How to say “stupid” 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.
- estúpido/esˈtupido/ Spanish
- سخيف/sa.xiːf/ Arabic
- 愚蠢/y³⁵ ʈ͡ʂʰu̯ən²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/ Chinese
- मूर्ख/muːɾkʰ/ Hindi
- ηλίθιος/iˈli.θi.os/ Greek
- հիմար/hiˈmɑɾ/ Armenian
“stupid” in Spanish: estúpido · Italian: stupido · Portuguese: estúpido · Chinese: 愚蠢 · Arabic: سخيف · Hindi: मूर्ख · Greek: ηλίθιος
It is commonest in Tagalog, where tanga is the 244th most used word.
Stupid in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans domkop/ˈdɔmkɔp/ A stupid person, dunce, duffer, dumbass #1,354
- Arabic سخيف/sa.xiːf/ stupid, absurd, ridiculous, silly #558
- Armenian հիմար/hiˈmɑɾ/ stupid, foolish, idiotic, moronic #599
- Basque ergel/erɡel/ silly, stupid #396
- Bosnian glupo/ˈɡlupo/ stupid, foolish #859
- Bulgarian глупав[ˈɡɫupɐf] stupid, silly #1,082
- Catalan estúpid[əsˈtu.pit] #979
- Chinese 愚蠢/y³⁵ ʈ͡ʂʰu̯ən²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/ stupid; foolish; unwise #373
- Croatian glupo/ˈɡlupo/ stupid, foolish #868
- Czech hloupý[ˈɦlou̯piː] #1,649
- Danish dum/dom/ stupid, dense, dumb, thick, dim #632
- Esperanto stulta/ˈstulta/ #473
- Estonian loll/ˈlolʲː/ stupid, dumb, foolish #639
- Finnish tyhmä/ˈtyhmæ/ stupid, dumb, dull #1,046
- French idiot/i.djo/ idiotic; stupid #785
- Galician parvo/ˈpaɾbo/ foolish, stupid #702
- German dumm/dʊm/ dumb, stupid #933
- Greek ηλίθιος/iˈli.θi.os/ #987
- Hebrew אידיוט/iˈdjot/ A idiot: a stupid person #560
- Hindi मूर्ख/muːɾkʰ/ stupid, dumb, foolish, idiotic #465
- Hungarian hülye[ˈhyjɛ] idiotic, imbecile, stupid #440
- Icelandic heimskur[ˈheimskʏr] stupid, foolish, dumb #973
- Indonesian bodoh/ˈbodoh/ stupid, foolish #249
- Italian stupido/ˈstu.pi.do/ stupid, daft #703
- Latvian muļķi/ˈmuʎci/ fool, stupid man #1,178
- Lithuanian kvailas/ˈkʋɐɪˑɫɐs/ #495
- Macedonian глупав[ˈɡɫupaf] stupid, idiotic #679
- Malay bingung/ˈbeŋoŋ/ #1,745
- Malayalam മണ്ടൻ/mɐɳɖɐn/ stupid, fool #1,041
- Persian ابله[ʔæb.lǽʱ] dumb, stupid, feeble-minded #2,408
- Polish głupi/ˈɡwu.pi/ stupid, dumb; silly #896
- Portuguese estúpido/isˈtu.pi.du/ #848
- Serbian glupo/ˈɡlupo/ stupid, foolish #843
- Slovak hlúpy/ɦluːpi/ #720
- Slovenian neumen/nɛùːmən/ #464
- Spanish estúpido/esˈtupido/ #801
- Swedish dum/ˈdɵmː/ stupid, dumb #703
- Tagalog tanga/taˈŋa/ stupid; foolish; ignorant; slow-witted #244
- Tamil முட்டாள்/mʊʈːɑːɭ/ fool, stupid, idiot, simpleton, dunce #186
- Turkish aptalca/apˈtaɫ.d͡ʒa/ befitting someone stupid, idiotically,… #807
- Ukrainian дурний[dʊrˈnɪi̯] #1,795
- Urdu احمق/əɦ.məq/ stupid, idiotic, foolish #824
- Vietnamese ngu[ŋu˧˧] stupid; idiotic; moronic #571
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 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.