How to say “serious” in 33 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 Portuguese, where sério is the 196th most used word.
- Arabic جاد #642
- Armenian կարևոր important; serious; significant #299
- Bosnian ozbiljan #1,082
- Bulgarian сериозен serious, earnest, unsmiling, grave #1,396
- Chinese 嚴重 serious; critical; severe #2,123
- Croatian ozbiljan #1,221
- Danish alvorligt #1,035
- Dutch serieus #684
- English seriously In a serious or literal manner #795
- Esperanto serioza #1,982
- Estonian tõsine serious, grave, severe #907
- Finnish tosissasi serious, in earnest #1,042
- French sérieux #614
- Georgian სერიოზული earnest, grave, serious #1,412
- German ernst serious, severe, grave #519
- Greek σοβαρά reliable, serious, humourless, grave #419
- Hebrew רציני Serious, somber, sober, earnest: not joking,… #472
- Hungarian komoly serious, grave, severe #592
- Indonesian serius #357
- Italian serio #467
- Latvian nopietns #1,917
- Lithuanian rimtas serious, solemn, grave #1,041
- Macedonian сериозен #857
- Malayalam നിഷ്കളങ്കത innocence; unaware of serious or sensitive… #2,236
- Persian جدی #689
- Portuguese sério in a serious manner; in a manner concerning… #196
- Romanian serios serious, earnest #225
- Serbian ozbiljan #1,073
- Spanish serio serious, earnest, sober, solemn #238
- Swedish allvar seriousness, earnestness, serious business #779
- Tagalog grabe grave; serious #358
- Tamil அக்கறை care, concern; serious attention #820
- Turkish ciddi #390
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.