#Untranslatable words
Age-tori (Japanese)
To look worse after a haircut
Backfeifengesicht (German)
A face in need of a slap
Cafuné (Brazilian portuguese)
The act of tenderly running one’s fingers through someone’s hair.
Cabelsalat
Literally ‘cable salad’, a tangle of cables
Craic (Irish)
Fun, amusement, entwining company or conversation
Dépaysement (French)
The feeling that comes from not being in one’s home country
Dozywocie (Polish)
Parental contract with children guaranteeing lifelong support
Duende (Spanish)
The mysterious power that a work of art has to deeply move a person.
Eidolon (Ancient Greek)
Phantom look-alike taking form of a living or dead person
Fika (Swedish)
Relaxed social event with good friends involving coffee and pastries
Gigil (Filipino)
The irresistible urge to pinch or squeeze something cute
Gezellig (Dutch)
Literally, it means cozy, quaint, or nice, but can also connote time spent with loved ones, seeing a friend after a long absence, or general togetherness.
Hanyauku (Kwangali)
The act of walking on tiptoes across warm sand
Hyggelig (Danish)
Its “literal” translation into English gives connotations of a warm, friendly, cozy demeanor, it’s likely something that must be experienced to be known. Good friends, cold beer, and a warm fire.
Iktsuarpok (Inuit)
To go outside to check if anyone is coming.
Ilunga (Tshiluba - Southwest Congo)
A word famous for its untranslatability, most professional translators pinpoint it as the stature of a person who is ready to forgive and forget any first abuse, tolerate it the second time, but never forgive nor tolerate on the third offense.
Istories me Arkoudes (Greek)
Literally ‘stories with bears’, narrated events which are too far fetched to be true
Jayus (Indonesian)
A joke so poorly told and so unfunny that one cannot help but laugh
Je ne sais quoi (French)
An intangible quality that makes something distinctive or attractive.
Komorebi (Japanese)
Dappled sunlight through trees
Kyoikumama (Japanese)
A mother who relentlessly pushes her children toward academic achievement
L'appel du Vide (French)
Literally ‘the call of the void’, the urge to jump from a height
Litost (Czech)
The closest definition is a state of agony and torment created by the sudden sight of one’s own misery.
Löyly (Finnish)
The experience achieved of being in the sauna after throwing water on the hot stones and the water steaming
Mamihlapinatapai (Yaghan)
A shared look of desire which neither party are willing to initiate action upon
Neidbau (German)
A building constructed with sole purpose of inconveniencing a neighbour in some way
Oppholdsvær (Norwegian)
Weather just after the rain has stopped
Pålegg (Norwegian)
Anything edible that goes on bread
Poshlost (Russian)
Self-satisfied vulgarity masquerading as high morality
Prozvonit (Czech)
Call a mobile phone and let it ring once so that the other person will call back, saving the first caller money. In Spanish, the phrase for this is “Dar un toque,” or, “To give a touch.” In Bulgarian it is “презвъняване” in Finnish “soittaa pommi”, “to ring a bomb”
Qualunquismo (Italian)
Apathy and indifference towards politics
Renao (Mandarin)
Lively, festive, happy and noisy
Saudade (Portuguese)
Refers to the feeling of longing for something or someone that you love and which is lost
Schadenfreude (German)
Quite famous for its meaning that somehow other languages neglected to recognise, this refers to the feeling of pleasure derived by seeing another’s misfortune.
Snorker (Early English)
One who gets into others’ business
Tartle (Scottish)
The act of hesitation upon forgetting someone’s name
Torschlusspanik (German)
Translated literally, this word means “gate-closing panic,” but its contextual meaning refers to “the fear of diminishing opportunities as one ages.
Uitwaaien (Dutch)
Literally ‘to walk in the wind’, to take a brief break outside to clear one’s head
Vomitorium (Latin)
A room for vomiting, use popularised by Aldous Huxley. Actually a passageway in a theatre
Wabi-Sabi (Japanese)
A way of living that focuses on finding beauty within the imperfections of life and accepting peacefully the natural cycle of growth and decay.
Waldeinsamkeit (German)
Feeling of being peacefully alone in the woods
Xinku (Mandarin)
Thanking someone while acknowledging their hard work
Ya’aburnee (Arabic)
Both morbid and beautiful at once, “You bury me,” hoping that you’ll die before another person because of how difficult it would be to live without them.
Yuanfen (Mandarin)
Binding force which eventually brings two people together in love
Zhaghzhagh (Persian)
Chattering of teeth from cold or rage