How to say “sick” in 43 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.
- enfermo/enˈfeɾmo/ Spanish
- مريض/ma.riːdˤ/ Arabic
- חולה/χoˈle/ Hebrew
- ავად[ävätʰ] Georgian
- հիվանդ/hiˈvɑnd/ Armenian
“sick” in Spanish: enfermo · Portuguese: doente · Arabic: مريض
It is commonest in Basque, where gaixorik is the 534th most used word.
Sick in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans siek/sik/ ill, sick, unwell #253
- Albanian sëmurë/səˈmuɾə/ in an ailing/sick/diseased condition #623
- Arabic مريض/ma.riːdˤ/ sick, ill #595
- Armenian հիվանդ/hiˈvɑnd/ sick, ill, diseased #794
- Basque gaixorik/ɡai̯ʃoɾik/ sick, ill, crank #534
- Bengali অসুস্থ/ɔʃust̪ʰo/ unwell, sick #520
- Bosnian bolestan/bôlestan/ sick, ill #1,104
- Bulgarian болен[ˈbɔlɛn] sick, ill; unhealthy #1,064
- Catalan malalt[məˈlal] sick, ill #1,121
- Chinese 病人/piŋ⁵¹ ɻən³⁵/ patient; invalid; sick person #414
- Croatian bolestan/bôlestan/ sick, ill #1,121
- Danish syg/syːˀ/ sick, ill #633
- Dutch betere/ˈbeːtərə/ not sick anymore; recovered #1,147
- Esperanto malsana/malˈsana/ unhealthy, ill, sick #870
- Estonian haige/ˈhɑi̯ɡ̊e/ sick, ill #618
- Finnish sairas/ˈsɑi̯rɑs/ ill, sick #1,021
- French malade/ma.lad/ ill, unwell, sick #626
- Galician enfermo[eɱˈfeɾmʊ] sick, ill, diseased #1,061
- Georgian ავად[ävätʰ] sick, ill #1,306
- German krank/kʁaŋk/ ill, sick #711
- Greek άρρωστος/ˈaɾostos/ ill, sick #1,324
- Hebrew חולה/χoˈle/ sick, ill #537
- Hindi बीमार/biː.mɑːɾ/ ill, sick #742
- Hungarian beteg[ˈbɛtɛɡ] sick, ill #573
- Icelandic sjúklingur[ˈsjuhkliŋkʏr] a patient, sick person #1,872
- Indonesian sakit/ˈsakit/ ill; sick; hurt #222
- Italian malato/maˈla.to/ ill, sick, unwell, affected, sore #1,751
- Latvian slims/ˈslims/ sick, ill, diseased #1,570
- Macedonian болен[ˈbɔlɛn] sick, ill #884
- Malay sakit/ˈsakit/ ill, painful, sick #324
- Norwegian syk/ˈsyːk/ sick, ill #658
- Persian مریض[mæ.ɹíːz] sick, ill, unwell #1,870
- Polish chory/ˈxɔ.rɘ/ ill, sick #1,468
- Portuguese doente/duˈẽ.t͡ʃi/ #774
- Romanian bolnav/bolˈnav/ sick, ill #1,021
- Serbian bolestan/bôlestan/ sick, ill #1,079
- Spanish enfermo/enˈfeɾmo/ sick, ill #1,158
- Swedish sjuk/ɧʉːk/ sick, ill #691
- Telugu రోగి/ɾoːɡi/ patient, sick person, sufferer #819
- Turkish hasta/hasˈta/ ill, sick #523
- Ukrainian хворий[ˈxwɔrei̯] ill, sick, diseased #1,625
- Urdu بیمار/biː.mɑːɾ/ ill; sick #586
- Vietnamese ốm[ʔom˧˦] ill; sick #1,548
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) 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.