sört

Sért is a Hungarian verb that denotes causing harm, either physically or emotionally, and is commonly used in figurative senses to mean to offend or distress someone. In everyday language, it covers situations where words or actions hurt another person, as in a remark that “sért” someone. The term can express both physical injury and emotional impact, with nuance shifting based on context and tone.

The word forms a small family of related terms built from the root sér-. The noun sértés denotes an offense or insult, while the adjective sértő describes something insulting or offensive. The related verb sérteni, from which sért derives, governs similar meanings and appears in broader expressions about harm, injury, or offense. These terms are widely used in both spoken and written Hungarian and appear across formal and informal registers.

Usage notes:

- Sért can take transitive constructions with a direct object or with a pronoun indicating the affected party (for example, “Ez sért engem” meaning “This offends me”).

- The sense of physical injury is more common in literal contexts, whereas the moral or social sense—offending someone—is prevalent in everyday speech.

- The noun-serés and adjective-sertő participate in standard Hungarian inflection and can combine with other modifiers to describe the degree or nature of the hurt.

In summary, sért functions as a versatile verb in Hungarian, capable of expressing both tangible harm and social/ethical discomfort, with a well-established set of related forms that expand its meaning to offense and insult.