκας idiot, moron, imbecile #1,672
- Hebrew אידיוט A idiot: a stupid person #560
- Hungarian idióta #859
- Icelandic fífl fool, idiot, buffoon #641
- Italian idiota idiot, moron, maroon, clot #754
- Korean 바보 fool, moron, idiot #419
- Latvian idiots #1,403
- Lithuanian kvailys fool, idiot #577
- Macedonian идиот #623
- Malayalam വിഡ്ഢി fool, idiot #408
- Norwegian idiot an idiot, imbecile, fool #645
- Persian احمق idiot, fool, dolt #287
- Portuguese animais twat; idiot; moron #1,065
- Romanian idiot idiot; moron; imbecile #1,075
- Russian идиот #1,127
- Serbian budala fool, idiot, simpleton #1,000
- Slovak idiot #522
- Swedish idiot an idiot #586
- Tagalog bobo fool; idiot; simpleton; dunce #684
- Tamil முட்டாள் fool, stupid, idiot, simpleton, dunce #186
- Ukrainian ідіот #1,464
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.