Summing up complex concepts and emotional states in just one word
Language connects us
Sometimes, however, one language doesn't do justice to our feelings, and we can't express ourselves with a single word.
In that case, we turn to other languages for help.
Here are some words from around the world for which there is no direct equivalent in another language.
Meaning: The sunlight streaming through the leaves of trees.
Language: Japanese
Meaning: The time spent around a table after a meal. They have finished eating, but everyone remains at the table sharing stories, drinking wine or coffee and playing games.
Language: Spanish
Meaning: A longing for faraway places, even those you’ve never visited.
Language: German
Meaning: Something wonderful found by pure luck.
Language: French
Meaning: To wake up early in the morning to go outside and listen to the early birds sing.
Language: Swedish
Meaning : When you let your cell phone ring extra when someone calls you, then call back to save the first caller money.
Language : Czech
Meaning : The hesitation shown in trying to remember someone’s name.
Language : Scottish
Meaning : Someone gradually steals all his neighbor's possessions by borrowing them and not returning them.
Language : Pascuense
Meaning : A person who asks too many questions
Language : Russian
Meaning : a woman, often old and lonely, who devotes herself to stray cats.
Language: Italian
Meaning : the frustration of waiting for someone to show up
Language : Inuit
Meaning : a wordless yet meaningful look shared by two people who
both desire to initiate something but are both reluctant to start.
Language : Yagan
Meaning : The reluctance on a person's part to let go of an illusion.
Language : Korean
Meaning : This word is an emotional declaration of one’s hope that they’ll die before another person to express how impossible it would be to live without them.
Language : Arabic
Meaning : It’s the heightened sense of happiness, fulfilment, and satisfaction you get from having a great job.
Language : Danish
Meaning : Getting drunk alone at home in your underwear with no intention of leaving the house.
Language : Finnish
Meaning : Giving the appearance of being busy and important in the workplace when in reality you’re being super lazy.
Language : Dutch
Meaning : The need to sing along to a song even though you don’t know the lyrics. Instead, you use nonsensical noises that vaguely resemble the lyrics of a song.
Language : French
Meaning : A feeling of pure joy on seeing someone else’s accomplishment.
Language : Hebrew
Meaning : A kind of smile that forms when something isn’t especially funny, but you can’t help but smile anyway.
Language : Hungary
Meaning : the famous tingling sensation when a body part was "asleep" and "wakes up" again.
Language : Indonesian
Meaning : The indescribable euphoria you feel when you start to fall in love with someone.
Language : Norwegian
Meaning : To make something or try to resolve a problem with the bare minimum and in an unusual way.
Language : Polish
Meaning : An affectional longing for an absent person, a moment or experience of the past.
Language : Portuguese
Meaning : Tiptoeing across warm or hot sand.
Language : Rukwangali
Meaning : The pursuit of small pleasures everyday, which all adds up to a feeling of contentment, fulfilment and oneness with the larger purpose and the universe.
Language : Serbian
Meaning : the overwhelming feeling that comes over you when you see something unbearably cute that you want to squeeze or pinch it.
Language : Tagalog (Philippines)
Meaning : refers persons with their head in the clouds. They are more concerned with airy intellectual pursuits than practical matters like earning an income.
Language : Yiddish
Meaning : The act of being kind to others because of one’s common humanity. Ubuntu is frequently translated as ‘I am because we are,’ or ‘humanity towards others’.
Language : Zulu
Meaning : Literally "slipper hero"; A man who may act tough in front of his friends but can’t stand up for himself against his wife.
Language : German
Meaning : The experience of craving certain foods while pregnant.
Language : Turkish
Meaning : The act of searching your head in order to help you remember something you have forgotten.
Language : Hawaiian
Meaning : is the goodwill a speaker cultivates between themselves and their audience, a condition of receptivity.
Language : Greek