How to say “pain” in 47 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.
- dolor/doˈloɾ/ Spanish
- боль[bolʲ] Russian
- 고통[ko̞tʰo̞ŋ] Korean
- दर्द/d̪əɾd̪/ Hindi
- πόνος/ˈpo.nos/ Greek
- כאב/ˈkev/ Hebrew
“pain” in Spanish: dolor · French: douleur · Portuguese: dor · Korean: 고통 · Russian: боль · Hindi: दर्द · Greek: πόνος
It is commonest in Malay, where semuanya is the 175th most used word.
Pain in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans pyn/pəin/ #428
- Albanian dhemb[ðɛmb] to smart, feel pain #773
- Arabic ألم/ʔa.lam/ to be in pain, to ache #209
- Armenian ախ/ɑχ/ an exclamation of pain, grief, yearning, or… #232
- Bengali ব্যথা/bæt̪ʰɑ/ pain, ache, affliction #534
- Bosnian bol/bôːl/ pain, aching #925
- Bulgarian болка[ˈbɔɫkɐ] pain, ache #1,036
- Catalan dolor[duˈlo] pain of a continuing nature, especially that… #738
- Croatian bol/bôːl/ pain, aching #910
- Czech bolest[ˈbolɛst] #1,078
- Danish smerte/ˈsmɛɐ̯də/ #1,185
- Dutch pijn/pɛi̯n/ pain, ache #373
- English hurt/hɝt/ To cause physical pain and/or injury #439
- Esperanto doloro/doˈloro/ ache, pain #1,112
- Estonian valu/ˈvɑlu/ #742
- French douleur/du.lœʁ/ #1,215
- Galician ai[ˈaj] ouch! expresses pain #794
- Georgian ტკივილი[tʼkʼivili] pain, ache, hurt #855
- German schmerz/ʃmɛʁts/ physical pain, ache #1,435
- Greek πόνος/ˈpo.nos/ pain, ache #2,033
- Hebrew כאב/ˈkev/ #761
- Hindi दर्द/d̪əɾd̪/ #538
- Hungarian fájdalmat[ˈfaːjdɒlmɒt] #1,818
- Icelandic sársauki[ˈsaur̥s.œiːcɪ] #2,309
- Indonesian menyakitkan/məɲaˈkitkan/ to cause pain #1,330
- Italian dolore/doˈlo.re/ ache, pain #902
- Korean 고통[ko̞tʰo̞ŋ] #944
- Lithuanian skausmas[²ˈskɒʊˑsmɐs] pain, ache #1,207
- Macedonian болка[ˈbɔɫka] #825
- Malay semuanya/səˈmuaɲə/ #175
- Malayalam വേദന/ʋeːd̪ɐnɐ/ #291
- Persian درد[d̪æɹd̪̥] #310
- Polish ból/ˈbul/ pain, ache #1,130
- Portuguese dor/ˈdoʁ/ #831
- Romanian durere/duˈre.re/ pain, ache, suffering #1,158
- Russian боль[bolʲ] pain, ache #906
- Serbian bol/bôːl/ pain, aching #887
- Slovak bolesť/bɔʎesc/ #585
- Slovenian bolečina/bɔlɛt͡ʃìːna/ #825
- Spanish dolor/doˈloɾ/ pain, ache, aching soreness, tenderness #724
- Swedish ont/ˈʊnt/ #553
- Tamil வலி/ʋɐliː/ pain, ache #316
- Telugu నొప్పి/nopːi/ #215
- Turkish siktir/ˈsic.tiɾ/ Shows pain, anger or an unexpected event.:… #467
- Ukrainian біль[bʲilʲ] ache, pain #1,396
- Urdu درد/d̪əɾd̪/ pain; ache #790
- Vietnamese xót[sɔt̚˧˦] hurt, in pain #2,224
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.