How to say “shit” in 40 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.
- дерьмо[dʲɪrʲˈmo] Russian
- σκατά/skaˈta/ Greek
- گه[ɡ̥oʱ] Persian
“shit” in Italian: merda · Portuguese: merda · Russian: дерьмо · Turkish: bok · Greek: σκατά
It is commonest in Lithuanian, where šūdas is the 166th most used word.
Shit in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans stront/strɔnt/ shit, dung #1,051
- Albanian mut/mut/ #589
- Bengali হাগু/ˈhaɡu/ poop, shit #2,080
- Bosnian jebote/ˈjebotɛ/ fuck, holy shit, for fuck's sake #814
- Bulgarian лайно[ɫɐjˈnɔ] shit, turd, feces #2,064
- Catalan merda[ˈmɛr.də] dung, excrement, shit #191
- Chinese 狗屎/koʊ̯²¹⁴⁻³⁵ ʂɻ̩²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/ dog faeces; dog shit #476
- Croatian jebote/ˈjebotɛ/ fuck, holy shit, for fuck's sake #966
- Czech hovno[ˈɦovno] shit, turd #1,192
- Danish lort/lort/ crap, shit #373
- Dutch shit/ʃɪt/ shit, darn #900
- Esperanto fek/fek/ crap!, shit!, damn it! #626
- Estonian pask/pɑsk/ crap, shit, faeces #755
- Finnish paska/ˈpɑskɑ/ bullshit, crap, shit, nonsense #468
- French merde/mɛʁd/ shit!, crap! #257
- Galician merda/ˈmɛɾda/ shit, dung, excrement #238
- German scheiße/ˈʃaɪ̯sə/ feces, shit #284
- Greek σκατά/skaˈta/ shit, crap, lousy #468
- Hebrew חרא/ˈχa.ʁa/ crap, shit #368
- Hungarian szar[ˈsɒr] #772
- Icelandic andskotinn/ˈantskɔtɪn/ shit! fuck! damn! #341
- Indonesian sialan/si.a.lan/ fuck!, shit! #250
- Italian merda/ˈmɛr.da/ shit, crap #354
- Korean 씨발[ɕ͈iba̠ɭ] fuck! shit! #379
- Latvian sūda/ˈsuːda/ #735
- Lithuanian šūdas/ˈʃuːdɐs/ #166
- Macedonian гомно[ˈɡɔmnɔ] shit, usually human #1,191
- Malayalam തീട്ടം/t̪iːʈʈɐm/ excrement, feces, shit #1,196
- Persian گه[ɡ̥oʱ] #677
- Polish gówno/ˈɡuv.nɔ/ shit, excrement #870
- Portuguese merda/ˈmɛʁ.dɐ/ shit; faeces #232
- Russian дерьмо[dʲɪrʲˈmo] shit, crap #755
- Serbian jebote/ˈjebotɛ/ fuck, holy shit, for fuck's sake #859
- Slovak hovno/ɦɔvnɔ/ shit, turd #567
- Slovenian drek/drɛ́k/ #454
- Swedish skit/ˈɧiːt/ #330
- Tagalog shet/ˈʃet/ #1,043
- Turkish bok/bok/ #837
- Ukrainian лайно[ɫɐi̯ˈnɔ] #573
- Vietnamese cứt[kɨt̚˧˦] #1,396
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), Estonian (news (et_EE), CC BY 4.0), Slovenian (artur (sl_SI), CC BY 4.0) and Vietnamese (vais1000 (vi_VN), CC BY 4.0).
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.