How to say “illness” in 35 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.
- enfermedad/enfeɾmeˈdad/ Spanish
- ασθένεια[asˈθɛnia] Greek
- بیماری[biː.mɒː.ɹíː] Persian
“illness” in Spanish: enfermedad · French: maladie · Italian: malattia · Portuguese: doença · Greek: ασθένεια
It is commonest in Malay, where penyakit is the 953rd most used word.
Illness in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans siekte/ˈsiktə/ sickness, illness, disease #643
- Albanian sëmundje[səˈmundjɛ] disease; illness, sickness #1,476
- Basque gaixotasun/ɡai̯ʃotas̺un/ disease, illness #939
- Bengali রোগ/ɾoɡ/ disease, sickness, illness, ailment #970
- Bulgarian болест[ˈbɔlɛst] illness, disease, sickness, malady, ailment #1,801
- Catalan malaltia[mə.ləlˈti.ə] disease, illness, sickness #1,680
- Chinese 疾病/t͡ɕi³⁵ piŋ⁵¹/ disease; illness; disorder #987
- Czech nemoc[ˈnɛmot͡s] illness, disease #1,970
- Danish sygdom/syːdɔm/ illness, disease, ailment #1,854
- English drugs/dɹʌɡz/ A substance used to treat an illness, relieve… #1,145
- Estonian haigus/ˈhɑi̯ɡ̊us/ illness, disease, sickness #1,560
- French maladie/ma.la.di/ illness, disease #1,439
- German krankheit[ˈkʁaŋkˌhaɪ̯t] sickness, illness #1,963
- Greek ασθένεια[asˈθɛnia] illness, sickness #2,460
- Icelandic mein[ˈmeiːn] disease, illness #1,268
- Italian malattia/ma.latˈti.a/ illness, sickness, disease, ailment #1,666
- Korean 낫다[ˈna̠(ː)t̚t͈a̠] to recover from an illness, to get better #2,255
- Lithuanian liga/lʲɪˈɡɐ/ #1,244
- Macedonian болест[ˈbɔlɛst] illness, disease, sickness, malady, ailment #1,262
- Malay penyakit/pəˈɲakit/ #953
- Malayalam ഭ്രാന്ത്/b(ʱ)ɾaːn̪t̪ɨ/ madness, mental illness #393
- Norwegian sykdom/ˈsyːkˌdɔm/ illness, sickness, disease #2,113
- Persian بیماری[biː.mɒː.ɹíː] #1,590
- Portuguese doença/duˈẽ.sɐ/ illness; disease; ailment #1,491
- Romanian boala/ˈbo̯a.la/ disease, sickness, illness #1,892
- Russian болезнь[bɐˈlʲezʲ(ɪ)nʲ] disease, sickness, illness #2,369
- Slovak choroba/xɔrɔba/ disease; sickness, illness #1,258
- Slovenian bolezen/bɔléːzən/ disease, sickness, illness #570
- Spanish enfermedad/enfeɾmeˈdad/ illness, disease #1,557
- Swedish sjukdom/²ɧʉːkˌdʊm/ disease, illness #2,056
- Tagalog sakit/saˈkit/ disease; sickness; illness; ailment #382
- Tamil நோய்/noːj/ disease, sickness, illness, ailment #1,446
- Turkish hastalık/has.taˈɫɯk/ disease, illness #1,583
- Urdu مرض/məɾz/ disease, illness, sickness, malady #1,192
- Vietnamese bệnh[ʔɓəjŋ̟˧˨ʔ] disease; illness; sickness #338
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 Bengali (google (bn_BD), CC BY-SA 4.0), 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.