How to say “sin” in 35 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.
- पाप/pɑːp/ Hindi
- חטא/χaˈta/ Hebrew
- ცოდვა[t͡sʰo̞dʷä] Georgian
- մեղք/meʁkʰ/ Armenian
- পাপ/pap/ Bengali
- பாவம்/pɑːʋɐm/ Tamil
“sin” in Italian: peccato · Hindi: पाप · Turkish: günah
It is commonest in Tagalog, where kasalanan is the 234th most used word.
Sin in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans sonde/ˈsɔndə/ #866
- Albanian mëkatet/məkatɛt/ #1,874
- Arabic كبيرة/ka.biː.ra/ great sin #181
- Armenian մեղք/meʁkʰ/ #1,296
- Basque bekatu/bekatu/ #1,236
- Bengali পাপ/pap/ #887
- Bulgarian греша[ɡrɛˈʃɤ̟] to sin, to commit a sin, to transgress #2,356
- Catalan pecat[pəˈkat] #2,292
- Danish synd/søn/ #1,535
- Dutch zonde/ˈzɔn.də/ #2,072
- English innocent/ˈɪnəsənt/ Free from guilt, sin, or immorality #1,178
- Esperanto pekoj/ˈpekoɪ/ #1,616
- Estonian patt/pɑtː/ #2,214
- Galician pecado/peˈkado/ #1,796
- Georgian ცოდვა[t͡sʰo̞dʷä] sin, wrongdoing #739
- Hebrew חטא/χaˈta/ to sin #2,428
- Hindi पाप/pɑːp/ #1,916
- Icelandic synd[ˈsɪnt] #1,130
- Indonesian dosa/ˈdosa/ #1,709
- Italian peccato/pekˈka.to/ #971
- Macedonian грев[ɡrɛf] #2,335
- Malay dosa/ˈdosa/ #1,318
- Malayalam പാപം/paːpɐm/ #953
- Norwegian synd/ˈsʏn/ a sin #641
- Persian گناه[ɡ̥o.nɒ́ːʰ] #776
- Portuguese justo/ˈʒus.tu/ free from sin and guilt; righteous #1,211
- Romanian păcat[pəˈkat] #1,005
- Slovak hriech/ɦrɪ̯ex/ #1,604
- Slovenian greh/ɡrèːx/ #1,027
- Swedish synd/ˈsynd/ #714
- Tagalog kasalanan/kasaˈlanan/ sin; guilt; fault #234
- Tamil பாவம்/pɑːʋɐm/ sin, crime, evil #1,322
- Telugu పాపాలు/ˈpaːpaːlu/ #1,109
- Turkish günah/ɟyˈnah/ #1,699
- Urdu پاپ/pɑːp/ #754
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 Slovenian (artur (sl_SI), CC BY 4.0).
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.