How to say “punishment” in 32 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 Malayalam, where ശിക്ഷ is the 421st most used word.
- Arabic عقوبة a punishment #2,060
- Bengali শাস্তি punishment, sentence #523
- Bosnian kazna #1,958
- Bulgarian наказание punishment, penalty, chastisement #2,067
- Catalan pena #758
- Croatian kazna #2,015
- Czech trest punishment, penalty, sentence #1,823
- Danish straf punishment, penalty #2,021
- Dutch straf a punishment, penalty, sanction #1,685
- English sentence The judicial order for a punishment to be… #2,453
- French peine #502
- Galician pena punishment, penalty #703
- German strafe #2,356
- Greek ποινή punishment, sentence, penalty #2,046
- Hebrew עונש #1,823
- Latvian sods penalty, punishment #2,291
- Lithuanian bausmė #1,553
- Macedonian казна #1,009
- Malay ampun freedom from a punishment #1,663
- Malayalam ശിക്ഷ #421
- Norwegian straff a punishment #2,256
- Persian مجازات #1,136
- Portuguese pena #485
- Serbian kazna #1,906
- Slovenian kazen #518
- Spanish pena punishment, sentence #702
- Swedish straff punishment, penalty #2,281
- Tagalog parusa #983
- Tamil தண்டனை punishment, penalty #900
- Turkish ceza punishment, penalty, sentence #1,362
- Ukrainian покарання punishment, penalty, chastisement #2,098
- Urdu سزا #638
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.