How to say “serious” in 33 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.
- serio/ˈseɾjo/ Spanish
- جاد/d͡ʒaː.da/ Arabic
- 嚴重/jɛn³⁵ ʈ͡ʂʊŋ⁵¹/ Chinese
- רציני/ʁet͡siˈni/ Hebrew
“serious” in Spanish: serio · French: sérieux · German: ernst · Italian: serio · Chinese: 嚴重 · Arabic: جاد · Turkish: ciddi
It is commonest in Romanian, where serios is the 225th most used word.
Serious in other languages, A to Z
- Arabic جاد/d͡ʒaː.da/ #642
- Armenian կարևոր/kɑɾeˈvoɾ/ important; serious; significant #299
- Bosnian ozbiljan/ôzbiːʎan/ #1,082
- Bulgarian сериозен[sɛriˈɔzɛn] serious, earnest, unsmiling, grave #1,396
- Chinese 嚴重/jɛn³⁵ ʈ͡ʂʊŋ⁵¹/ serious; critical; severe #2,123
- Croatian ozbiljan/ôzbiːʎan/ #1,221
- Danish alvorligt/alvɔrlit/ #1,035
- Dutch serieus/seː.riˈøːs/ #684
- English seriously/ˈsɪɹ.i.əs.li/ In a serious or literal manner #795
- Esperanto serioza/seriˈoza/ #1,982
- Estonian tõsine/ˈtɤsine/ serious, grave, severe #907
- Finnish tosissasi/ˈtosɪsˌsasɪ/ serious, in earnest #1,042
- French sérieux/se.ʁjø/ #614
- Georgian სერიოზული[se̞ɾio̞zuli] earnest, grave, serious #1,412
- German ernst/ɛʁnst/ serious, severe, grave #519
- Greek σοβαρά/ˌsovaˈra/ reliable, serious, humourless, grave #419
- Hebrew רציני/ʁet͡siˈni/ Serious, somber, sober, earnest: not joking,… #472
- Hungarian komoly[ˈkomoj] serious, grave, severe #592
- Indonesian serius/səˈrius/ #357
- Italian serio/ˈsɛ.rjo/ #467
- Latvian nopietns/ˈnuopietŋs/ #1,917
- Lithuanian rimtas/ˈrɪmtɐs/ serious, solemn, grave #1,041
- Macedonian сериозен[sɛɾiˈɔzɛn] #857
- Malayalam നിഷ്കളങ്കത/n̪iʂkɐɭɐŋkɐd̪ɐ/ innocence; unaware of serious or sensitive… #2,236
- Persian جدی[d͡ʒed̪.d̪íː] #689
- Portuguese sério/ˈsɛ.ɾju/ in a serious manner; in a manner concerning… #196
- Romanian serios/ˌse.riˈos/ serious, earnest #225
- Serbian ozbiljan/ôzbiːʎan/ #1,073
- Spanish serio/ˈseɾjo/ serious, earnest, sober, solemn #238
- Swedish allvar/ˈallvɑːr/ seriousness, earnestness, serious business #779
- Tagalog grabe/ˈɡɾabe/ grave; serious #358
- Tamil அக்கறை/ɐkːɐrɐɪ̯/ care, concern; serious attention #820
- Turkish ciddi[d͡ʒid.ˈdiː] #390
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 Estonian (news (et_EE), CC BY 4.0).
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.