How to say “pain” in 47 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 Malay, where semuanya is the 175th most used word.
- Afrikaans pyn #428
- Albanian dhemb to smart, feel pain #773
- Arabic ألم to be in pain, to ache #209
- Armenian ախ an exclamation of pain, grief, yearning, or… #232
- Bengali ব্যথা pain, ache, affliction #534
- Bosnian bol pain, aching #925
- Bulgarian болка pain, ache #1,036
- Catalan dolor pain of a continuing nature, especially that… #738
- Croatian bol pain, aching #910
- Czech bolest #1,078
- Danish smerte #1,185
- Dutch pijn pain, ache #373
- English hurt To cause physical pain and/or injury #439
- Esperanto doloro ache, pain #1,112
- Estonian valu #742
- French douleur #1,215
- Galician ai ouch! expresses pain #794
- Georgian ტკივილი pain, ache, hurt #855
- German schmerz physical pain, ache #1,435
- Greek πόνος pain, ache #2,033
- Hebrew כאב #761
- Hindi दर्द #538
- Hungarian fájdalmat #1,818
- Icelandic sársauki #2,309
- Indonesian menyakitkan to cause pain #1,330
- Italian dolore ache, pain #902
- Korean 고통 #944
- Lithuanian skausmas pain, ache #1,207
- Macedonian болка #825
- Malay semuanya #175
- Malayalam വേദന #291
- Persian درد #310
- Polish ból pain, ache #1,130
- Portuguese dor #831
- Romanian durere pain, ache, suffering #1,158
- Russian боль pain, ache #906
- Serbian bol pain, aching #887
- Slovak bolesť #585
- Slovenian bolečina #825
- Spanish dolor pain, ache, aching soreness, tenderness #724
- Swedish ont #553
- Tamil வலி pain, ache #316
- Telugu నొప్పి #215
- Turkish siktir Shows pain, anger or an unexpected event.:… #467
- Ukrainian біль ache, pain #1,396
- Urdu درد pain; ache #790
- Vietnamese xót hurt, in pain #2,224
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.