How to say “revenge” in 30 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 പ്രതികാരം is the 495th most used word.
- Albanian hak #2,405
- Armenian վրեժ vengeance; revenge #1,435
- Bengali প্রতিশোধ revenge, retaliation #679
- Bosnian osveta revenge, vengeance #2,494
- Bulgarian отмъщение revenge, vengeance, retaliation #1,814
- Catalan venjança payback, revenge, vengeance #1,437
- Croatian osveta revenge, vengeance #2,407
- Danish hævn #1,358
- Dutch wraak #1,301
- Estonian kättemaksu revenge, vengeance #1,663
- Galician vinganza revenge, vengeance #1,916
- Georgian შურისძიება retribution, revenge, vengeance, avenge #935
- German rache revenge; vengeance #1,840
- Greek εκδίκηση revenge, vengeance #1,511
- Hebrew נקמה #1,432
- Hungarian bosszút #2,173
- Icelandic hefnd revenge, vengeance #1,571
- Italian vendetta revenge, vengeance #1,999
- Lithuanian keršto revenge, vengeance #1,867
- Macedonian одмазда #1,284
- Malayalam പ്രതികാരം #495
- Norwegian hevn #1,440
- Persian انتقام revenge, vengeance #855
- Portuguese vingança #1,759
- Serbian osveta revenge, vengeance #2,484
- Slovak pomsta #1,635
- Swedish hämnd revenge, vengeance #1,878
- Tagalog higanti revenge; vengeance; retaliation #2,436
- Turkish intikam vengeance, revenge, retaliation #1,756
- Urdu انتقام revenge, vengeance #2,359
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.