Qualities

bad

Source:*zъlъProto-Slavic · “evil, bad”certain

Learn it fresh in four languages: *zъlъ survives everywhere, but only Polish still uses it for everyday 'bad'.

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English

bad

Polish

zły

zwɨ

Learn freshDifferent words — learn this one fresh.

In all five languages

BCS script

Latin under Cyrillic

Russian
плохо́йploxoj
plɐˈxojdifferent word · East Slavic, of unclear origin
Russian злой is the cognate of Polish zły, but it means 'evil, angry'.
Ukrainian
пога́нийpohanyj
pɔˈɦanɪjdifferent word · Latin paganus 'pagan', via Church Slavonic пога́нъ
From 'pagan' to 'unclean' to plain 'bad'.
Polish
zły
zwɨinherited
Also 'angry': jestem zły 'I am angry'.
Czech
špatný
ˈʃpatniːdifferent word · Czech, of unclear origin
Czech zlý is the cognate of zły, but it means 'evil, wicked'.
Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian
lošлош
loʃdifferent word · BCS, of unclear origin
BCS zao (from *zъlъ) means 'evil'.
English
bad