How to say “poison” in 30 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.
- سم/sam.ma/ Arabic
- δηλητήριο/ˌðiliˈtiriˌo/ Greek
- רעל/ˈʁa(ʔ)al/ Hebrew
- թույն/tʰujn/ Armenian
- বিষ/biʃ/ Bengali
- വിഷം/ʋiʂɐm/ Malayalam
“poison” in German: gift · Arabic: سم · Turkish: zehir · Greek: δηλητήριο
It is commonest in Armenian, where թույն is the 458th most used word.
Poison in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans gif/χəf/ poison; a poisonous substance #1,279
- Albanian helm/hɛlm/ poison; venom #2,002
- Arabic سم/sam.ma/ to poison #2,243
- Armenian թույն/tʰujn/ poison; venom #458
- Basque pozoitu/pos̻oi̯tu/ to poison #1,609
- Bengali বিষ/biʃ/ #873
- Bosnian otrov/ǒtroʋ/ #1,935
- Bulgarian отрова[oˈtrɔvɐ] #2,231
- Catalan verí[bəˈɾi] #2,111
- Croatian otrov/ǒtroʋ/ #1,854
- Czech jedem[ˈjɛdɛm] #1,555
- Danish giftes/ˈɡifdəs/ #1,189
- Dutch verpest/vərˈpɛst/ to infect, poison #1,398
- German gift/ɡɪft/ poison; toxin; venom #2,306
- Greek δηλητήριο/ˌðiliˈtiriˌo/ poison, venom, toxin #2,212
- Hebrew רעל/ˈʁa(ʔ)al/ #2,086
- Icelandic eitur[ˈeiːtʏr] #1,667
- Indonesian bisa/ˈbisa/ venom: a poison carried by an animal, usually… #14
- Lithuanian nuodai[nuɔ²ˈdɐɪˑ] #2,224
- Malay racun/ˈrat͡ʃon/ #1,273
- Malayalam വിഷം/ʋiʂɐm/ #502
- Norwegian gifter/ˈjɪftər/ #2,008
- Persian سم[sæm(ː)] #523
- Serbian otrov/ǒtroʋ/ #1,897
- Slovak jed/jet/ #1,027
- Slovenian strup/strúːp/ #758
- Swedish gifter/²jɪfˌtɛr/ poison, venom, toxin #1,835
- Tagalog lason/ˈlason/ #697
- Turkish zehir/zeˈhiɾ/ poison, venom, toxin #2,149
- Urdu زہر/zəɦɾ/ #662
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) 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.