How to say “murder” in 46 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.
- убийство[ʊˈbʲijstvə] Russian
- 살인[sʰa̠ɾin] Korean
- हत्या/ɦət̪.jɑː/ Hindi
- მკვლელობა[mkʼʷle̞ɫo̞bä] Georgian
- হত্যা/hɔt̪ːa/ Bengali
- கொலை/kolɐɪ̯/ Tamil
“murder” in French: meurtre · Italian: omicidio · Portuguese: assassinato · Korean: 살인 · Russian: убийство · Hindi: हत्या · Turkish: cinayet
It is commonest in Telugu, where హత్య is the 150th most used word.
Murder in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans moord/mʊə̯rt/ #639
- Albanian vrasje/vɾasjɛ/ killing, murder #695
- Arabic قتل/qa.ta.la/ to kill, to slay, to murder #166
- Armenian սպանել/spɑˈnel/ to kill; to murder; to assassinate #155
- Basque erail/eɾai̯l/ to kill, to assassinate, to murder #1,202
- Bengali হত্যা/hɔt̪ːa/ #279
- Bosnian ubiti/ǔbiti/ to kill, murder #364
- Bulgarian убийство[oˈbijstvo] murder, homicide #615
- Croatian ubiti/ǔbiti/ to kill, murder #302
- Czech vražda[ˈvraʒda] #1,630
- Danish mord/moːˀr/ #729
- Dutch vermoord/vərˈmɔːrt/ to murder #311
- English buried/ˈbɛ.ɹid/ To kill or murder #1,800
- Esperanto murdis/ˈmurdis/ to murder #1,213
- Estonian mõrv/mɤrv/ #1,371
- Finnish murhasta/ˈmurhasta/ murder; first-degree murder #1,650
- French meurtre/mœʁtʁ/ #613
- Galician asasinato/asasiˈnato/ #926
- Georgian მკვლელობა[mkʼʷle̞ɫo̞bä] #1,441
- German umbringen/ˈʔʊmˌbʁɪŋən/ to kill, to murder, to do away with #845
- Greek σκοτώσει/skoˈtosi/ to kill, murder, slay #503
- Hindi हत्या/ɦət̪.jɑː/ murder, assassination, killing #564
- Hungarian ölni[ˈølni] to kill, slay, murder #770
- Icelandic myrti/ˈmɪr̥tɪ/ to murder #1,238
- Italian omicidio/o.miˈt͡ʃi.djo/ murder, homicide #643
- Korean 살인[sʰa̠ɾin] murder, homicide #559
- Latvian slepkavību/ˈslæpkaʋiːbu/ murder, homicide #1,631
- Lithuanian žudyti[ʒʊ¹ˈdʲiːtʲɪ] to murder, to kill #892
- Macedonian убие[ˈubi(j)ɛ] to kill, murder #324
- Malayalam കൊല/kolɐ/ murder, killing, homicide #511
- Norwegian drepe/ˈdreːpə/ To kill, to murder #227
- Persian کار[kʰɒːɹ] to kill, to murder #31
- Polish morderstwo/mɔrˈdɛr.stfɔ/ #1,187
- Portuguese assassinato/a.sa.siˈna.tu/ #1,782
- Romanian ucis/utˈʃis/ to murder #380
- Russian убийство[ʊˈbʲijstvə] murder, homicide #781
- Serbian ubiti/ǔbiti/ to kill, murder #454
- Slovak zabiť/zabic/ to kill, to murder, to slay #244
- Slovenian umor/umɔ́r/ #328
- Swedish mord/muːɖ/ #755
- Tagalog pagpatay/paɡpaˈtaj/ killing; murder; homicide #637
- Tamil கொலை/kolɐɪ̯/ murder, killing, slaying #1,969
- Telugu హత్య/hat̪ja/ #150
- Turkish cinayet/dʒi.naː.jet/ murder, homicide #590
- Ukrainian вбивство[ˈwbɪu̯stwɔ] #1,173
- Urdu قصاص/qɪ.sɑːs/ retaliation, punishment for murder #2,357
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), Estonian (news (et_EE), CC BY 4.0) and Slovenian (artur (sl_SI), CC BY 4.0).
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.