At times we need to switch to other languages to find le mot juste. Here’s a bunch of overseas words with no immediate English equivalent.
1. Backpfeifengesicht (German)
A face poorly in require of a fist.
2. Bakku-shan (Japanese)
This Japanese slang expression describes the encounter of seeing a female who appears very from powering but not from the front.
3. Bilita Mpash (Bantu)
An astounding dream. Not just a “great” dream the opposite of a nightmare.
4. Boketto (Japanese)
It’s wonderful to know that the Japanese imagine ample of the act of gazing vacantly into the length with out contemplating to give it a title.
5. Cafune (Brazilian Portuguese)
Go away it to the Brazilians to appear up with a phrase for “tenderly managing your fingers by your lover’s hair.”
6. Cavoli Riscaldati (Italian)
The outcome of trying to revive an unworkable partnership. Translates to “reheated cabbage.”
7. Cotisuelto (Caribbean Spanish)
A word that would aptly describe the prevailing manner trend among the American adult males below 40, it signifies 1 who wears the shirt tail exterior of his trousers.
8. Faamiti (Samoan)
To make a squeaking sound by sucking air earlier the lips in order to obtain the awareness of a pet or youngster.
9. Fernweh (German)
A longing for distant places—and while the English word wanderlust comes shut, fernweh can also refer to a longing for a position you have hardly ever even been.
10. Fisselig (German)
Ever been flustered to the place where by you can not function or finish what you had been accomplishing? That’s fisselig.
11. and 12. Fremdschämen (German) and Myötähäpeä (Finnish)
The kinder, gentler cousins of Schadenfreude, the two these text indicate something akin to “vicarious shame.”
13. Frühjahrsmüdigkeit (German)
Frühjahr is “springtime,” whilst Müdigkeit indicates “tiredness.” Alongside one another, it refers to a type of reverse seasonal affective disorder—when folks develop into depressed or lethargic at the onset of spring.
14. Gigil (Filipino)
The urge to pinch or squeeze a thing that is irresistibly cute.
15. Greng-jai (Thai)
That experience you get when you don’t want someone to do some thing for you mainly because it would be a discomfort for them.
16. Honigkuchenpferd (German)
Taken literally, this word signifies “horse-formed honey cake.” But it’s a flip of phrase, fairly equivalent to the English idiom “grinning like a Cheshire cat.” It is chatting about a significant grin the wearer just cannot wipe off of their facial area.
17. Hygge (Danish)
Denmark’s mantra, hygge is the nice, genial, and intimate emotion connected with sitting all over a hearth in the wintertime with shut close friends.
18. Iktsuarpok (Inuit)
You know that emotion of anticipation when you are waiting for anyone to exhibit up at your property and you preserve going outdoors to see if they’re there however? This is the word for it.
19. Kaelling (Danish)
You know that girl who stands on her doorstep (or in line at the grocery store, or at the park, or in a cafe) cursing at her small children? The Danes know her, far too.
20. Koi No Yokan (Japanese)
The feeling on very first meeting a individual that the two of you are heading to drop in appreciate.
21. Kummerspeck (German)
Surplus weight acquired from psychological overeating. Basically, “grief bacon.”
22. Lagom (Swedish)
Perhaps Goldilocks was Swedish? This slippery small word is hard to outline, but means a thing like, “Not also significantly, and not as well small, but juuuuust appropriate.”
23. Layogenic (Tagalog)
Remember in Clueless when Cher describes somebody as “a whole-on Monet … from significantly absent, it is Ok, but up close it’s a large previous mess”? Which is specifically what this term suggests.
24. L’esprit de l’escalier (French)
Pretty much, “stairwell wit”—a way too-late retort considered of only immediately after departure.
25. Litost (Czech)
Milan Kundera described the emotion as “a condition of torment designed by the unexpected sight of one’s have distress.”
26. Luftmensch (Yiddish)
There are numerous Yiddish text to describe social misfits. This one particular is for an impractical dreamer with no business feeling.
27. Mamihlapinatapai (Yaghan language of Tierra del Fuego)
This word captures that specific look shared among two persons, when both of those are wishing that the other would do one thing that they both want, but neither want to do.
28. Mencolek (Indonesian)
You know that previous trick the place you faucet another person lightly on the reverse shoulder from guiding to fool them? The Indonesians have a term for it.
29. Packesel (German)
A packesel is the man or woman who’s caught carrying every person else’s baggage on a journey. Literally, a burro.
30. Pålegg (Norwegian)
Sandwich Artists unite! The Norwegians have a non-precise descriptor for anything—ham, cheese, jam, Nutella, mustard, herring, pickles, Doritos, you identify it—you could contemplate putting into a sandwich.
31. Pana Po’o (Hawaiian)
“Hmm, now where did I go away individuals keys?” he explained, pana po’oing. It usually means to scratch your head in buy to help you remember a little something you have overlooked.
32. Pelinti (Buli, Ghana)
Your buddy bites into a piece of piping incredibly hot pizza, then opens his mouth and form of tilts his head about although earning an “aaaarrrahh” sounds. The Ghanaians have a term for that. Additional specially, it implies “to shift very hot food stuff all-around in your mouth.”
33. Razbliuto (Russian)
The nostalgic experience you could have for another person you at the time liked, but really don’t any more.
34. and 35. Schlemiel and schlimazel (Yiddish)
Another person vulnerable to undesirable luck. Yiddish distinguishes in between the schlemiel and schlimazel, whose fates would almost certainly be grouped under individuals of the klutz in other languages. The schlemiel is the conventional maladroit, who spills his espresso the schlimazel is the a person on whom it is spilled.
36. Seigneur-terraces (French)
Coffee shop dwellers who sit at tables for a very long time but expend very minor cash.
37. Sentak Bangun (Indonesian)
This Indonesian verb signifies “to wake up with a get started.”
38. Shemomedjamo (Georgian)
You know when you’re actually comprehensive, but your food is just so delectable, you just cannot stop ingesting it? The Georgians feel your discomfort. This word signifies, “I unintentionally ate the complete issue.”
39. Shouganai (Japanese)
It is a minimal little bit like “Que será, será,” but with a slight spin: If there is practically nothing you can do about it, don’t squander time being angry or stressing.
40. Slampadato (Italian)
Addicted to the UV glow of tanning salons? This term describes you.
41. Sobremesa (Spanish)
The time expended at a desk following taking in. The meals is absent, but everybody is still sitting down close to chatting, perhaps ingesting coffee or enjoying playing cards.
42. Tartle (Scots)
The almost onomatopoeic phrase for that panicky hesitation just before you have to introduce somebody whose identify you cannot really remember.
43. Treppenwitz (German)
It virtually signifies “staircase joke,” due to the fact it refers to the minute you consider of a comeback way after the fact—usually when you’re in the stairwell on the way out the doorway.
44. Tsundoku (Japanese)
A lot of of us are responsible of this one—buying new books (or any looking at product) and letting them pile up, unread.
45. Uffda (Swedish)
States like Minnesota and Wisconsin convey sympathy for somebody or a sticky scenario. It’s a blend of “Ouch!” and “I’m sorry you damage yourself.”
46. Vybafnout (Czech)
A phrase tailor-produced for bothersome older brothers—it signifies to jump out and say boo.
47. Weltschmerz (German)
This one particular may perhaps hit near to dwelling for many: It translates to world grief, and signifies “a gloomy, romanticized globe-weary unhappiness, skilled most often by privileged youth.”
48. Ya’arburnee (Arabic)
This term is the hopeful declaration that you will die before an individual you love deeply, since you are unable to stand to are living without having them. Literally, “might you bury me.”
49. Yuputka (Ulwa)
A phrase built for strolling in the woods at night, it is the phantom sensation of one thing crawling on your pores and skin.
50. Zeg (Georgian)
It suggests “the day following tomorrow.” Ok, we do have overmorrow in English, but when was the final time anyone used that?
51. Zhaghzhagh (Persian)
The chattering of enamel from the chilly or from rage.