How to say “weak” 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.
- débil/ˈdebil/ Spanish
- 脆弱/t͡sʰu̯eɪ̯⁵¹⁻⁵³ ɻu̯ɔ⁵¹/ Chinese
- αδύνατο/aˈðinaˌto/ Greek
- חלש/χaˈlaʃ/ Hebrew
- სუსტი[sustʼi] Georgian
- թույլ/tʰujl/ Armenian
“weak” in Spanish: débil · French: faible · German: schwach · Italian: debole · Portuguese: fraco · Chinese: 脆弱 · Turkish: zayıf · Greek: αδύνατο
It is commonest in Armenian, where թույլ is the 227th most used word.
Weak in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans swak/ˈswɐk/ #522
- Albanian dobët[ˈdɔbət] weak, feeble #758
- Arabic وهل/wahila/ to be weak, to be terrified, to be timid #478
- Armenian թույլ/tʰujl/ #227
- Basque ahul/ahul/ #1,017
- Bengali দুর্বল/d̪uɾbɔl/ weak, feeble #644
- Bosnian slab/slâb/ #2,275
- Bulgarian слаб[sɫap] weak, effete, feeble, puny #1,922
- Catalan feble[ˈfeb.blə] weak, feeble #2,090
- Chinese 脆弱/t͡sʰu̯eɪ̯⁵¹⁻⁵³ ɻu̯ɔ⁵¹/ weak; frail #1,319
- Croatian slab/slâb/ #2,271
- Danish svag[ˈsvæˀj] #1,837
- Dutch zwak/zʋɑk/ #1,629
- English heh/ˈhɛh/ Weak amusement, sometimes signaling boredom… #2,153
- Esperanto malforta/malˈforta/ #2,256
- Estonian nõrk/nˈɤrk/ #1,228
- Finnish heikko/ˈhei̯kːo/ weak, delicate #2,285
- French faible/fɛbl/ #1,495
- Georgian სუსტი[sustʼi] #1,397
- German schwach/ˈʃvax/ weak, lacking in strength #1,923
- Greek αδύνατο/aˈðinaˌto/ weak, poor #1,571
- Hebrew חלש/χaˈlaʃ/ #1,349
- Hungarian gyenge[ˈɟɛŋɡɛ] #1,415
- Icelandic veikur[ˈveiːkʏr] weak, pliant #822
- Indonesian lemah/ləmah/ #881
- Italian debole/ˈde.bo.le/ weak, dim, faint #1,642
- Latvian vājš[vâːjʃ] #2,245
- Lithuanian silpnas/sɪlpnɐs/ #1,305
- Macedonian слаб[sɫap] weak, effete, feeble, puny #1,407
- Malay lemah/ləmah/ #673
- Norwegian svak/ˈsvɑːk/ #1,786
- Persian ضعیف[zæ.ʔiːf] weak, feeble #2,270
- Portuguese fraco/ˈfɾa.ku/ #2,034
- Romanian slab[slab] #1,538
- Serbian slab/slâb/ #2,266
- Slovak slabý/slabiː/ weak, feeble #1,193
- Spanish débil/ˈdebil/ #1,884
- Swedish matt/mat/ weak, listless #1,534
- Tagalog mahina/maˈhinaʔ/ weak; feeble; sickly #768
- Telugu బలహీనత/ˈbalaˌhiːnata/ the condition of being weak - weakness #1,167
- Turkish zayıf/zaˈjɯf/ weak, feeble #1,026
- Urdu کمزور/kəm.zoːɾ/ weak, feeble #505
- Vietnamese yếu[ʔiəw˧˦] weak, feeble #823
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.