How to say “ill” in 43 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 Chinese, where 不好意思 is the 155th most used word.
- Afrikaans siek ill, sick, unwell #253
- Arabic مريض sick, ill #595
- Armenian հիվանդ sick, ill, diseased #794
- Basque gaixorik sick, ill, crank #534
- Bosnian bolestan sick, ill #1,104
- Bulgarian болен sick, ill; unhealthy #1,064
- Catalan malalt sick, ill #1,121
- Chinese 不好意思 embarrassed; shy; ill at ease #155
- Croatian bolestan sick, ill #1,121
- Czech nemocný #1,620
- Danish syg sick, ill #633
- English sick In poor health; ill #579
- Esperanto malsana unhealthy, ill, sick #870
- Estonian haige sick, ill #618
- Finnish paha bad, evil, ill #650
- French malade ill, unwell, sick #626
- Galician enfermo sick, ill, diseased #1,061
- Georgian ცუდად badly, ill #387
- German krank ill, sick #711
- Greek κακό bad, evil, ill, wicked #367
- Hebrew חולה sick, ill #537
- Hindi बीमार ill, sick #742
- Hungarian beteg sick, ill #573
- Icelandic illur evil, ill, wicked #1,857
- Indonesian sakit ill; sick; hurt #222
- Italian malato ill, sick, unwell, affected, sore #1,751
- Latvian slims sick, ill, diseased #1,570
- Macedonian болен sick, ill #884
- Malay sakit ill, painful, sick #324
- Norwegian syk sick, ill #658
- Persian مریض sick, ill, unwell #1,870
- Polish chory ill, sick #1,468
- Romanian bolnav sick, ill #1,021
- Serbian bolestan sick, ill #1,079
- Slovak chorý ill, sickly #674
- Slovenian bolan #503
- Spanish mal badly, poorly, ill #218
- Swedish sjuk sick, ill #691
- Telugu ఈర్ష్య spite, envy, ill will, malice, intolerance #1,761
- Turkish hasta ill, sick #523
- Ukrainian хворий ill, sick, diseased #1,625
- Urdu بیمار ill; sick #586
- Vietnamese ốm ill; sick #1,548
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.