How to say “punishment” in 32 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.
- pena/ˈpena/ Spanish
- عقوبة/ʕu.quː.ba/ Arabic
- ποινή/piˈni/ Greek
- עונש/ˈʕoː.nɛʃ/ Hebrew
- শাস্তি/ʃast̪i/ Bengali
- தண்டனை/d̪ɐɳɖɐnɐɪ̯/ Tamil
“punishment” in Spanish: pena · French: peine · German: strafe · Portuguese: pena · Arabic: عقوبة · Turkish: ceza · Greek: ποινή
It is commonest in Malayalam, where ശിക്ഷ is the 421st most used word.
Punishment in other languages, A to Z
- Arabic عقوبة/ʕu.quː.ba/ a punishment #2,060
- Bengali শাস্তি/ʃast̪i/ punishment, sentence #523
- Bosnian kazna/kâzna/ #1,958
- Bulgarian наказание[nɐkɐˈzaniɛ] punishment, penalty, chastisement #2,067
- Catalan pena[ˈpɛ.nə] #758
- Croatian kazna/kâzna/ #2,015
- Czech trest[ˈtrɛst] punishment, penalty, sentence #1,823
- Danish straf[ˈsd̥ʁɑf] punishment, penalty #2,021
- Dutch straf/strɑf/ a punishment, penalty, sanction #1,685
- English sentence[ˈsɛn.tn̩(t)s] The judicial order for a punishment to be… #2,453
- French peine/pɛn/ #502
- Galician pena/ˈpena/ punishment, penalty #703
- German strafe/ˈʃtʁaːfə/ #2,356
- Greek ποινή/piˈni/ punishment, sentence, penalty #2,046
- Hebrew עונש/ˈʕoː.nɛʃ/ #1,823
- Latvian sods[sùots] penalty, punishment #2,291
- Lithuanian bausmė[bɒʊ²ˈsʲmʲeː] #1,553
- Macedonian казна[ˈkazna] #1,009
- Malay ampun/ampun/ freedom from a punishment #1,663
- Malayalam ശിക്ഷ/ʃikʂɐ/ #421
- Norwegian straff/ˈstrɑf/ a punishment #2,256
- Persian مجازات[mo.d͡ʒɒː.zɒːt̪ʰ] #1,136
- Portuguese pena/ˈpẽ.nɐ/ #485
- Serbian kazna/kâzna/ #1,906
- Slovenian kazen/káːzən/ #518
- Spanish pena/ˈpena/ punishment, sentence #702
- Swedish straff/ˈstraf/ punishment, penalty #2,281
- Tagalog parusa/paˈɾusa/ #983
- Tamil தண்டனை/d̪ɐɳɖɐnɐɪ̯/ punishment, penalty #900
- Turkish ceza/d͡ʒeˈzaː/ punishment, penalty, sentence #1,362
- Ukrainian покарання[pɔkɐˈranʲːɐ] punishment, penalty, chastisement #2,098
- Urdu سزا/sə.zɑː/ #638
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.