How to say “violence” in 33 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.
It is commonest in Telugu, where హింస is the 544th most used word.
- Albanian dhunë violence, force, coercion, oppression #2,006
- Bosnian nasilje #2,292
- Bulgarian насилие violence, forcefulness #1,617
- Catalan violència #1,970
- Chinese 暴力 violence; brutality; force #677
- Croatian nasilje #2,315
- Czech násilí #1,764
- Danish vold #1,683
- Dutch geweld #1,491
- English rescue To save from any violence, danger or evil #2,203
- Esperanto perforto force, violence #1,623
- Estonian vägivald #2,301
- French violence act of violence #2,031
- Galician violencia #829
- Georgian ძალადობა #900
- Greek βία #1,738
- Hebrew אלימות violence, terror #1,670
- Hindi हिंसा violence, harm #1,494
- Hungarian erőszak force, violence #2,418
- Icelandic ofbeldi #1,274
- Italian violenza #2,060
- Korean 폭력 #2,500
- Macedonian насилство #1,732
- Malay keganasan #1,365
- Norwegian vold #1,771
- Portuguese violência #2,025
- Serbian nasilje #2,287
- Spanish violencia #2,185
- Swedish våld #1,712
- Tagalog karahasan #2,183
- Tamil வன்முறை #643
- Telugu హింస #544
- Urdu تشدد violence, oppression, aggression #757
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.