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Is there a single word for "make someone cry"? I checked a translation dictionary, but it just referred me to the word "cry."

herisson
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Vishwanath Maralingannavar
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    Did you check a translation dictionary? – Mitch Jan 20 '16 at 12:53
  • "Hurting" someone comes close but I don't think English has a single verb that could replace it. – BiscuitBoy Jan 20 '16 at 12:58
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    @Mitch Both of the Hindi words yield 'cry' – Vishwanath Maralingannavar Jan 20 '16 at 13:03
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    Why do you need a single word? Can you write an example sentence where the word would be used? As it stands, your question is off-topic. –  Jan 20 '16 at 13:17
  • There are so many diverse reasons that someone might be caused to cry it seems unreasonable to attempt to force the use of a single word. – Hot Licks Jan 20 '16 at 13:42
  • English doesn't have a single word for this. Some agglutinative languages can have single words for these kind of concepts. – ermanen Jan 20 '16 at 15:16
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    It depends on the type of "tears". Are they of sadness? Joy? Rage? You can enrage someone to the point of tears, but you can also do the same by telling a joke. – TsSkTo Jan 20 '16 at 16:40
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    @TsSkTo: In some languages, it doesn't depend on the context. You just use affixes to change the word from "to cry" to "to make someone cry". Also, in English, you can still use "made me cry" for all those emotions. You just have to include the context around it. – ermanen Jan 20 '16 at 16:55
  • Similar question: http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/190677/you-show-someone-a-picture-you-someone-a-song – ermanen Jan 20 '16 at 17:04

1 Answers1

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If the tears indicate sorrow, you can use the word sadden:

: to cause (someone) to be sad
Merriam-Webster

There is also the phrasal verb tear up:

2. To cause to have tears well in the eyes: By the movie's end, the whole audience was teared up.
The Free Dictionary by Farlex

jxh
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