How to say “illness” in 35 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 Vietnamese, where bệnh is the 338th most used word.
- Afrikaans siekte sickness, illness, disease #643
- Albanian sëmundje disease; illness, sickness #1,476
- Basque gaixotasun disease, illness #939
- Bengali রোগ disease, sickness, illness, ailment #970
- Bulgarian болест illness, disease, sickness, malady, ailment #1,801
- Catalan malaltia disease, illness, sickness #1,680
- Chinese 疾病 disease; illness; disorder #987
- Czech nemoc illness, disease #1,970
- Danish sygdom illness, disease, ailment #1,854
- English drugs A substance used to treat an illness, relieve… #1,145
- Estonian haigus illness, disease, sickness #1,560
- French maladie illness, disease #1,439
- German krankheit sickness, illness #1,963
- Greek ασθένεια illness, sickness #2,460
- Icelandic mein disease, illness #1,268
- Italian malattia illness, sickness, disease, ailment #1,666
- Korean 낫다 to recover from an illness, to get better #2,255
- Lithuanian liga #1,244
- Macedonian болест illness, disease, sickness, malady, ailment #1,262
- Malay penyakit #953
- Malayalam ഭ്രാന്ത് madness, mental illness #393
- Norwegian sykdom illness, sickness, disease #2,113
- Persian بیماری #1,590
- Portuguese doença illness; disease; ailment #1,491
- Romanian boala disease, sickness, illness #1,892
- Russian болезнь disease, sickness, illness #2,369
- Slovak choroba disease; sickness, illness #1,258
- Slovenian bolezen disease, sickness, illness #570
- Spanish enfermedad illness, disease #1,557
- Swedish sjukdom disease, illness #2,056
- Tagalog sakit disease; sickness; illness; ailment #382
- Tamil நோய் disease, sickness, illness, ailment #1,446
- Turkish hastalık disease, illness #1,583
- Urdu مرض disease, illness, sickness, malady #1,192
- Vietnamese bệnh disease; illness; sickness #338
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.