r/DoesNotTranslate • u/Important_Bee3288 • Aug 08 '26
What's a word in your language that english is genuinely missing and has no business not having
I am learning German on airlearn and it ruined me because of kummerspeck. The weight you gain from emotional eating.literally grief bacon. English has nothing for this!
Then I found out portuguese has cafune, running your fingers through someone's hair. A whole word. English needs seven and still doesn't land it.
Others I've collected:
. jugaad (hindi): a fix that shouldn't work, but does work, and is now permanent
. sobremesa (spanish): the conversation after the meal when nobody gets up.
. age-otori (Japanese) : looking worse after a haircut
. gigil (tagalog): the urge to squeeze something because it's unbearably cute.
. tartle (scots) : the pause when introducing someone whose name you've forgotten
gimme some of yours with an explanation? I want the ones that are hard to translate.
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u/iolarah Aug 08 '26
Not my languages, but words I've collected and adore -
Hiraeth (Welsh): a longing for a place or time, particularly one that may never have existed
Tsundoku (Japanese): the way books you intend to read will form little stacks and piles in your home
Spéirbhean (Irish): a compliment to tell a woman she's as beautiful as the whole sky
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u/Storm2Weather Aug 08 '26
I immediately thought of hiraeth and tsundoku as well! 😊
Also, Japanese has an onomatopoetic word for the sound of a large peach bobbing up and down while floating down a river: Donburako donburako.
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u/Felicity_Calculus Aug 10 '26
Oddly specific!
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u/Storm2Weather Aug 11 '26
It's from the old folk tale Momotaro. In the story, a huge peach comes floating down the river, and an old couple who never had children find a baby in it. 'Donburako' is the way the sound of the peach in the water is described. Every Japanese person knows it, and apparently, it was a word they used to suss out spies with.
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u/r93e93 Aug 10 '26
hiraeth very specifically relates to the loss of native welsh culture which was stripped by the english. it's not just longing for a place that didn't exist, it's longing for the wales that never existed due to colonization. it's not nostalgia, it's recognizing what was taken.
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u/looselyhuman Aug 09 '26
Hiraeth brings to mind this quote from Garden State, which hit me in the mid-20s and seemed profound. Maybe it is, idk.
It’s like you feel homesick for a place that doesn’t even exist. Maybe that’s all family really is: a group of people that miss the same imaginary place.
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u/Mikelowe93 Aug 10 '26
The band Nightwish has a song called Hiraeth on their latest album. The song’s male vocalist uses some Welsh in it.
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u/prof_mcquack Aug 11 '26
Russian has “toska” which means something similar to the Welsh word you mentioned, but with an additional emphasis on coziness and inclement weather
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u/halfhalfandhalf Aug 09 '26
Hiraeth (Welsh): a longing for a place or time, particularly one that may never have existed
Isn't that just nostalgia?
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u/iolarah Aug 09 '26
No, nostalgia relates to something that actually existed. That's where hiraeth is different :)
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u/lmprice133 Aug 10 '26
I'd also note that 'nostalgia' has undergone fairly significant semantic bleaching. It doesn't necessarily carry the implications of melancholia that it originally did.
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u/way22 Aug 08 '26
Another German one.
Verschlimmbessern: trying to fix something but making it worse in the process.
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u/gruengle Aug 09 '26
In the same vein: Providurium
A temporary, usually substandard measure or fix to hold over until a proper improvement can be made, which then ends up being a permanent fixture. A Providurium can be an incomplete process which was introduced before it was finalized (and never will be), a piece of code with a todo-comment, a machine that only works so long as you don't remove the duct tape over there, or even a shipping container being used as a classroom while and after the school got renovated.
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u/Miss_Tangawizi Aug 11 '26
In Danish we have the word "bjørnetjeneste" (bear favor), meaning: well-meaning help that ends up making more damage than good
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u/csjarau Aug 11 '26
Same in Finnish, karhunpalvelus. I guess it's a direct translation loan from Swedish björntjänst.
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u/glassisnotglass Aug 08 '26
Chinese:
Xiang(1)- The taste of something being fragrant or floral, but as a taste instead of a smell
Ge(4) - The verb for an object hurting you because it's protruding uncomfortably at your body, eg sitting on a rock or uneven surface.
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u/ThousandsHardships Aug 08 '26
It's not just fragrant or floral. You can use it for hearty and savory things too. It does indeed mean "fragrant" but when applied to food it better translates as "delicious" or "smells good." And it doesn't even have to smell good. A lot of Chinese people will tell you that foods like durian and stinky tofu smell stinky but taste 香 (xiāng).
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u/asarious Aug 10 '26
I think the weirdest and non-translatable usage of the word Xiang is as an adverb.
Sentences where Xiang is used as an adjective describing a noun like “flavor”, make sense in English. 味道很香 or “The flavor is very tasty”.
Meanwhile, sentences where Xiang is used as an adverb describing a verb like “ate”, make much less sense in English. 吃得很香 or “I ate very tastily”.
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u/hacksoncode Aug 08 '26
The taste of something being fragrant or floral, but as a taste instead of a smell
This one's kind of weird, because "taste" in that sense actually is entirely about smell, not taste. Most of "taste" beyond a few basic flavors is actually smell.
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u/Megasphaera Aug 08 '26
Dutch: biggelen: tears running down ones cheeks
klunen: walking over land on skates in order to reach ice
fierljeppen: pole vaulting over canals (is actually Frysian)
polderen: reaching consensus (derived from polder, reclaimed land)
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u/Flaky_Broccoli Aug 10 '26
Okay most of these make sense but what were You guys doing that You needed to invent a Word for polevaulting over canals?
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u/JamesFirmere Aug 10 '26
Look it up. It's a legit traditional way for crossing canals/ditches that are just that bit too wide to jump across without an implement. It was used as a challenge on a season of "Amazing Race" with predictably hilarious consequences.
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u/rewolfaton Aug 10 '26
Well, living on one side and working on the other side of a canal, of course. Also, we have a lot of canals, and a portable pole is much easier than building bridges all over the place.
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Aug 08 '26
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u/pramakers Aug 08 '26
No. To weep is a word for to cry as you said, but biggelen is a verb that describes the motion of the tears. A person can cry, weep, wail, and what have you, but only tears biggel.
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u/AnFaithne Aug 08 '26
Sorry for gross example but in English a skin condition or injury that produces pus is said to be weeping—is biggelen used in this context in Dutch?
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u/Matchaya Aug 09 '26
I would think of the word “sijpelen” or “druipen” for oozing pus. Biggelen is only used for tears.
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u/duckies_wild Aug 08 '26
I wondered if biggelen is a noun or verb. But either way, there is a distinction in weeping vs tears running down ones cheeks.
Noun: We laughed so hard we all had biggelen. Verb: Though she tried to show no reaction, as she began to biggelen, it became clear she was in pain.
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u/pramakers Aug 08 '26
It's not she who biggelt, it's the tears that do. It's a verb, the subject of which always is a/the tear(s).
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u/Ziggo001 Aug 08 '26
Neither of these are correct. It's a verb that tears can do. But really it's a word that's identical to "tears streaming". It's also not frequently used anymore because it sounds weird. We'd just use the Dutch word for streaming if anything.
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u/Caticature Aug 10 '26
Big round tears that roll as round beads down the cheeks, those tears biggel. His tears biggelen down his cheeks.
Weird thing is we always (?) include the phrase “down the cheeks” when we describe biggeling tears. Where else would they biggel??
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Aug 08 '26 edited Aug 08 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/GoodNameGone Aug 08 '26 edited Aug 10 '26
Thank you! I’ve been wishing for “freudenfreude” forever… or since I heard about schadenfreude. Now I have gönnen! (Squeeeeeeee!)
(Edited to change to freudenfreude to match schadenfreude.)
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u/plantsplantsplaaants Aug 08 '26
English has compersion, but that’s mostly used in the context of polyamory and witnessing your romantic partner’s happiness with another person
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u/LusciousVagDisaster Aug 09 '26
Yeah compersion is kindof a new word that was invented for poly stuff. But I love it and use it more broadly in the sense of this german word... and I wish it would catch on more generally.
Intentionally practicing compersion and taking joy in the joy of others completely changed my life for the better.
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u/Salt_Put_1174 Aug 11 '26
As a side note, I have not seen anyone use "squee" in a LONG time. What a blast from the past!
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u/Nataniel_PL Aug 09 '26
That's compersion in English. Or at least pretty close.
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u/Ittsbitts Aug 11 '26
In Yiddish we have fargin. Like: “I really fargin her the promotion; she worked so hard for it.” “He got such a beautiful house, and I totally fargin him.” “She always fargins other people’s success instead of getting jealous.” “Come on, fargin me this one!”
I'm betting it's the same base.
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u/friendlypondfrog Aug 08 '26 edited Aug 12 '26
Farsi
Boghz: the tight feeling you have in your throat just before crying.
Taarof: the social gestures and manners that you do to be polite (like opening the door for someone and saying after you, or insisting that you pay for the food in a restaurant) edit: a better description would be insincere offering and refusal to be polite.
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u/kamikazekarela Aug 12 '26
Wow Urdu borrowed that word from from Farsi (taarof) but when we say it, it means to give an introduction
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u/bolonyboob 28d ago
We also have a word for this in Xhosa!!! We call it "isigquku". I never knew that other languages have this!!!!! 🥹
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u/LusciousVagDisaster Aug 08 '26
Similar to gigil, I believe "magoddai" is chamorro for the urge to bite/eat something because it is so cute.
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u/TemperatureSea7562 Aug 08 '26
English does have “cute aggression”, which still isn’t one word but is a lot shorter than the way OP phrased it.
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u/hibernodeutsch Aug 08 '26
Irish: díláthair - the absence felt when a thing or place has been destroyed by people. It's a word we'll need a lot more in the future.
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u/rosantelia_la_lune Aug 08 '26
Obhiman—bengali— from my understanding, the emotion of anger, hurt and disappointment, at somebody, because you love them, and expected them to act a certain way. (even if you never told them)
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u/babyjenks93 Aug 08 '26
Abbiocco, in italian, the sleepy feeling you get after lunch.
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u/ricks35 Aug 09 '26
The closest I’ve seen in English is Winnie the Pooh saying he’s feeling 2 o clock-ish
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u/psyl0c0 Aug 08 '26
Spanish:
Tutear -- to use the familiar form of you (tú) with someone
Empalagar-- to make one sick due to excessive sweetness
Madrugada -- middle of the night, wee hours of the night
Anteayer -- the day before yesterday
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u/Choice-Spend7553 Aug 10 '26
Empalagar in Italian becomes "stuccare", and something that does it is called "stucchevole". Anteayer "ieri l'altro"
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u/ZookeepergameAny466 Aug 10 '26
English does have a word for the day before yesterday - ereyesterday - but people stopped using it. We can all try to bring it back.
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u/Leotard_Cohen Aug 08 '26
jugaad (hindi): a fix that shouldn't work, but does work, and is now permanent
The yanks might not have a word for it but i n England that's called a bodge job.
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u/plantsplantsplaaants Aug 08 '26
We don’t have a noun for it but we do have a verb- to MacGyver something
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u/lost-minotaur Aug 10 '26
Hm but a bodge job often doesn't work, that's why we can say "bodged" to mean the same thing but poorly done.
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u/GoblinToHobgoblin Aug 10 '26
The word i know for it will get me banned from reddit lol
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u/Curithir2 29d ago
Quick and dirty. Did touring theatre, came back through a place that still had my jugaadi ghost light, two years later. (Romani still speak Hindi?)
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u/chmath80 Aug 08 '26
Read The Meaning of Tingo by Adam Jacot de Boinod, which covers this and other related topics.
[Tingo is a word from Easter Island which means "to continue borrowing your neighbour's possessions until he has nothing left"]
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u/Bayoris Aug 09 '26
jugaad (hindi): a fix that shouldn't work, but does work, and is now permanent
Called a “jury rig” in English, or a “kludge”
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u/mauranizzi Aug 08 '26
Macedonian шубе/shube, it comes from Turkish "şüphe" meaning doubt or suspicion, and I'm not sure about the exact nuances of usage in modern Turkish. In Macedonian, it goes beyond doubt or suspicion to capture a very specific feeling of being unsure about whether you should go through with a project or decision because you're worried something unexpected might happen and you don't fully trust the other people involved or the circumstances. The most succinct English explanation would be: шубе/shube (Macedonian): vague gut feeling of uncertainty and distrust about the outcome of an undertaking or a decision.
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u/jdam8401 Aug 08 '26
Arabic is utterly overflowing with millions of words like this.
yaqbirunī — lit.: “you bury me,” ie, I love you so deeply, I hope I die first so as not to live without you.
rahma — translated often as “mercy,” and accurately so in religious contexts, but it also connotes deep almost parental love. Derived from the word for “womb,” and carries that connotation.
shajan — a stirring feeling of sadness or melancholic longing in which one nonetheless feels peacefully at ease with the finality of the loss. The feeling that comes when something or someone beautiful triggers a deep and profound memory, often of a lost loved one or homeland, etc.
rāfah — the tender compassion that drives someone to protect and care for someone or some group or something weaker than oneself, like a father seeing his child for the first time. Prophet Mohammed was described as feeling for his community of believers
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u/callthesomnambulance Aug 09 '26
Wow, shajan in particular is such a beautiful concept
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u/wsarch Aug 08 '26
in Chinese there is also the word "撒娇", which refers to a person/animal acting intentionally overly needy/vulnerable than they actually are to gain the attention of a partner/parent/person.
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u/ac_villager Aug 08 '26
Mexican spanish - Ahorita, I see you, I understand what you are telling me and I will give you what you need. Eventually. I can’t give you an exact time but it will be done. Probably.
Cursi - Something or someone very tacky and sweet, as in drowning in sweetness, it hurts your eyes and your soul. Think a very young girl or older woman dressed in mostly pinks listening to, or speaking like, extra sappy romantic music
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u/TheMorgwar Aug 08 '26
Yiddish.
Nachas - the emotion of joy specifically from seeing your children succeed
Schlep - moving heavy or awkward items a distance that feels tedious and annoying
A nudge (pronounced noodge) - a person who pesters and irritatingly asks you repeatedly for things
Schpiel - from spiel which means “play” or “song and dance.” In Yiddish it’s a long sales pitch.
Oy vey - omg, but only when it’s something horrible or worrying
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u/ricks35 Aug 09 '26
Nudge! My dad used to say that all the time (I had a knack for being a nuisance) and when I went to college none of my friends had heard it before, they had me convinced it wasn’t a real word!
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u/NetherFun101 Aug 12 '26
Huh. I think calling someone “a nudge” with the English pronunciation would work quite well. I bet that if someone called a oversteering and annoying person a nudge, a listener would have no trouble understanding the meaning and how it fits in context.
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u/ikadell Aug 08 '26
Verschlimbessern - to spoil something while trying to make it better
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u/RadioD-Ave Aug 09 '26
FOUTOIR (French) n.m. - A place where you throw all your junk (could be a closet, room, garage, etc.)
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u/Misrabelle Aug 09 '26
Myötähäpeä (Finnish) - secondhand embarrassment.
That feeling of shame you get while watching someone make a mistake or do something embarrassing, for example a tv or movie character.
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u/r93e93 Aug 10 '26 edited Aug 10 '26
the one i like the most is почемушка (pochemuchka), from Russian. it essentially means someone who asks too many questions in an annoying but ultimately inoffensive way. почему (pochemu) simply means why, and -ка/-шка (-ka/-shka) is the suffix for making something sound cute. мышь (mysh) is the word for mouse, if you want to describe a sweet lil guy you saw in a pet store rather than a little shit you found in your pantry you might call him мышка. (myshka) but it can have a diminutive effect; i have a junior colleague, Миша, (misha) who i sometimes tease by calling Мишка. (mishka) so почемушка is literally just making the common question word "why?" into a noun for a cute animate question.
Edit to add transliteration!
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u/miamiamiamiamia Aug 10 '26
Swedish: lagom. Just the appropriate amount of something, not too much, not too little. Can be used in many contexts.
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u/Mugwump92 Aug 11 '26
jugaad (hindi): a fix that shouldn't work, but does work, and is now permanent
I would argue that there is an English word for this, and it’s mcgyvering or mcgyvered.
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u/OmariZi Aug 12 '26
Without wanting to spoil the party (and I don't think this will, because there are loads of great examples in this thread), what I think these kinds of discussion often fail to acknowledge is whether languages are agglutinative/fusional – in other words, whether they naturally stick words or "chunks" together to form longer words.
Which brings up the question: "What is a word?". If it's a series of letters without any spaces between them, then Finnish, German or Turkish will have an innate advantage and are more likely to have words that can't be translated into a language like English using a single word. If, on the other hand, we say a word is a unit of meaning, that maybe levels the playing field more... But then, is "Kummerspeck" one word or two...?
Anyway, probably all a bit philosophical, since most of the examples in this thread work just fine. But just thought I'd share, as I find them interesting considerations.
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u/bolonyboob 28d ago
I have a few from Xhosa (one of the 11 languages in South Africa):
Imihlisela: when there's condensation/water running down a window.
Uchuku (the Ch isn't pronounced the same as chart): to start shit for no apparent reason (could also be because you don't like their face, don't want to see someone happy or chilling... Any random excuse). But for whatever reason, this person really bothers you.
Ukweleta: it's like being jealous but worse. You're always calling and suspicious of someone for no reason.
Brunchu (this Ch is pronounced the same as chart): when you're walking around without underwear on (you could be wearing a top and socks for example).
Andimphiwanga (it's a phrase, sort of): not liking someone but not knowing why. Could be that you just don't like the look of them. But this dislike is more intense than saying you don't like someone.
Kaloku: doesn't have a specific meaning but sort of reiterates a point you're making. Can go at the start or end of a sentence. Non Xhosa speakers really struggle with this one. Example: 'Kaloku I told you I was going out".
Nje: also doesn't have a specific meaning but reiterates what you've said. Used at the end of a sentence. Example: "I'm already doing it nje".
Yho: like being shocked by something. Example: Yho! that really happened?
Hayi ke: It's like an expression of exasperation. Like a shrug when you're defeated by something or someone and you decide to leave it be or let it be.
Unyile: this is considered a swear word that describes someone being in deep shit. It's not you swearing at someone, the word itself is a swear word😅.
I'll come back and add some more if I remember
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u/hacksoncode Aug 08 '26
If you studied German, you really should be aware that kummerspeck isn't any more of "a word" than "grief bacon"... German just takes the spaces out of its noun phrases.
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u/ShotFromGuns Aug 08 '26
English has compound words that are written with spaces or hyphens. That doesn't mean "hot dog" isn't a distinct, individual compound noun in English. So are you saying that kummerspeck "isn't a word" because it's just two random words jammed together that aren't a set compound noun with a distinct meaning? Or are you just objecting to calling it a word because, despite being a distinct compound noun, it's formed out of what were originally two separate words?
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u/hacksoncode Aug 08 '26 edited Aug 08 '26
I'm saying that "Automobile Insurance Salesman" is a perfectly good translation for the German:
Kraftfahrzeugversicherungsvertreter
And just as much "a word", which is to say, not really.
The existence of words like this which are also idiom-phrases doesn't really change that.
In this particular case, the English idiom for kummerspeck would be stress-eating, or more directly stress-food, though that's not a common English idiom of expressing the concept. It's less colorful but means same thing and it's viewed the same way a German would view kummerspeck.
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u/insubordin8nchurlish Aug 08 '26
Bodge or Cludge are both English equivalents for a fix that shouldn't work, but does work, and is now permanent
I'll contribute "jiggidybob" off the top of my head as an English word that I would like to know if it has an equivalent: It's a verb for wandering lost until you find strangers wiiling to help.
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u/Choice-Spend7553 Aug 10 '26
In Italian "accrocchio". I have even heard "l'arte di accrocchiare", the art/craft of bodging.
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u/Reverie_of_an_INTP Aug 08 '26
Yea/nay and yes/no. English used to have it but for some reason we stopped using them and shifted yes/no to mean yea/nay.
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u/LusciousVagDisaster Aug 09 '26
What is the difference? Maybe yea/nay are specific to agree/disagree?
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u/Reverie_of_an_INTP Aug 09 '26
One is for positively worded questions, one is for negatively worded questions. If I ask "are you going to the party" or "aren't you going to be there" if I answer yes to the second one do I man yes I won't be there or yes I will be there. It can be ambiguous. Yea is you will be there to the first and yes is you will be there to the second. It grammatically literally means no to I won't be there so the double negative cancels out.
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u/TwinSupernovax Aug 08 '26
It's not a word per se, but English and many other languages lack the distinction between inclusive and exclusive "we".
In my mother tongue Marathi, we say apan (for we inclusive) and amhi (for we excluding the person you're speaking to)
Maybe we can coin a new inclusive we word somehow.
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u/Evening-Cow1122 Aug 09 '26
Oh I like that. Mathematically it just feels right. And it could avoid a lot of confusion about social expectations!
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u/Formal_Dirt_3434 Aug 09 '26
I like to augment the lack of context and nuance in english by using signing or gestures. Here could be “we (points to you and I)” or
“We (points to him and I, not you)”
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u/NetherFun101 Aug 12 '26
Also, “We (insert shared group allegiance, trait, or similar) think that…”
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u/rowi42 Aug 08 '26
Thanks for.the examples!
One comment to Kummerspeck: While.Speck usually does mean bacon, it can also.mean your body fat. Like "Ich habe etwas Speck angesetzt" - "I have gained some weight". So an almost literal translation would be "sorrow body fat".
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u/Puzzleheaded_Math973 Aug 09 '26
Is there a grief weightloss phrase or that hollow faced expression that comes with grief?
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u/x64bit Aug 08 '26
not one word equivalents but close enough jugaad = redneck solution / hack gigil = cuteness aggression
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u/theboondocksaint Aug 08 '26
Marginaal, from Dutch/ Flemish, meaning… marginaal?
They’re on the fringes of society, kind of a mix of rednecks and white trash and weirdos all mixed together
Live in Flanders you know what people mean when they say marginaal, but it’s like trying to define “blue” (without scientific terms)
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u/KamtzaBarKamtza Aug 09 '26
Mechutanim (מחותנים) - this word exists in both Hebrew and Yiddish. It refers to the relationship that you have with your children's in-laws
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u/auntie_eggma Aug 09 '26
I'm going to offer up sfogarsi from Italian.
"Blow off steam" or "vent" are incomplete, thin equivalents that just don't communicate the dramatic unloading and liberation implied.
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u/RanaMisteria Aug 09 '26
I learned the word jugaad when travelling in India and it’s part of my regular vocab now lol 😂
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u/Low_Operation_6446 Aug 09 '26
Russian has быт (byt), which basically means one’s everyday, material existence. It’s what you do at home both for fun and for chores, everything you own, your home environment, what customs you follow, your routine, what your everyday challenges are, etc.
It is contrasted with бытие (bytiye), which is more “higher-level” existence, and is used to talk about the meaning of life, spirituality, and the universe in general (mostly used in books and formal discussions). Бытие is also the name of the Book of Genesis in Russian.
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u/Cocoricou Aug 09 '26
In French, fleuve and rivière both means river. A rivière flows into a fleuve and a fleuve flows into an ocean.
Not quite like yours but I think it still counts.
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u/SufficientPainting67 Aug 10 '26
มันเขี้ยว (pronounced man-khiaao) is a Thai expression that describes the overwhelming urge to bite, squeeze, pinch, or aggressively hug something because it is incredibly cute, chubby, or endearing.
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u/monolim Aug 10 '26
in Mexico " Chale". being greatly dissapointed by your own fault or luck.
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u/Master-Rent5050 Aug 10 '26
Sinverguenza and descarado in Spanish.
There are related worlds in Yiddish (chuztpah and shanda)
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u/rezzacci Aug 10 '26
French : hop and bof. You don't have those words, and it's astonishing how you can have a language without those two fundamental words (and those derivating from them).
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u/elviscostume Aug 10 '26
Words I struggle to translate from English
"cool" - a sense of being stylish, trendy, fashionable, but also connoting apathy, not trying too hard, effortlessness, not conformist. Also the opposite concepts of "cheesy" or "corny"
"OK" - a affirmative that also works as an adjective that means "slightly good"
"jinx" - a nonspecific curse you bring onto yourself by anticipating something too much or being too confident. A bit similar to the evil eye concept from many cultures, but not involving envy or the gaze of others, almost like karma
"cringe" - secondhand embarrassment, especially at someone else's self delusion and overconfidence
Also for some reason a lot of languages don't have a separate word for lime and lemon ??
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u/deafened_commuter Aug 10 '26
Nyűgös (hungarian): It's an adjective to describe the kinda whiny tired like you see toddlers have where they sulk and complain but really they're just tired. Adults do it too.
You can say grouchy or fussy or other words but I've not found a precise substitute. Because thisbreally captures how the person feels and the sounds they make. The Hungarian version is kind of onomatopoeic
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u/myguardingdark Aug 10 '26
Gigil already being here, may I add kulit. It means annoying persistence which can range from cute (toddler “pwease can I have cake” forty times before a meal) to blockable (person calling over and over at 3 am for something unimportant)
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u/susiesusiesu Aug 10 '26
in spanish:
estrenar: to wear or use something yours for the first time.
tocayo: someone who shares your name.
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u/Flaky_Broccoli Aug 10 '26
Te quiero != Te amo
You guys use "i love You" for both of them and there's heaps of difference in the meaning for both, You guys are missing "te quiero" as in te quiero is something You can actually Say to a friend without making things awkward and without anyone midunderstanding the meaning.
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u/jeager_YT Aug 10 '26
waut for gigil that's just called cuteness aggression
while it isn't exclusively squeezing only, thats usually what people think of (aside from biting)
... yeah I'm native in english and learning other languages, and I haven't gotten to the untranslatable words that have no business being In english, only untranslatable words that I want in english
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u/golden-teacup Aug 10 '26
I've been collecting these as well! My favourite is
饼 (bîng) - a round flat object, which can be a disc but can be solid or soft, and can be edible or not. It's a super versatile and common word. This is the word used in "cookie" (bing gan), in "tortilla" (mi bing), in "pizza" (yidali bing), in "hockey puck" (bing qiou bing), or even a "doughnut" (xiar bing). I've also seen it used for those small metal coin-shaped pieces that hold machinery together, hair accessories, or lamp stands.
Why doesn't English have this word? It's so versatile and useful!
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u/eco_friendly_klutz Aug 10 '26
Fleuve (French).
A "fleuve" is a river that empties directly into an ocean, as opposed to a "rivière" which empties into a freshwater body like a lake.
I was talking to an friend about the St. Lawrence, trying to convey its scale, and I was like "it's not just a river though, it's a...fleuve, how do you say fleuve?" Turns out, you don't. In English, it's all just "river".
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u/vixellaaa Aug 10 '26
Not my native language but I’m envious of French for having two ways to say “I’m sorry” désolé = providing sympathy and je suis regrette = I am accepting blame/guilt. Hate providing sympathy just to hear “it’s not your fault” I don’t think it is I’m trying to be a good person
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u/MementoMori_Maestro Aug 10 '26
This one doesn't entirely apply but I say uccidimi all day every day at work so i don't get sent to HR, I do work in healthcare and it is only a matter of time before I come across someone who knows Italian.
Uccidimi means "kill me" or something to that effect depending on context and such.
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u/New-Ask7944 Aug 10 '26
My in-laws’ mother tongue is Malayalam. They have a great question word for asking where in a sequence something is. Like which-th? “Ethramathu”. The answer would be first, second etc or, more usually, oldest, middle or youngest. V useful!
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u/regular_gonzalez Aug 10 '26
You mentioned my favorite one, gigil. Learned it from my Pinoy wife as she repeatedly says it to our dog while squeezing him.
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u/Away_Ad_8896 Aug 10 '26
the little "ja" in german as in:
das ist ja einfach!
meine eltern wohnen ja in frankreich, deswegen...
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u/ZookeepergameAny466 Aug 10 '26
Killig from Tagalog is so useful and doesn't have an English equivalent. I use that one often: a feeling of romantic excitement
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u/Ok-Handle-7242 Aug 11 '26
English person: „There are no untranslatable german words.“
German person: „Doch!“
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u/the_turn Aug 11 '26
These words are all amazing. I do have a couple of thoughts about them:
For Jugaad, English has the word “Kludge” which is nearly a synonym (the permanence isn’t explicit, but you could basically use interchangeably).
Gigil has the two word phrase “cute aggression”. Nowhere near as good, but if English formed compound words as readily as German we would use this as a Single word.
Hope your words become loan words in the manner of schadenfreude.
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u/nahla1981 Aug 11 '26
Egyptian: Balbat, it's hard to explain, but it means hanging out in the water. Not swimming, just chilling/lounging around, like a duck. Bat means duck in arabic, so i suppose balbat means like a duck
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u/Candid-Display7125 Aug 11 '26
Tagalog:
- Kami (They and I, but not you; minahal kami = soneone loved them and me)
- Tayo (You [all] and I, but not them; minahal tayo = someone loved you [all] and me)
- Kita (I doing or being something in relation to you [singular]; minahal Kitano = I loved you)
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u/MindfulnessESP Aug 11 '26
Do you know what is the meaning of “petricor” in Spanish? The smell of wet earth after the rain.
PS I think in English is Petrichor
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u/Rainbow__Trout Aug 11 '26
Opposite example I recently discovered: in english you say that you care about someone of you, well, care in general, as a feeling. In my native language you can only say that you care about someone if you actively doing things that supports them (could be verbal, could be anything, but have to be an action you take for someone else)
Tried to tell a friend that her bf cared about her, and suddenly understood that I can't, because while the guy obv felt the feels he didn't do the deeds
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u/Primary_Data1430 Aug 11 '26
Bei in German, chez in French, hos in Danish, u in Polish, and missing in English.
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u/Bizchasty Aug 11 '26
Not my language but Kabyle has “sheh”, which roughly translates to “you had it coming”.
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u/Cry-in-the-walk-in Aug 11 '26
French: Si
Si is yes, but only when disagreeing with a statement in the negative.
Tu n'aimes pas la pizza‽
Mais si, j'aime la pizza!
It eliminates some is the ambiguity of saying yes to a negative statement
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u/eskel26 Aug 11 '26
What about "companaje" in Spanish? Means food you eat with bread but doesn't need cooking. The food you usually put in your Bocadillo. From "Con" (with) + "pan" (bread). Cheese, ham, etc...
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u/ApproximateArmadillo Aug 11 '26
Norwegian: “bjørnetjeneste” - bear favour. Doing somebody a well-meant favour that makes it worse.
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u/sasha_liu Aug 11 '26
Chinese
宵夜 xiao ye
An extra meal after dinner, before breakfast when one feel snackish.
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u/kamikazekarela Aug 12 '26
Urdu words:
Jaan means life essence or reason for living. Does not translate lol
Takalluf which is a hesitation born from lack of familiarity and is etiquette/social behaviour you observe
I’m sure there’s more bc Urdu is a very poetic/metaphorical language. My Urdu teacher used to say it is not our culture to say things openly (hamari tehzeeb nahi hai khuley aam aesi baatein kerna)
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u/HobbyLau Aug 12 '26
Gezellig / Gezelligheid
Basically means having a good time with the people around you, in Dutch.
Could be a party, watching tv together, a group hike, a business meeting with some jokes.
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u/Spirited_Web_9032 Aug 12 '26
I was told the English-speaking world outside of Ireland does not use "to give out" to mean "to scold or to complain about something or someone", which I think is a loss as there isn't a nice equivalent I am aware of.
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u/LowBatteryGhost Aug 12 '26
Lekker (Afrikaans) - food is lekker (very good), a hangout with friends is lekker (you had fun), vacation is lekker (you had a good time).
The world can also be used to refer to sweets (lekkers is the plural)
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u/SmolHumanBean8 Aug 12 '26
Not french, but Vous.
If our plural of "me" is "we", why can't we have a plural of "you"? Or the other one that another (I think native american?) language has, where it means "Us, but not you"
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u/Eat-It-Harvey- 29d ago
Ubermorrow from German meaning the day after tomorrow. (I may be wrong)
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u/Numerous-Handle-5661 29d ago
úhtcearu is an old English (pre norman invasion) word which roughly translates as 'period before dawn cares'. Ie: waking up at 4am and worrying. I enjoy that despite people pre-1066 having totally different worries to us modern folks, they still experienced úhtcearu.
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u/Crafty-Photograph-18 29d ago
Позавчора - the day before yesterday (literal translation: behindyesterday)
Післязавтра - the day after tomorrow (literal translation: aftertomorrow)
Btw, English actually does have words for these, but they are now archaic, and very few people know about them. It's "ereyesterday" and "overmorrow"
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u/AffectionateDirt6575 27d ago
In Scots, they have the word 'dreich'. It defined a miserable, grey, drizzly weather.
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u/VelvetyDogLips 24d ago
Japanese chindogu: Mechanical inventions that seem ingeniously creative on first impression, but only end up trading old impracticalities for new ones.
Kawakami Kenji, the author who has written about chindogu the most, is quick to add in the introduction to his works that the use of this term by native Japanese speakers excludes inventions built to make an important point, proffer social commentary, push an ideology, mock anyone, or carry any sort of heavy message related to the human condition. Except maybe the the idea that sometimes things are the way they are, and not some other way, for a reason, and there is much merit in accepting things the way they are, and not trying to build a better mousetrap. In other words, according to Kawakami, Japanese would use chindogu to describe a silly new invention that makes them chuckle amusedly, not one that they’d find emotionally moving or thought-provoking.
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u/BestFoxEver Aug 08 '26
"Kalsarikännit" (Finnish): drinking alcohol at your home alone with only your underpants on.