How to say “mistake” in 41 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.
- ошибка[ɐˈʂɨpkə] Russian
- 錯誤/t͡sʰu̯ɔ⁵¹⁻⁵³ u⁵¹/ Chinese
- 미스[mis͈ɯ] Korean
- भूल/bʱuːl/ Hindi
- սխալ/səˈχɑl/ Armenian
- അബദ്ധം/äbeːdd̪ʱɐm/ Malayalam
“mistake” in Italian: errore · Chinese: 錯誤 · Korean: 미스 · Russian: ошибка · Hindi: भूल
It is commonest in Vietnamese, where lỗi is the 121st most used word.
Mistake in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans fouteer/fœuˈtɪə̯r/ to err, to make a mistake #2,424
- Albanian gabim/ɡabim/ mistake, error, fault #337
- Arabic خطأ/xa.tˤaʔ/ mistakenly, by mistake #277
- Armenian սխալ/səˈχɑl/ mistake, error #1,501
- Bengali কাণ্ড/kanɖo/ sin, horrible mistake, incident, event #2,087
- Bulgarian грешка[ˈɡrɛʃkɐ] mistake, error #515
- Catalan equivocat[ə.ki.βuˈkat] to mistake, be wrong about, make a mistake #991
- Chinese 錯誤/t͡sʰu̯ɔ⁵¹⁻⁵³ u⁵¹/ mistake; error #2,392
- Dutch fout/fɑu̯t/ error, mistake #515
- Esperanto eraro/eˈraro/ error, mistake #1,329
- Estonian viga/ˈviɡ̊ɑ/ mistake, error, fault #236
- Finnish virhe/ˈʋirheˣ/ mistake, blunder, error #1,622
- French faute/fot/ error, mistake #524
- Georgian შეცდომა[ʃe̞t͡sʰdo̞mä] error, lapse, mistake, slip-up #655
- German fehler/ˈfeːlɐ/ fault, error, mistake #632
- Greek λάθος/ˈla.θos/ error, mistake #198
- Hebrew טעות/taˈ(ʔ)ut/ error, mistake #506
- Hindi भूल/bʱuːl/ mistake, error, blunder, oversight #305
- Hungarian hiba[ˈhibɒ] mistake, error, fault #1,298
- Icelandic mistök/ˈmɪːstʰœk/ #390
- Indonesian bersalah/bərˈsalah/ to make a mistake #574
- Italian errore/erˈro.re/ mistake, error, slip, howler, blunder, goof #889
- Korean 미스[mis͈ɯ] mistake, error #727
- Latvian kļūda[kʎûːda] error, mistake #1,122
- Lithuanian klaida/kɫɐɪˈdɐ/ error, mistake #690
- Macedonian грешка[ˈɡrɛʃka] mistake, error #396
- Malay bersalah/bərˈsalah/ to make a mistake #574
- Malayalam അബദ്ധം/äbeːdd̪ʱɐm/ #1,426
- Norwegian tabbe/ˈtɑbə/ a blunder, mistake #2,267
- Persian اشتباه[ʔeʃ.t̪ʰe.bɒ́ːʰ] mistake, fault, error #211
- Polish błąd/ˈbwɔnt/ error, mistake #845
- Portuguese erro/ˈe.ʁu/ error; mistake #785
- Russian ошибка[ɐˈʂɨpkə] mistake, error, fault #1,442
- Slovenian napaka/napáːka/ mistake, error #426
- Swedish misstag/ˈmɪstɑːɡ/ a mistake #623
- Tamil தப்பு/t̪ɐpːɯ/ error, mistake #608
- Telugu తప్పు/t̪apːu/ an error, fault, mistake, offence #89
- Turkish yanlış/janˈɫɯʃ/ error, mistake #253
- Ukrainian помилка[pɔˈmɪɫkɐ] mistake, error, blunder #1,399
- Urdu غلطی/ɣəl.t̪iː/ #227
- Vietnamese lỗi[loj˦ˀ˥] mistake, fault, error #121
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.