How to say “weak” in 43 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 Armenian, where թույլ is the 227th most used word.
- Afrikaans swak #522
- Albanian dobët weak, feeble #758
- Arabic وهل to be weak, to be terrified, to be timid #478
- Armenian թույլ #227
- Basque ahul #1,017
- Bengali দুর্বল weak, feeble #644
- Bosnian slab #2,275
- Bulgarian слаб weak, effete, feeble, puny #1,922
- Catalan feble weak, feeble #2,090
- Chinese 脆弱 weak; frail #1,319
- Croatian slab #2,271
- Danish svag #1,837
- Dutch zwak #1,629
- English heh Weak amusement, sometimes signaling boredom… #2,153
- Esperanto malforta #2,256
- Estonian nõrk #1,228
- Finnish heikko weak, delicate #2,285
- French faible #1,495
- Georgian სუსტი #1,397
- German schwach weak, lacking in strength #1,923
- Greek αδύνατο weak, poor #1,571
- Hebrew חלש #1,349
- Hungarian gyenge #1,415
- Icelandic veikur weak, pliant #822
- Indonesian lemah #881
- Italian debole weak, dim, faint #1,642
- Latvian vājš #2,245
- Lithuanian silpnas #1,305
- Macedonian слаб weak, effete, feeble, puny #1,407
- Malay lemah #673
- Norwegian svak #1,786
- Persian ضعیف weak, feeble #2,270
- Portuguese fraco #2,034
- Romanian slab #1,538
- Serbian slab #2,266
- Slovak slabý weak, feeble #1,193
- Spanish débil #1,884
- Swedish matt weak, listless #1,534
- Tagalog mahina weak; feeble; sickly #768
- Telugu బలహీనత the condition of being weak - weakness #1,167
- Turkish zayıf weak, feeble #1,026
- Urdu کمزور weak, feeble #505
- Vietnamese yếu weak, feeble #823
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.