Pain in Different Languages
Discover 'Pain' in 134 Languages: Dive into Translations, Hear Pronunciations, and Uncover Cultural Insights.
Pain
Afrikaans pyn | ||
Albanian dhimbje | ||
Amharic ህመም | ||
Arabic ألم | ||
Armenian ցավ | ||
Assamese দুখ | ||
Aymara usu | ||
Azerbaijani ağrı | ||
Bambara dimi | ||
Basque mina | ||
Belarusian боль | ||
Bengali ব্যথা | ||
Bhojpuri दरद | ||
Bosnian bol | ||
Bulgarian болка | ||
Catalan dolor | ||
Cebuano kasakit | ||
Chinese (Simplified) 疼痛 | ||
Chinese (Traditional) 疼痛 | ||
Corsican dulore | ||
Croatian bol | ||
Czech bolest | ||
Danish smerte | ||
Dhivehi ތަދު | ||
Dogri पीड़ | ||
Dutch pijn | ||
English pain | ||
Esperanto doloro | ||
Estonian valu | ||
Ewe vevesese | ||
Filipino (Tagalog) sakit | ||
Finnish kipu | ||
French douleur | ||
Frisian pine | ||
Galician dor | ||
Georgian ტკივილი | ||
German schmerzen | ||
Greek πόνος | ||
Guarani hasy | ||
Gujarati પીડા | ||
Haitian Creole doulè | ||
Hausa zafi | ||
Hawaiian ʻeha | ||
Hebrew כְּאֵב | ||
Hindi दर्द | ||
Hmong kev mob | ||
Hungarian fájdalom | ||
Icelandic sársauki | ||
Igbo mgbu | ||
Ilocano ut-ot | ||
Indonesian rasa sakit | ||
Irish pian | ||
Italian dolore | ||
Japanese 痛み | ||
Javanese lara | ||
Kannada ನೋವು | ||
Kazakh ауырсыну | ||
Khmer ឈឺចាប់ | ||
Kinyarwanda ububabare | ||
Konkani दुखप | ||
Korean 고통 | ||
Krio pen | ||
Kurdish êş | ||
Kurdish (Sorani) ژان | ||
Kyrgyz оору | ||
Lao ຄວາມເຈັບປວດ | ||
Latin dolor | ||
Latvian sāpes | ||
Lingala mpasi | ||
Lithuanian skausmas | ||
Luganda obulumi | ||
Luxembourgish péng | ||
Macedonian болка | ||
Maithili दर्द | ||
Malagasy fanaintainana | ||
Malay sakit | ||
Malayalam വേദന | ||
Maltese uġigħ | ||
Maori mamae | ||
Marathi वेदना | ||
Meiteilon (Manipuri) ꯑꯅꯥꯕ | ||
Mizo na | ||
Mongolian өвдөлт | ||
Myanmar (Burmese) နာကျင်မှု | ||
Nepali पीडा | ||
Norwegian smerte | ||
Nyanja (Chichewa) ululu | ||
Odia (Oriya) ଯନ୍ତ୍ରଣା | ||
Oromo dhukkubbii | ||
Pashto درد | ||
Persian درد | ||
Polish ból | ||
Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) dor | ||
Punjabi ਦਰਦ | ||
Quechua nanay | ||
Romanian durere | ||
Russian боль | ||
Samoan tiga | ||
Sanskrit पीडा | ||
Scots Gaelic pian | ||
Sepedi bohloko | ||
Serbian бол | ||
Sesotho bohloko | ||
Shona kurwadziwa | ||
Sindhi درد | ||
Sinhala (Sinhalese) වේදනාව | ||
Slovak bolesť | ||
Slovenian bolečina | ||
Somali xanuun | ||
Spanish dolor | ||
Sundanese nyeri | ||
Swahili maumivu | ||
Swedish smärta | ||
Tagalog (Filipino) sakit | ||
Tajik дард | ||
Tamil வலி | ||
Tatar авырту | ||
Telugu నొప్పి | ||
Thai ความเจ็บปวด | ||
Tigrinya ቃንዛ | ||
Tsonga xivavi | ||
Turkish ağrı | ||
Turkmen agyry | ||
Twi (Akan) yeaw | ||
Ukrainian біль | ||
Urdu درد | ||
Uyghur ئاغرىق | ||
Uzbek og'riq | ||
Vietnamese đau đớn | ||
Welsh poen | ||
Xhosa intlungu | ||
Yiddish ווייטיק | ||
Yoruba irora | ||
Zulu ubuhlungu |
Etymology & Notes
| Language | Etymology / Notes |
|---|---|
| Afrikaans | The Afrikaans word "pyn" is cognate with the English word "pain" and is derived from the Proto-Germanic word *painaz. |
| Albanian | The Albanian word "dhimbje" derives from the Proto-Indo-European root *ḱleu- meaning "to hear" but has acquired the meaning of "pain" in Albanian. |
| Amharic | The word "ህመም" also refers to "sickness" or "disease". |
| Arabic | In Arabic, "ألم" means "pain," while "ألن" means "to make soft." This semantic connection highlights pain's ability to soften and weaken individuals. |
| Armenian | The root *tʿaw-, from which derives the Armenian word "ցավ" ("pain"), also appears to mean "burn" in other Indo-European languages, indicating the connection between physical and psychological states |
| Azerbaijani | The word "ağrı" derives from the Proto-Turkic root *aq- "pain, ache" and shares this etymology with Mongolian "ahri" and Turkish "ağrı". |
| Basque | In Spanish, "mina" also means "mine". |
| Belarusian | The Belarusian word "боль" is cognate with the Russian word "боль" and the Ukrainian word "біль," and is derived from the Proto-Slavic word *bolь, meaning "pain" or "sickness." |
| Bengali | The word "ব্যথা" also refers to "trouble" or "distress" in Bengali. |
| Bosnian | The word "bol" in Bosnian is also used as a term of endearment, similar to "honey" or "darling". |
| Bulgarian | The word "болка" is derived from the Old Bulgarian word "блъх" (bee sting), and originally referred to any sharp or stinging sensation. |
| Catalan | The word "dolor" in Catalan has the same Latin roots as "dollar" and "douleur," connecting the concept of pain to monetary value and emotional anguish. |
| Cebuano | "Kasakit" originated from either the Proto-Austronesian term for "pain" (*sakit) or the Proto-Hesperonesian term denoting a "wound" (*sakət)." |
| Chinese (Simplified) | The character 痛 in 疼痛, pronounced 'tòng', originally depicts a hand holding a pestle and can mean to strike, beat, or suffer a beating. |
| Chinese (Traditional) | 疼痛 (tong1 teng4) in Chinese is a compound word that literally means 'communication with the body'. |
| Corsican | Corsican "dulore" derives from Latin "dolor" and also means "sorrow" or "grief". |
| Croatian | The word 'bol' in Croatian originates from the Proto-Indo-European root '*bhel-' or '*bhol-' meaning 'to strike'. |
| Czech | The word "bolest" in Czech originally meant "illness" or "disease", but gradually came to mean "pain" in the 16th century. |
| Danish | The Danish word "smerte" is derived from the Proto-Germanic word "*smurt-i", meaning "sharp" or "painful". |
| Dutch | The word "pijn" has the same root as the Old English word "pine," from which we get the modern word "pain". Additionally, "pijn" is also cognate with the German word "Pein," which means "torment." |
| Esperanto | The word "doloro" is a derivative of the Latin word "dolor", meaning "pain" or "suffering." |
| Estonian | The word "valu" can also mean "value" or "price" in Estonian. |
| Finnish | In Northern Savonian dialects, "kipu" can also mean "itch". |
| French | Douleur derives from the Latin word 'dolere', which also gives us words such as 'dolorous', 'condolence' and 'indole'. |
| Frisian | The Frisian word for "pine" is also used to describe a "sensation of unease". |
| Galician | Galician "dor" is a cognate of Modern Portuguese "dor" (pain), originating from the Latin word "dolor" (sorrow, grief). |
| Georgian | Some etymologists suggest that "ტკივილი" may be related to the Persian word "درد" (dard), meaning "pain". Others believe it may have originated from the Proto-Kartvelian root *t-k'w-, meaning "to pierce". |
| German | Schmerzen (pain) derives from Proto-Germanic *smerdano, which also gives the English word 'smart' (a twinge of sharp, stinging pain). |
| Greek | While the word "πόνος" in Greek denotes intense physical pain, it also holds deeper meanings, representing 'hardship', 'effort', and even 'the work of childbirth'. |
| Gujarati | The word "પીડા" (pain) in Gujarati is derived from the Sanskrit word "piḍa," meaning "injury" or "affliction." |
| Haitian Creole | The alternate meaning of "doulè" is "grief" or "sorrow" and the meaning of "doulè" has been derived from the French word "douleur". |
| Hausa | The word "zafi" can also refer to a type of physical distress or discomfort. |
| Hawaiian | The word ʻeha also means "mistake" or "error" in Hawaiian. |
| Hebrew | The Hebrew word "כְּאֵב" can also mean "grief" or "sorrow". |
| Hindi | In Persian, the word "درد" also means "love" or "longing". |
| Hmong | In Hmong, the word 'kev mob' can also mean 'suffering' or 'distress'. |
| Hungarian | The word "fájdalom" is derived from the Proto-Uralic word "*pajta" meaning "to pinch" or "to squeeze". This also underlies the meaning of "pinch" in English, while in Hungarian this meaning is carried by the word "csip". |
| Icelandic | The word "sársauki" in Icelandic is derived from the Proto-Germanic word "*saraz", meaning "injury", and the Old Norse word "saukr", meaning "wound". |
| Igbo | "Mgbu" can also refer to the Igbo concept of spiritual suffering or emotional distress. |
| Indonesian | The Indonesian word "rasa sakit" literally translates to "feeling sick" or "sickness of the body". |
| Irish | The word 'pian' in Irish can also refer to punishment, suffering, or torment. |
| Italian | The word "dolore" derives from the Latin word "dolor", meaning "suffering, sadness, grief". |
| Japanese | The kanji 痛 (“pain”) is often paired with a second kanji to create more specific compound words, such as 頭痛 (“headache”) and 腹痛 (“stomach pain”). |
| Javanese | The word "lara" in Javanese also means a wound or injury. |
| Kannada | The Kannada word "నోవు" can also mean "sorrow" or "grief". |
| Kazakh | The word "ауырсыну" in Kazakh also means "to be heavy" or "to be hard". |
| Khmer | The Khmer word "ឈឺចាប់" ("pain") is derived from the Sanskrit word "शिरो" ("head") and "छेद" ("to cut"), referring to the splitting headache that is a common symptom of pain. |
| Korean | "고통" can also mean "a hardship" or "a calamity". |
| Kurdish | The Kurdish word "êş" can also refer to a "thorn" or "prickle". |
| Kyrgyz | The Kyrgyz word "оору" also means "sickness" and is related to the Kazakh word "ауру" and the Turkish word "ağrı". |
| Latin | The Latin word "dolor" also means "grief", "sorrow", "misery" or "suffering." |
| Latvian | The word "sāpes" can also refer to a feeling of grief or sorrow. |
| Lithuanian | The word “skausmas” is derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *skeu- “to cut,” which is also the origin of the words “scissors” and “scalpel”. |
| Luxembourgish | "Péng" can also refer to a wooden stick used for bread dough or hammering in nails. |
| Macedonian | The word "болка" in Macedonian also has the meaning of "affliction" or "suffering". |
| Malagasy | The word "fanaintainana" in Malagasy can also refer to a feeling of sadness or regret. |
| Malay | "Sakit" (pain) is cognate with "saquit" in Javanese which also means "difficult or troublesome" and can be traced back to Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *sa(ŋ)kit which also refers to illness. |
| Malayalam | The word "വേദന" is also used in Malayalam to refer to the "Vedas", ancient Hindu scriptures. |
| Maltese | "Uġigħ" derives from the Arabic "وجع" (waja‘), meaning "pain", possibly via Sicilian |
| Maori | "Mamae" also means "to bear with" or "to endure" in Maori. |
| Marathi | The word 'वेदना' ('pain') is derived from the Sanskrit root 'vid' ('to separate'). This root also appears in other Marathi words such as 'विचार' (thought) and 'विजय' (victory), suggesting a connection between pain, separation, and the process of gaining knowledge or success. |
| Mongolian | The word "өвдөлт" can also refer to a wound or injury. |
| Nepali | The root "पीड़" (pīḍ) in "पीडा" means both physical or emotional "pain" and the "pressing or grinding" of grains, possibly related to its archaic sense as a heavy rod used in crushing and pressing. |
| Norwegian | The word "smerte" is cognate with the German word "schmerz" and the English word "smart", all sharing an Indo-European root meaning "to sting or burn". |
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | The word "ululu" is an onomatopoeia, derived from the sound of a cry or groan. |
| Pashto | The word "درد" can also refer to a "wound". |
| Persian | درد (dard) originates from Middle Persian "dardan" meaning "to split" or "to tear", and also shares an origin with the English word "tear" |
| Polish | Ból also means "aching" or "soreness" and is related to the word "boleć" meaning "to ache" or "to be sore." |
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | Dor in Portuguese comes from the Latin word 'dolor' but can also refer to mourning or grief. |
| Punjabi | The word "ਦਰਦ" can also refer to separation from a loved one in Punjabi. |
| Romanian | The Romanian word "durere" derives from the Proto-Slavic "dervati", meaning "pain, suffering, or sorrow." |
| Russian | The word "боль" can have metaphorical meanings, such as "grief" or "sorrow" as well as physical discomfort. |
| Samoan | The term "tiga" can also indicate a physical injury and is associated with traditional Samoan medicine used to treat ailments of the body. |
| Scots Gaelic | In Scots Gaelic, "pian" comes from Old Irish "pian" ("suffering, punishment") which in turn derives from Proto-Celtic "peina" ("suffering, atonement") which may be related to "poena" in Latin, also meaning "suffering, punishment." |
| Serbian | The word "бол" (pronounced "bol") is derived from Proto-Slavic "*bъlь", which also means "sickness" or "disease". |
| Sesotho | "Bohlōkō" also refers to a "sharp point" or a "painful event" in the figurative sense. |
| Shona | "Kurwadziwa" is often used in the context of physical pain, but also refers to psychological pain. |
| Sindhi | "درد" can also mean "aching" or "soreness" in Sindhi. |
| Sinhala (Sinhalese) | The Sanskrit word 'vEdanA' (वेदना), which is the root of 'vedanava', also means 'knowledge', 'perception', or 'feeling'. |
| Slovak | The Slovak word "bolesť" is cognate with the Proto-Slavic word meaning "disease". |
| Slovenian | In some dialects, "bolečina" also means "misery". |
| Somali | The word "xanuun" is thought to be derived from the proto-Cushitic root "*xan-", meaning "to cut" or "to hurt". |
| Spanish | In Spanish, "dolor" evolved from Latin "doleo," meaning to suffer, grieve, or mourn. |
| Sundanese | The word "nyeri" can also mean "ache", "throb", or "cramp" in Sundanese. |
| Swahili | Swahili word 'maumivu' is derived from the verb 'uma' meaning 'to ache' or 'to hurt'. |
| Swedish | The word 'smärta' derives from the Proto-Germanic root *smart-, meaning 'to cause pain.' |
| Tagalog (Filipino) | In Tagalog, “sakit” can also refer to “illness” or “disease”. |
| Tajik | Tajik 'дард' ('pain') has roots in Old Tajik 'dart' or 'dard', meaning 'suffering', and is cognate with Middle Indo-Aryan 'daridra', meaning 'poor or lacking'. |
| Tamil | The Tamil word "வலி" (pain) shares its root with the word "வலிமை" (strength), suggesting a potential connection between pain and the resilience it can foster. |
| Telugu | Its cognates in other Dravidian languages suggest that the word "నొప్పి" originally meant "to be bent or curved". |
| Thai | The Thai word "ความเจ็บปวด" (pain) can also refer to physical exertion or hard work. |
| Turkish | The word "Ağrı" may also refer to the Turkish province or its capital city of the same name. |
| Ukrainian | The word "біль" in Ukrainian is derived from the Proto-Slavic "bolь", meaning "suffering". |
| Urdu | "درد" (dard) means "pain" in Urdu. In Persian, it also means "love" or "grief," reflecting the emotional and physical aspects of pain. |
| Uzbek | "Og'riq" is a derivative of the Proto-Turkic word "**oγrï**" meaning "hurt, wound, wound" and is possibly related to the word "**oγru**" meaning "to steal, to rob, to kill". |
| Vietnamese | Đau đớn is a compound noun meaning 'pain', but in the past, 'đớn' also meant 'severe' and 'đau' meant 'ache' |
| Welsh | From Latin 'poena' meaning both 'punishment' and 'pain', and Old English 'pin(a)', akin to 'pine'. |
| Xhosa | The word 'intlungu' derives from the Bantu root '-tungu-', meaning 'to prick or pierce'. |
| Yiddish | It is etymologically related to the Old High German word 'wetag', meaning 'pain' or 'wound'. |
| Yoruba | The word 'irora' in Yoruba can also refer to 'a sharp mental or emotional distress'. |
| Zulu | "Ubuhlungu" (pain) has an additional meaning in Zulu: "a burden or problem". |
| English | The word 'pain' derives from the Latin 'poena', meaning 'punishment' or 'penalty'. |