Accident in Different Languages
Discover 'Accident' in 134 Languages: Dive into Translations, Hear Pronunciations, and Uncover Cultural Insights.
Updated on March 6, 2024
The word 'accident' carries significant weight in our daily lives, often representing unexpected and unplanned events. Its cultural importance is undeniable, as it helps us make sense of unforeseen circumstances and provides a framework for understanding and responding to such situations. Understanding the translation of 'accident' in different languages can offer valuable insights into how different cultures perceive and address unexpected events.
For instance, in Spanish, 'accidente' (pronounced a-chee-den-teh) reflects a similar sense of unpredictability, while in French, 'accident' (pronounced a-see-dahnt) carries a slightly more formal tone. Meanwhile, in Japanese, 'accident' is translated as '事故' (jiko), which also refers to incidents or mishaps. These translations not only help us navigate language barriers but also reveal fascinating cultural nuances.
In the sections below, you'll find a comprehensive list of translations for 'accident' in various languages, providing a unique opportunity to explore the rich tapestry of global cultures and languages.
Accident
Accident in Sub-Saharan African Languages
| Afrikaans | ongeluk | ||
| The Afrikaans word "ongeluk" derives from Middle Dutch and literally means "not a case", i.e. something unforeseen. | |||
| Amharic | አደጋ | ||
| In Amharic, አደጋ (adega) not only signifies "accident" but also denotes "chance" or "opportunity." | |||
| Hausa | haɗari | ||
| The phrase 'haɗarin gawa' refers specifically to a car accident. | |||
| Igbo | ọghọm | ||
| Ọghọm also means 'an unusual event' or 'an unexpected piece of news' | |||
| Malagasy | loza | ||
| "Loza" can also mean "misfortune" or "disgrace". | |||
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | ngozi | ||
| The word "ngozi" can also refer to a "curse" or "misfortune" in Nyanja (Chichewa). | |||
| Shona | tsaona | ||
| The Shona word "tsaona" also refers to a "misfire" or a "problem that halts an activity". | |||
| Somali | shil | ||
| The Somali word "shil" derives from the Proto-Cushitic root "*sili-", meaning "to slip" or "to fall." | |||
| Sesotho | kotsi | ||
| In some contexts, "kotsi" also means "vehicle." | |||
| Swahili | ajali | ||
| The Swahili word "ajali" can also mean "death", "fate", or "destiny". | |||
| Xhosa | ingozi | ||
| The word 'ingozi' also refers to a spirit of misfortune, causing bad luck and even death, leading to it being used to describe the concept of 'an accident'. | |||
| Yoruba | ijamba | ||
| The word "ijamba" in Yoruba can also mean "a mistake" or "a disaster". | |||
| Zulu | ingozi | ||
| The word "ingozi" originates from the Zulu word "gozi," meaning "calamity" or "disaster." | |||
| Bambara | kasara | ||
| Ewe | afɔku | ||
| Kinyarwanda | impanuka | ||
| Lingala | aksida | ||
| Luganda | akabenje | ||
| Sepedi | kotsi | ||
| Twi (Akan) | akwanhyia | ||
Accident in North African & Middle Eastern Languages
| Arabic | حادث | ||
| "حادث" (accident) in Arabic also means an event that occurs according to God's will or a situation that happens by chance. | |||
| Hebrew | תְאוּנָה | ||
| תְאוּנָה is also a term for a fruit or a type of tree. | |||
| Pashto | پیښه | ||
| The Pashto term "پیښه" can also refer to an incident or occurrence in a more general sense. | |||
| Arabic | حادث | ||
| "حادث" (accident) in Arabic also means an event that occurs according to God's will or a situation that happens by chance. | |||
Accident in Western European Languages
| Albanian | aksident | ||
| Aksident in Albanian derives from the Latin word "accidens", which carries a broader meaning encompassing incidental occurrences, properties or attributes of a person or thing. | |||
| Basque | istripua | ||
| The Basque word “istripua” also means “guts” and is related to the word “tripa” in Spanish, both deriving from the Latin word “tripum”. | |||
| Catalan | accident | ||
| The word "accident" originates from the Latin word "accidere", meaning "to befall," and has been used in English since the 14th century. | |||
| Croatian | nesreća | ||
| In Croatian, "nesreća" is also used to refer to "misfortune" or "calamity", derived from the Proto-Slavic *nesrьtьa "misfortune". | |||
| Danish | ulykke | ||
| The Danish word "ulykke" derives from the Old Norse word "uluk", meaning "bad luck". | |||
| Dutch | ongeluk | ||
| In 17th century Dutch, "ongeluk" meant good luck, whereas "geluk" (luck) was bad luck. | |||
| English | accident | ||
| The word "accident" derives from the Latin word "accidere," meaning "to happen by chance" or "to befall." | |||
| French | accident | ||
| In French, the word "accident" can also mean "incident" or "event" | |||
| Frisian | ûngelok | ||
| "Ûngelok" derives from "ungelock", meaning "to unlock", implying a break in the natural order. | |||
| Galician | accidente | ||
| Galician "accidente" also denotes a "situation", "event", or "occurrence". | |||
| German | unfall | ||
| German "Unfall" comes from Old High German "anafal," akin to "attack" and "fall," thus emphasizing the sudden nature of an accident. | |||
| Icelandic | slys | ||
| The Icelandic word "slys" comes from the Old Norse word "slyss", meaning "noise" or "commotion". | |||
| Irish | timpiste | ||
| In modern Irish, `timpiste` may also refer to `event`, `occurrence`, or `incident`. | |||
| Italian | incidente | ||
| The Italian word "incidente" originally meant a quarrel or dispute, then an unexpected event that could be either negative or neutral, and eventually became synonymous with "accident." | |||
| Luxembourgish | accident | ||
| In Luxembourgish, "accident" can additionally mean "incident" or "event". | |||
| Maltese | aċċident | ||
| The Maltese "aċċident" is the result of merging the Italian "accidente" with the native "kaġun" to mean "misfortune." | |||
| Norwegian | ulykke | ||
| The word "ulykke" derives from the Old Norse word "úhæve", meaning "misfortune" or "disaster". | |||
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | acidente | ||
| "Acidente" (Portugal, Brazil; pronounced as "ah-see-DEN-chee" and "ah-see-DEN-ty" respectively) also means "stroke" in medical contexts. | |||
| Scots Gaelic | tubaist | ||
| The word "tubaist" in Scots Gaelic means "accident" but also can mean "misfortune" or "disaster". | |||
| Spanish | accidente | ||
| The Spanish word "accidente" can also refer to certain grammatical phenomena, and comes from the Latin root "cadere", meaning "to fall" | |||
| Swedish | olycka | ||
| Olycka derives from an Old Norse word that meant "mishap, bad luck" or "unforeseen misfortune." | |||
| Welsh | damwain | ||
| The Welsh word “damwain” can also refer to a “fatality”, a “disaster”, or a “calamity”. | |||
Accident in Eastern European Languages
| Belarusian | аварыя | ||
| The word "аварыя" in Belarusian is derived from the French word "avarie", which originally meant "damage to a ship". | |||
| Bosnian | nesreća | ||
| The word "nesreća" in Bosnian is derived from the Turkish word "nazara" meaning "evil eye" or "bad luck". | |||
| Bulgarian | злополука | ||
| The word "злополука" in Bulgarian originally meant "evil luck" but its meaning shifted to "accident" in the 19th century. | |||
| Czech | nehoda | ||
| The Czech word "nehoda" is cognate with the English word "inadequate" and shares a similar root in Proto-Slavic. | |||
| Estonian | õnnetus | ||
| In Estonian, the word "õnnetus" has a dual meaning, referring both to an unfortunate event (accident) and to misfortune (bad luck). | |||
| Finnish | onnettomuus | ||
| "Onnettomuus" also means "misfortune" and shares its etymology with "onni" ("happiness"). | |||
| Hungarian | baleset | ||
| The word "baleset" comes from the Old Turkic word "balisa" meaning "disaster" or "misfortune". | |||
| Latvian | negadījums | ||
| The word "negadījums" in Latvian originates from the verb "gadīties" meaning "to happen" and carries the connotation of something unplanned or unexpected. | |||
| Lithuanian | avarija | ||
| The word "avarija" comes from the French "avarie", which originally meant "damage to a ship". | |||
| Macedonian | несреќа | ||
| The word "несреќа" in Macedonian ultimately derives from the Proto-Slavic word "nesrěča" meaning "misfortune" or "bad luck." | |||
| Polish | wypadek | ||
| The word "wypadek" can also mean "incident" or "occurrence" more generally. | |||
| Romanian | accident | ||
| The Romanian word accident, derived from the Latin word accidens, initially described an incidental occurrence or unexpected event, before acquiring its current meaning of 'unfortunate event' in the 19th century. | |||
| Russian | авария | ||
| "Авария" is derived from French "avarie", meaning "damage" or "spoilage". | |||
| Serbian | незгода | ||
| Serbian word "незгода" can have other meanings such as "misfortune", "bad luck", or "calamity". | |||
| Slovak | nehoda | ||
| Nehoda is derived from "ne" and "ohoda", meaning that an accident happened due to a lack of foresight. | |||
| Slovenian | nesreča | ||
| The word "nesreča" derives from the Old Slavic word "nesrešti", meaning "to hit" or "to collide". | |||
| Ukrainian | аварія | ||
| The Ukrainian word "аварія" (accident) is derived from the Italian word "avaria", meaning "damage" or "disaster". | |||
Accident in South Asian Languages
| Bengali | দুর্ঘটনা | ||
| "দুর্ঘটনা" (durghatana) in Bengali is derived from Sanskrit, meaning "a bad event" or "a calamity". In Bengali, "durghatana" refers to any unforeseen or undesirable event. | |||
| Gujarati | અકસ્માત | ||
| In Gujarati, "અકસ્માત" also refers to an unexpected or coincidental event, similar to the English term "serendipity" | |||
| Hindi | दुर्घटना | ||
| "दुर्घटना" is derived from Sanskrit and literally means "unfavorable happening or occurrence." | |||
| Kannada | ಅಪಘಾತ | ||
| Apart from 'accident', 'ಅಪಘಾತ' also means 'misfortune' in Kannada. | |||
| Malayalam | അപകടം | ||
| In Malayalam, "അപകടം" (apakaḍam) not only means "accident", but also carries the sense of "a danger" or "a calamity". | |||
| Marathi | अपघात | ||
| The Marathi word "अपघात" also means "sudden event" or "unexpected occurrence". | |||
| Nepali | दुर्घटना | ||
| "दुर्घटना" is derived from the Sanskrit words "दुः" (bad) and "घटना" (occurrence), meaning "an unfortunate occurrence". | |||
| Punjabi | ਹਾਦਸਾ | ||
| The word "ਹਾਦਸਾ" in Punjabi originates from the Persian word "hādesa," meaning "event" or "occurrence." | |||
| Sinhala (Sinhalese) | අනතුර | ||
| The word 'අනතුර' (anathura) in Sinhala also means 'misfortune' or 'calamity'. | |||
| Tamil | விபத்து | ||
| விபத்து is a colloquial word in Tamil, it also means an unexpected or sudden occurrence. | |||
| Telugu | ప్రమాదం | ||
| ప్రమాదం (Pramadham) comes from Sanskrit and refers to an unintentional mistake or error rather than a physical accident, indicating a wider sense of mishap or misfortune. | |||
| Urdu | حادثہ | ||
| The word "حادثہ" in Urdu can also mean "an act of God" or "an event that happens by chance". | |||
Accident in East Asian Languages
| Chinese (Simplified) | 事故 | ||
| 事故 originated in the Buddhist term for a person or thing that is not in accord, and is used in Taoism and Confucianism as an event outside the norm that involves a bad result. | |||
| Chinese (Traditional) | 事故 | ||
| In Chinese, "事故" can also mean an event that has occurred, a happening, or an incident. | |||
| Japanese | 事故 | ||
| The word 事故 (jiko) originally meant "incident", "event", or "occurrence", and only later took on the meaning of "accident". | |||
| Korean | 사고 | ||
| The word '사고' can also mean 'thought' or 'idea', and is derived from the Chinese word '思故', meaning 'to think about'. | |||
| Mongolian | осол | ||
| In Mongolia, the word "осол" not only means accident, but also refers to a specific type of natural disaster or an act of God. | |||
| Myanmar (Burmese) | မတော်တဆမှု | ||
Accident in South East Asian Languages
| Indonesian | kecelakaan | ||
| The word "kecelakaan" is derived from the Sanskrit word "kala" meaning "time" and "hasta" meaning "hand", referring to an event that occurs unexpectedly. | |||
| Javanese | kacilakan | ||
| The word "kacilakan" in Javanese can also mean "mishap" or "incident". | |||
| Khmer | គ្រោះថ្នាក់ | ||
| Lao | ອຸບັດຕິເຫດ | ||
| Malay | kemalangan | ||
| The word "kemalangan" also means "disaster" or "catastrophe". | |||
| Thai | อุบัติเหตุ | ||
| The Thai word "อุบัติเหตุ" (accident) also means "birth" or "coming into being" | |||
| Vietnamese | tai nạn | ||
| The word "Tai nạn" is derived from Chinese characters that literally mean "meeting with misfortune". | |||
| Filipino (Tagalog) | aksidente | ||
Accident in Central Asian Languages
| Azerbaijani | qəza | ||
| The word "qəza" in Azerbaijani comes from the Arabic word "qaḍā", which can mean "fate", "destiny", or "decree". | |||
| Kazakh | апат | ||
| The word “апат” has similar meanings to its Latin and Greek counterparts, meaning “disaster, loss of life, or destruction of property”. | |||
| Kyrgyz | кырсык | ||
| The word "кырсык" is derived from the Proto-Turkic root *kɯr-, meaning "to break, to destroy". | |||
| Tajik | садама | ||
| The word "садама" also means "misfortune" in Tajik. | |||
| Turkmen | awariýa | ||
| Uzbek | baxtsiz hodisa | ||
| The word, which originated from the Turkish word “baht” (fortune), was earlier referred to as bad luck or unfortunate circumstance. | |||
| Uyghur | ھادىسە | ||
Accident in Pacific Languages
| Hawaiian | ulia pōpilikia | ||
| The Hawaiian word "ulia pōpilikia" is a compound word meaning "great trouble" or "catastrophe". | |||
| Maori | aitua | ||
| This word is a loanword from the English "accident". | |||
| Samoan | faʻalavelave | ||
| Faʻalavelave is also the Samoan word for "interruption" or "distraction." | |||
| Tagalog (Filipino) | aksidente | ||
| In Tagalog, the word "aksidente" also refers to an event that happens accidentally or by chance. | |||
Accident in American Indigenous Languages
| Aymara | chiji | ||
| Guarani | japaro | ||
Accident in International Languages
| Esperanto | akcidento | ||
| The word "akcidento" originally derived from the term "akcidi" meaning "to fall". | |||
| Latin | accidente | ||
| The Latin word "accidente" also means "attendant circumstance" or "property", and is the root of the English words "accident" and "incidence". | |||
Accident in Others Languages
| Greek | ατύχημα | ||
| "Ατύχημα" is also the Greek word for "bad luck", deriving from the root "τύχη" (luck). | |||
| Hmong | huam yuaj | ||
| In Hmong, the word "huam yuaj" can also refer to a "disaster" or "catastrophe." | |||
| Kurdish | qeza | ||
| Derived from Arabic, qeza (قضية) refers not only to accidents but also legal matters. | |||
| Turkish | kaza | ||
| In Ottoman Turkish, "kaza" also referred to a district or jurisdiction, reflecting the idea that accidents were often seen as acts of fate or divine intervention. | |||
| Xhosa | ingozi | ||
| The word 'ingozi' also refers to a spirit of misfortune, causing bad luck and even death, leading to it being used to describe the concept of 'an accident'. | |||
| Yiddish | צופאַל | ||
| צופאַל can also mean "a stumble", or "a fall" | |||
| Zulu | ingozi | ||
| The word "ingozi" originates from the Zulu word "gozi," meaning "calamity" or "disaster." | |||
| Assamese | দুৰ্ঘটনা | ||
| Aymara | chiji | ||
| Bhojpuri | दुरघटना | ||
| Dhivehi | އެކްސިޑެންޓް | ||
| Dogri | हादसा | ||
| Filipino (Tagalog) | aksidente | ||
| Guarani | japaro | ||
| Ilocano | aksidente | ||
| Krio | aksidɛnt | ||
| Kurdish (Sorani) | ڕووداو | ||
| Maithili | दुर्घटना | ||
| Meiteilon (Manipuri) | ꯈꯨꯗꯣꯡꯊꯤꯕ ꯊꯣꯛꯄ | ||
| Mizo | chesual | ||
| Oromo | balaa | ||
| Odia (Oriya) | ଦୁର୍ଘଟଣା | ||
| Quechua | llaki | ||
| Sanskrit | दुर्घटना | ||
| Tatar | авария | ||
| Tigrinya | ሓደጋ | ||
| Tsonga | nghozi | ||