How to say “mad” in 40 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 Urdu, where پاگل is the 125th most used word.
- Albanian çmendur mad, insane #288
- Arabic مجنون mad, crazy, insane, possessed #328
- Armenian խենթ crazy, mad, foolish #1,422
- Basque zoratu to go crazy, go mad, lose your mind #928
- Bulgarian луд crazy, mad, insane #616
- Catalan boig crazy, mad #605
- Chinese 抓狂 to go mad; to be driven crazy; to freak out #2,090
- Czech šílený mad, insane #1,297
- Danish gal crazy, mad, insane #1,286
- Dutch gek crazy, mad #262
- Esperanto freneza insane, crazy, mad #836
- Estonian hull crazy, mad #454
- Finnish hullu crazy, mad, insane, lunatic #544
- French fou mad, crazy #477
- Georgian გიჟი crazy, mad, lunatic #1,176
- German verrückt crazy, mad #416
- Hebrew משוגע mad, crazy, insane #661
- Hindi पागल #278
- Icelandic æstur furious, mad #1,688
- Indonesian marah angry; mad; upset #396
- Italian pazzo crazy, insane, mad #854
- Latvian traks mad, rabid #702
- Lithuanian pamišęs crazy, mad, insane #1,182
- Macedonian луд mad, insane, crazy #427
- Malay marah angry; mad #395
- Malayalam പേ mad, wild, vicious #607
- Norwegian sint angry, cross, mad #579
- Persian دیوانه mad, insane, crazy #2,102
- Polish szalony crazy, mad, insane #1,761
- Portuguese louco crazy, mad, insane #807
- Romanian înnebunit #1,639
- Russian сумасшедший mad, crazy #2,237
- Slovenian nor crazy, insane, mad #334
- Spanish loco crazy, insane, mad, nuts #425
- Swedish galen crazy, mad, insane #472
- Tagalog baliw insane; crazy; mad #487
- Turkish deli crazy, mad, insane #538
- Ukrainian божевільний mad, lunatic, crazy, insane, retarded #1,491
- Urdu پاگل crazy, mad, insane #125
- Vietnamese rồ to go mad, to go crazy, to become insane #1,158
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.