Difficulty in Different Languages
Discover 'Difficulty' in 134 Languages: Dive into Translations, Hear Pronunciations, and Uncover Cultural Insights.
Difficulty
Afrikaans moeilikheid | ||
Albanian vështirësi | ||
Amharic ችግር | ||
Arabic صعوبة | ||
Armenian դժվարություն | ||
Assamese অসুবিধা | ||
Aymara ch’amawa | ||
Azerbaijani çətinlik | ||
Bambara gɛlɛya | ||
Basque zailtasuna | ||
Belarusian складанасць | ||
Bengali অসুবিধা | ||
Bhojpuri कठिनाई के सामना करे के पड़ेला | ||
Bosnian poteškoća | ||
Bulgarian трудност | ||
Catalan dificultat | ||
Cebuano kalisud | ||
Chinese (Simplified) 困难 | ||
Chinese (Traditional) 困難 | ||
Corsican difficultà | ||
Croatian poteškoća | ||
Czech obtížnost | ||
Danish vanskelighed | ||
Dhivehi ދަތިކަމެވެ | ||
Dogri कठिनाई | ||
Dutch moeilijkheid | ||
English difficulty | ||
Esperanto malfacileco | ||
Estonian raskused | ||
Ewe sesẽ | ||
Filipino (Tagalog) kahirapan | ||
Finnish vaikeus | ||
French difficulté | ||
Frisian swierrichheid | ||
Galician dificultade | ||
Georgian სირთულე | ||
German schwierigkeit | ||
Greek δυσκολία | ||
Guarani apañuãi | ||
Gujarati મુશ્કેલી | ||
Haitian Creole difikilte | ||
Hausa wahala | ||
Hawaiian pilikia | ||
Hebrew קושי | ||
Hindi कठिनाई | ||
Hmong teeb meem | ||
Hungarian nehézség | ||
Icelandic erfiðleikar | ||
Igbo ihe isi ike | ||
Ilocano rigat | ||
Indonesian kesulitan | ||
Irish deacracht | ||
Italian difficoltà | ||
Japanese 困難 | ||
Javanese kangelan | ||
Kannada ತೊಂದರೆ | ||
Kazakh қиындық | ||
Khmer ការលំបាក | ||
Kinyarwanda ingorane | ||
Konkani अडचण येता | ||
Korean 어려움 | ||
Krio i nɔ kin izi fɔ du am | ||
Kurdish astengî | ||
Kurdish (Sorani) سەختی | ||
Kyrgyz кыйынчылык | ||
Lao ຄວາມຫຍຸ້ງຍາກ | ||
Latin difficultas | ||
Latvian grūtības | ||
Lingala mokakatano | ||
Lithuanian sunkumų | ||
Luganda obuzibu | ||
Luxembourgish schwieregkeeten | ||
Macedonian тешкотија | ||
Maithili कठिनाई | ||
Malagasy fahasarotana | ||
Malay kesukaran | ||
Malayalam ബുദ്ധിമുട്ട് | ||
Maltese diffikultà | ||
Maori uaua | ||
Marathi अडचण | ||
Meiteilon (Manipuri) ꯑꯋꯥꯕꯥ ꯊꯣꯀꯄꯥ꯫ | ||
Mizo harsatna a awm | ||
Mongolian бэрхшээл | ||
Myanmar (Burmese) အခက်အခဲ | ||
Nepali कठिनाई | ||
Norwegian vanskelighet | ||
Nyanja (Chichewa) zovuta | ||
Odia (Oriya) ଅସୁବିଧା | ||
Oromo rakkina | ||
Pashto مشکل | ||
Persian سختی | ||
Polish trudność | ||
Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) dificuldade | ||
Punjabi ਮੁਸ਼ਕਲ | ||
Quechua sasachakuy | ||
Romanian dificultate | ||
Russian трудность | ||
Samoan faigata | ||
Sanskrit कठिनता | ||
Scots Gaelic duilgheadas | ||
Sepedi bothata | ||
Serbian тешкоћа | ||
Sesotho thatafalloa | ||
Shona kuoma | ||
Sindhi مشڪل | ||
Sinhala (Sinhalese) අපහසුතාව | ||
Slovak obtiažnosť | ||
Slovenian težavnost | ||
Somali dhib | ||
Spanish dificultad | ||
Sundanese kasusah | ||
Swahili ugumu | ||
Swedish svårighet | ||
Tagalog (Filipino) hirap | ||
Tajik душворӣ | ||
Tamil சிரமம் | ||
Tatar кыенлык | ||
Telugu కష్టం | ||
Thai ความยาก | ||
Tigrinya ጸገም ምዃኑ’ዩ። | ||
Tsonga ku tika | ||
Turkish zorluk | ||
Turkmen kynçylyk | ||
Twi (Akan) ɔhaw a ɛyɛ den | ||
Ukrainian складність | ||
Urdu مشکل | ||
Uyghur قىيىنچىلىق | ||
Uzbek qiyinchilik | ||
Vietnamese khó khăn | ||
Welsh anhawster | ||
Xhosa ubunzima | ||
Yiddish שוועריקייט | ||
Yoruba iṣoro | ||
Zulu ubunzima |
Etymology & Notes
| Language | Etymology / Notes |
|---|---|
| Afrikaans | "Moeilikheid" ultimately derives from the Middle Dutch word "moeielijc" meaning "troublesome". |
| Albanian | "Vështirësi" is derived from the Proto-Albanian root *wēšter-, which also means "heavy". |
| Amharic | The word "ችግር" also means "obstacle" and "problem". |
| Arabic | The word "صعوبة" (difficulty) in Arabic is derived from the root "صعب" (hard) and can also mean "obstacle" or "problem". |
| Armenian | Its verb form is |
| Azerbaijani | The word "çətinlik" is derived from the Persian word "Çətin", meaning "hard" or "difficult". |
| Basque | The Basque word "zailtasuna" is derived from the verb "zaildu" (to become difficult) and the suffix "-tasun" (quality or state). |
| Bengali | The word "অসুবিধা" (difficulty) is derived from the Sanskrit word "सुविधा" (facility), with the prefix "अ" (not) added to it. |
| Bosnian | The word "poteškoća" is derived from the Proto-Slavic word *těškъ, meaning "heavy" or "burdensome." |
| Bulgarian | The word "трудност" (trudnost) is derived from the Old Church Slavonic word "trudъ" (trud), meaning "toil" or "hardship". |
| Catalan | The word "dificultat" in Catalan is often misspelled due to confusion with the word "dificil" from French. |
| Cebuano | "Kalisud" can also mean "adversity" or "misfortune." |
| Chinese (Simplified) | The word 困难 (kùnnán) is composed of the character 困 (kùn), meaning "to be trapped" or "to be in a difficult situation," and the character 难 (nán), meaning "difficult" or "hard to do." |
| Chinese (Traditional) | "困難" can also refer to "obstacles", "adversity", or "disaster". |
| Corsican | In Corsican, "difficultà" can also refer to a physical obstacle, such as a steep mountain pass. |
| Croatian | The Croatian word "poteškoća" is derived from the verb "potjecati", meaning "to originate", and can also refer to "lineage" or "origin" in some contexts. |
| Czech | The word "obtížnost" can also mean "hardship" or "trouble" in Czech. |
| Danish | "Vanskelighed" is based on the Danish word "vanske" meaning "to lack, or be lacking in" and related to the Norwegian word "vansk" meaning "in a poor condition". |
| Dutch | Moeilijkheid (difficulty) is derived from the Middle Dutch term 'moejelijc' meaning 'troublesome'. |
| Esperanto | The word "malfacileco" (difficulty) in Esperanto is derived from the Latin words "male" (badly) and "facilis" (easy). |
| Estonian | 'Raske' (difficult) in Estonian originates from the word for 'burden,' while 'raskused' (difficulties) comes from the same root, meaning 'burdened.' |
| Finnish | The word "vaikeus" likely originates from the Proto-Finno-Ugric root *wāke- (“to be heavy”) and is related to the Estonian word "vaev" ("effort, trouble"). |
| French | Difficile, meaning "difficult" in French, originates from the Latin "difficilis" meaning "hard to do" or "not easy". |
| Frisian | "Swierrrichheid" is related to the Old Norse word "svirr", meaning "to wander". |
| Galician | The word "dificultade" in Galician also means "defect" or "lack of something." |
| German | In Middle High German, "schwerigkeit" referred to a burden or weight, and in Old High German, it meant "seriousness" or "weightiness." |
| Greek | δυσκολία derives from the Greek word "δύσκολος" meaning "difficult" or "unpleasant". |
| Gujarati | The word "મુશ્કેલી" is derived from the Arabic word "mushkil", meaning "difficult". |
| Haitian Creole | 'Difikilte' comes from French 'difficulté', and also means 'suffering', 'distress' |
| Hausa | The word "wahala" is a Hausa loanword in Fulani and several West African Pidgin languages. |
| Hawaiian | The word 'pilikia' is also used to describe an unexpected guest who shows up in the middle of a family celebration.} |
| Hebrew | The word "קושי" (kōšî) can mean "difficulty," "hardness," or "trouble," and is related to the root "כוש" (khūš), meaning "to be hard" or "to be difficult." |
| Hindi | The word "कठिनाई" is derived from the Sanskrit word "कठिन" which means "hard" or "difficult". |
| Hmong | Teeb meem can also mean 'puzzle' or 'problem' |
| Hungarian | The word "nehézség" can also refer to "weight" or "heaviness" in Hungarian. |
| Icelandic | The word "erfiðleikar" also means "labor" or "toil" in Icelandic. |
| Igbo | The Igbo phrase "ihe isi ike" can also refer to a complex or problematic situation, or a task that requires considerable effort. |
| Indonesian | Kesulitan derives from the Proto-Austronesian word *kasulidan, meaning 'utility,' with the prefix ke- indicating that the word is a noun. |
| Irish | The word 'deacracht' derives from the Irish word 'deacair,' meaning 'difficult' or 'hard.' |
| Italian | "Difficoltà" in Italian comes from the Latin word "difficultas," which means "hard to do". It can also mean "hardship," "trouble," or "distress." |
| Japanese | In Japanese, "困難" can also refer to poverty or hardship. |
| Javanese | Kangelan, in Javanese, refers to the difficulty of overcoming hardship or a specific task. |
| Kannada | "ತೊಂದರೆ" (difficulty) comes from the root "ತುಂದ" (to be broken) and literally means "the state of being broken or disrupted." |
| Kazakh | The Kazakh word "қиындық" is derived from the verb "қиынду" which means "to become difficult" or "to get into a difficult position". |
| Korean | The word "어려움" can also refer to a difficult situation or a hardship. |
| Kurdish | The word "astengî" in Kurdish can also mean "hardship", "pain" or "suffering". |
| Kyrgyz | The Kyrgyz word "кыйынчылык" ("difficulty") comes from the verb "кыйналуу" ("to suffer") and means literally "the condition of being in difficulty". |
| Latin | In Medieval Latin, "difficultas" also meant "an objection," especially a legal one. |
| Latvian | "Grūtības" can also refer to the process or act of getting into a difficult or uncomfortable situation or state. |
| Lithuanian | The word "sunkumų" in Lithuanian originates from the word "sunki", meaning "heavy". |
| Luxembourgish | Despite the word's German origin, its meaning in Luxembourgish is more akin to the French "difficulté" than the German "Schwierigkeit". |
| Macedonian | The word "тешкотија" in Macedonian derives from the Old Church Slavonic word "тѧжькъ", meaning "heavy". It also has the alternate meaning of "oppression" or "hardship". |
| Malagasy | The word "fahasarotana" in Malagasy can also refer to a challenge or a trial. |
| Malay | "Kesukaran" is derived from the Javanese word "sukar" meaning "hard" or "difficult". |
| Malayalam | The word "ബുദ്ധിമുട്ട്" is derived from the Sanskrit words "बुद्धि" (intellect) and "मुक्ति" (release), suggesting that overcoming difficulties requires intellectual effort and liberation. |
| Maltese | The Maltese word "diffikultà" is derived from the Italian word "difficoltà", which in turn comes from the Latin word "difficultas", meaning "hard to do". |
| Maori | The Maori word "uaua" can be decomposed into "u" (to) and "aua" (to suffer or endure) or "wawa" (to twist or entangle). Its alternate meaning in Polynesian languages such as Samoan and Hawaiian is "heavy" or "hard". |
| Marathi | In Marathi, "अडचण" also refers to an obstacle or an inconvenience. |
| Mongolian | Бэрхшээл shares its etymology with the Mongolian word бэрх "hard, difficult" and with the Russian word берёза "birch". |
| Nepali | The word "कठिनाई" can also refer to a difficult person or situation. |
| Norwegian | "Vanskelighet" is cognate with the German "Beschwerlichkeit" (troublesomeness) and the Dutch "bemoeilijking" (impediment). |
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | “Zovuta” derives from the verb "ku-zovutira", meaning "to cause difficulty or hardship." |
| Pashto | The word "مشکل" is also used in Pashto to describe a "knot" or "complication". |
| Persian | Persian word "سختی" initially meant "hardness", but its meaning gradually expanded to encompass "difficulty". |
| Polish | The word 'trudność' is derived from the Slavic root '*trudь*', meaning 'trouble', and is related to the Slovak 'trúd' and Czech 'trud'. |
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | The Portuguese word "dificuldade" originated from the Latin word "difficultas", meaning "hardship" or "obstruction." |
| Punjabi | The word 'ਮੁਸ਼ਕਲ' has its roots in Sanskrit and also means 'a small problem or issue'. |
| Romanian | Dificultate shares the same Indo-European root (PIE *dus-) with Latin "dubitare" (to doubt) and Albanian "dyshim" (difficulty) |
| Russian | "Трудность" is derived from the word "труд" (work), so it literally means "hard work". |
| Samoan | The word "faigata" also means "mountain pass" in Samoan. |
| Scots Gaelic | Duilgheadas derives from the Gaelic word 'duilg' meaning 'pain' or 'sorrow'. |
| Serbian | The Serbian word "тешкоћа" also means "burden" or "affliction" and is derived from the Proto-Slavic word *tęgъ, meaning "heavy" or "difficult". |
| Sesotho | In Sesotho, "thatafalloa" can also refer to a complex situation or a challenging task. |
| Shona | Shona word "kuoma" also means "failure to achieve" and "not having enough". |
| Sindhi | The Sindhi word "مشڪل" is derived from the Persian word "مشکل" which also means "difficult". |
| Slovak | The word "obtiažnosť" derives from the root "ťažiť", meaning to be heavy or arduous. |
| Slovenian | Slovene 'težavnost' is cognate with Sanskrit 'duskara', an adjective meaning 'difficult', 'hard to perform'. |
| Somali | The word "dhib" in Somali can also refer to a "problem" or "obstacle". |
| Spanish | The Spanish word "dificultad" comes from the Latin word "difficultas," which means "difficulty, hardship, or trouble." |
| Sundanese | The word "kasusah" in Sundanese also means "trouble" or "problem". |
| Swahili | 'Ugumu' is derived from the root word 'gumu', meaning 'to be heavy' or 'to be burdensome'. |
| Swedish | "Svår" means "difficult" but also "pain" and has historical ties to the verb "svära", meaning "to curse". |
| Tagalog (Filipino) | The Tagalog word "hirap" (difficulty) is related to the Malay "susah" which also means difficulty. |
| Tajik | The word "душворӣ" in Tajik can also mean "hardship", "problem", or "obstacle". |
| Tamil | The word "சிரமம்" in Tamil has a root meaning of "toil or exertion" and can also refer to "pain or suffering" |
| Telugu | కష్టం (difficulty) is derived from the Sanskrit word "kaṣṭa" meaning "pain", "suffering", or "hardship." |
| Thai | The Thai word "ความยาก" ("difficulty") comes from the Pali word "dhamma" meaning "quality". In Thai, it can also mean "hardness" or "toughness". |
| Turkish | The word 'zorluk' can also mean 'toughness' or 'strength' in Turkish. |
| Ukrainian | Слово «складність» походить від давньослов’янського «складнъ», що означає «складений, складний» або «зв’язаний, ув’язнений» |
| Urdu | The word "problem" is derived from the Greek word "problema," which means "an obstacle or difficulty." |
| Uzbek | The word "qiyinchilik" comes from the Arabic word "qayyun," which means "fixed" or "firm," and the suffix "-chilik," which indicates a state or quality. |
| Vietnamese | The word "khó khăn" in Vietnamese originates from Middle Chinese and originally meant "suffering" or "hardship." |
| Welsh | Some speculate that the word comes from the verb "anhawu" meaning to "deny" or "refuse" because it implies resistance to change or hardship. |
| Xhosa | The word "ubunzima" can also refer to a burden or weight carried by someone. |
| Yiddish | "שוועריקייט" also means "hardship, ordeal" and comes from the Yiddish "שוער" - "difficulty" or "hardship", which in turn originates from the German "schwer" or Old High German "swêri" - "grievous, hard, difficult". |
| Yoruba | "Ìṣòrò" can also mean "problem" or "trouble" in Yoruba. |
| Zulu | The Zulu word 'ubunzima' also refers to the quality or state of being sick. |
| English | "Difficulty" derives from French "difficulté" and Latin "difficultas," implying "hard to do" and "hard to please." |