How to say “ill” 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.
- बीमार/biː.mɑːɾ/ Hindi
- хворий[ˈxwɔrei̯] Ukrainian
- بیمار/biː.mɑːɾ/ Urdu
“ill” in French: malade · German: krank · Italian: malato · Hindi: बीमार · Turkish: hasta
It is commonest in Indonesian, where sakit is the 222nd most used word.
Ill in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans siek/sik/ ill, sick, unwell #253
- Arabic مريض/ma.riːdˤ/ sick, ill #595
- Armenian հիվանդ/hiˈvɑnd/ sick, ill, diseased #794
- Basque gaixorik/ɡai̯ʃoɾik/ sick, ill, crank #534
- Bosnian bolestan/bôlestan/ sick, ill #1,104
- Bulgarian болен[ˈbɔlɛn] sick, ill; unhealthy #1,064
- Catalan malalt[məˈlal] sick, ill #1,121
- Chinese 不好意思/pu⁵¹ xɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ i⁵¹ sɹ̩¹/ embarrassed; shy; ill at ease #155
- Croatian bolestan/bôlestan/ sick, ill #1,121
- Czech nemocný[ˈnɛmot͡sniː] #1,620
- Danish syg/syːˀ/ sick, ill #633
- English sick/ˈsɪk/ In poor health; ill #579
- Esperanto malsana/malˈsana/ unhealthy, ill, sick #870
- Estonian haige/ˈhɑi̯ɡ̊e/ sick, ill #618
- Finnish paha/ˈpɑhɑ/ bad, evil, ill #650
- French malade/ma.lad/ ill, unwell, sick #626
- Galician enfermo[eɱˈfeɾmʊ] sick, ill, diseased #1,061
- Georgian ცუდად[t͡sʰudätʰ] badly, ill #387
- German krank/kʁaŋk/ ill, sick #711
- Greek κακό/kaˈko/ bad, evil, ill, wicked #367
- Hebrew חולה/χoˈle/ sick, ill #537
- Hindi बीमार/biː.mɑːɾ/ ill, sick #742
- Hungarian beteg[ˈbɛtɛɡ] sick, ill #573
- Icelandic illur[ˈɪtlʏr] evil, ill, wicked #1,857
- Indonesian sakit/ˈsakit/ ill; sick; hurt #222
- Italian malato/maˈla.to/ ill, sick, unwell, affected, sore #1,751
- Latvian slims/ˈslims/ sick, ill, diseased #1,570
- Macedonian болен[ˈbɔlɛn] sick, ill #884
- Malay sakit/ˈsakit/ ill, painful, sick #324
- Norwegian syk/ˈsyːk/ sick, ill #658
- Persian مریض[mæ.ɹíːz] sick, ill, unwell #1,870
- Polish chory/ˈxɔ.rɘ/ ill, sick #1,468
- Romanian bolnav/bolˈnav/ sick, ill #1,021
- Serbian bolestan/bôlestan/ sick, ill #1,079
- Slovak chorý/xɔriː/ ill, sickly #674
- Slovenian bolan/bɔláːn/ #503
- Spanish mal/ˈmal/ badly, poorly, ill #218
- Swedish sjuk/ɧʉːk/ sick, ill #691
- Telugu ఈర్ష్య[iːrʂja] spite, envy, ill will, malice, intolerance #1,761
- Turkish hasta/hasˈta/ ill, sick #523
- Ukrainian хворий[ˈxwɔrei̯] ill, sick, diseased #1,625
- Urdu بیمار/biː.mɑːɾ/ ill; sick #586
- Vietnamese ốm[ʔom˧˦] ill; sick #1,548
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 Catalan (upc_ona (ca_ES), CC BY-SA 4.0), Estonian (news (et_EE), CC BY 4.0), Slovenian (artur (sl_SI), CC BY 4.0) and Vietnamese (vais1000 (vi_VN), CC BY 4.0).
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.