Untranslatable
Words no language could replace
Some concepts are so specific to a culture that other languages simply borrowed the word whole — a linguistic surrender.
345
Words
145
Languages
6
Themes
Related themes
Latin19
Greek
18Japanese17
French17
German15
Italian11
Maori
3Javanese
3Khmer
2Yiddish (from Hebrew)
2Rapa Nui
1Pali1
Bugis
1Filipino (Tagalog)
1English (from Middle English barre)
1Sanskrit / Pali
1Brazilian Portuguese
1Tupi via Portuguese
1Papuan Malay (via Malay)
1Cantonese
1Igbo (Central Africa)
1Bantu (Kongo)
1Yiddish from Hebrew
1French (place name)
1Spanish (possibly from Portuguese or Khoikhoi)
1Lithuanian (also Latvian: dziesma)
1Greek (modern coinage)
1French/Italian (origin debated)
1Old French (from Latin dos)
1Old French from Latin/Greek
1Old French (from Frankish *graban)
1Scandinavian / Middle English
1Old Norse / Scandinavian
1Maltese
1West African (Mande languages, via French)
1Kimbundu (Angola)
1Serbian
1French (from Greek)
1Powhatan (Algonquian)
1Danish
1Tupi1
Northern Sami (spoken in Finland, Norway, Sweden)
1American English (disputed)
1Nyungar (Aboriginal Australian)
1Khmer from Sanskrit
1Mapudungun
1Louisiana French (from Spanish la ñapa, from Quechua yapay)
1Medieval Latin (from Germanic)
1German (Swiss dialect)
1Tupi (via Portuguese)
1Kimbundu / Haitian Creole
1Yaghan
1Bantu (various)
1Hindi / Urdu (hybrid of English + Arabic)
1Arabic (place name)
1Tahitian
1English from Old French
1Uruguayan Spanish
1Romani (from Sanskrit/Hindi)
1German (from the Neander Valley)
1Noongar (Australian Aboriginal)
1Okinawan / Japanese
1Spanish (from Arabic)
1English from Old French / Latin
1Coined (American English, 1890s)
1Portuguese (from Chinese/Sanskrit)
1Greek (via Latin)
1Cueva
1Spanish from Carib
1Cornish (English dialect)
1Sámi
1Old French (from Frankish/Germanic)
1Amharic / Ge'ez (Beta Israel)
1Old French (from Latin signum)
1Middle English / Germanic
1Spanish (sobre + mesa)
1English (technical)
1Marshallese
1SiSwati via English
1English (coined from Tanzania)
1Javanese / Malay
1Algonquian (Virginia Algonquian)
1Amharic / Ge'ez
1Italian (from Greek tympanon)
1Tagalog (Filipino)
1Sinhalese
1Russian (from Sami)
1Zulu1