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.

242

Words

111

Languages

Themes

Language histories

Français French (13)Deutsch German (13)Latina Latin (12)Italiano Italian (8)العربية Arabic (7)日本語 Japanese (7)Español Spanish (7)Ἑλληνική Ancient Greek (7)

Greek

ἀχάτης

akhátēs

A stone named for a Sicilian river carried that…

ἀψίνθιον

apsínthion

A Greek word for wormwood — a bitter, aromatic herb…

χορός

choros

A Greek word for a circular dance — the communal…

ἐν + τροπή

en + tropē

A German physicist in 1865 coined 'entropy' from Greek…

ἐγκαυστικός

enkaustikós

A Greek word meaning burned in — from the verb…

αἱμορραγία

haimorrhagía

The Greeks built this word from blood and bursting — a…

ὕαινα

húaina

The Greeks named the spotted predator after the hog —…

ἰδιώτης

idiōtēs

In ancient Athens, an 'idiot' was simply a private…

κόκκυξ

kókkyx

The small bone at the base of your spine is named for…

λεοπάρδαλις

leopárdalis

The Greeks believed the leopard was a hybrid of lion…

μαλαχίτης

malakhítēs

The vivid green banded mineral that colors ancient…

μελαγχολία

melankholía

Ancient physicians believed that an excess of black…

στρατηγία

stratēgia

Strategy was never an abstraction — it was the art of…

τάπης

tápēs

A Greek word for a thick carpet — possibly linked to…

τρίπτυχον

tríptychon

A Greek word for a three-folded writing tablet — three…

French13

barricade

The first barricades were made of barrels -- French…

chenille

French weavers named a yarn after a caterpillar — the…

cliché

The French onomatopoeia for the sound of a printing…

communiqué

The formal diplomatic statement is simply French for…

couture

Couture is simply sewing — but when Paris took hold of…

crochet

The French word for a small hook — crochet — became…

croupier

The croupier — the casino official who rakes in losing…

cuvée

A French word for the contents of a vat — simply what…

dent de lion

French peasants looked at a common weed and saw a…

fin de siècle

fin de siecle

The phrase meaning 'end of the century' became, in the…

prairie

French settlers crossing the American interior saw…

terroir

The French word for the specific character that a…

tulle

tool

The finest of all bridal veils, the fabric that makes…

German13

Blitzkrieg

The German word for 'lightning war' was not invented…

Doppelgänger

German Romanticism gave the world a word for the…

Fernweh

Where Heimweh is the ache for home, Fernweh is its…

Kindergarten

A German educator saw children as flowers. Schools…

Kummerspeck

The Germans have a word for the weight you gain from…

Lederhosen

Leather breeches worn by Alpine farmers for hard…

Leitmotiv

Wagner's operas needed a word for the recurring…

Schadenfreude

schadenfreude

Damage-joy — the German word for the guilty pleasure…

Torschlusspanik

Gate-closing panic — the medieval terror of being…

Waldeinsamkeit

A word for the feeling of being alone in the forest —…

Wanderlust

The untranslatable yearning to explore that became a…

Wanderlust

A word English borrowed whole because it had no…

Zeitgeist

The 'spirit of the time' — a German philosophical…

Latin12

The Romans called their smallest coin an 'as' — a…

individuatio

Medieval philosophers coined individuatio to ask why…

laqueus

The Latin word for a noose or snare — laqueus, a loop…

longitudo

Longitude means length — the long lines running from…

Mercurius

The messenger god who wore winged sandals and moved…

pedonem

The humblest piece on the chessboard takes its name…

requiem

The first word of a Catholic prayer for the dead —…

rēte

The light-sensitive layer at the back of your eye is…

senātus

The Roman Senate took its name from senex — old man —…

ūvula

The small fleshy lobe that hangs at the back of your…

vindemia

vindēmia

A Latin word for the grape harvest — the annual act of…

vinum

vīnum

A word older than Rome itself — borrowed from a lost…

Italian8

bel canto

Beautiful singing — two words that named a technique…

duetto

Italian musicians took the Latin word for two,…

fregata

A Mediterranean word of uncertain origin — perhaps…

guazzo

An Italian word for a splash of water — the act of…

maiolica

Majolica — named for the island of Majorca through…

risotto

Rice arrived in Italy from the East, found flooded…

rotondo

An Italian word for round — shortened from rotondo —…

violoncello

It began as a 'little big viol' — violoncello means…

Arabic7

الكُحْل

al-kuḥl

The Arabic word for fine antimony eye powder became,…

الملغم

al-malgham

The word for a mixture of mercury with another metal —…

دِيَة

diyya

Before prisons and state punishment, the most ancient…

mukhayyar

An Arabic word meaning 'choice' or 'select' described…

siqlatun

A luxurious Eastern cloth — its name untranslatable,…

طبلة

tabla

An Arabic word for drum traveled through Persian to…

طلق

ṭalq

Arab mineralogists named the softest solid known to…

Japanese7

合気道

aikidō

The 'way of harmonizing energy' asks practitioners to…

神風

kamikaze

The Japanese word for the typhoons that shattered…

着物

kimono

Japanese for 'thing to wear,' the kimono is so…

木漏れ日

ko·mo·RE·bi

Japanese has a single word for the interplay of light…

弓道

kyūdō

The 'way of the bow' is Japan's oldest martial art —…

楽

raku

A word meaning 'enjoyment' or 'ease,' bestowed by a…

侘寂

wabi-sabi

Finding beauty in imperfection — a Japanese philosophy…

Spanish7

alcorque

A Spanish word borrowed from Arabic — itself possibly…

arroyo

An arroyo is a dry creek bed that can fill with…

flamenco

The Spanish word for 'Flemish' — a Fleming from…

paso doble

Literally 'double step' in Spanish — a march played as…

piedra de ijada

Spanish conquistadors thought this green stone cured…

tornado

The violent storm that twisted its way from Spanish to…

tronada

Spanish sailors caught in tropical thunderstorms gave…

Ancient Greek7

Ἀχιλλεύς

Akhilleus

A hero's single vulnerable spot became the permanent…

δραχμή

drachmē

The Greek word for money meant a handful —…

Ἶρις

Īris

The rainbow goddess became the colored part of the…

περίοδος

periodos

To win at Olympia alone was to be a champion. To win…

σωφροσύνη

sōphrosýnē

The virtue that kept ancient Greeks from becoming…

στάδιον

stadion

The stadion was simultaneously a unit of distance, the…

θησαυρός

thēsaurós

A thesaurus is a treasure chest — the Greeks used the…

Sanskrit6

chandrakānta

chan-dra-KAAN-ta

The stone that shimmers with a light that seems to…

पिप्पली

pippalī

A Sanskrit word for the long pepper plant traveled…

संसार

saṃsāra

In Buddhist and Hindu thought, existence itself is the…

संस्कार

saṃskāra

Sanskrit grammarians and philosophers used one word…

शृङ्गवेर

śṛṅgavera

A word meaning 'horn-shaped' in Sanskrit — describing…

upala

Sanskrit called it simply 'stone' — upala — and as the…

Mandarin Chinese5

關係

Guānxi

Guanxi — the network of relationships, mutual…

麻將

Májiàng

Mahjong — the tile game that swept the world in the…

面子

Miànzi

Mianzi — social face, the public prestige that can be…

南京

Nánjīng

A naturally yellow cotton cloth that carried an…

山东

Shāndōng

A province whose name means 'east of the mountains'…

Korean5

애교

aegyo

A Korean word for a deliberate performance of cute…

가야금

gayageum

Named for the ancient Gaya confederacy that invented…

고추장

gochujang

Korea met the chili pepper in the 1600s and within a…

한지

hanji

Korean paper made from mulberry bark has survived a…

정

jeong

An untranslatable Korean emotion that binds people…

Georgian4

ჭაჭა

CHA-cha

The Georgian word for grape pomace — the pressed skins…

ლობიანი

lobiani

Georgia's spiced bean bread is named simply for its…

საწივი

satsivi

Georgia's signature cold walnut sauce transforms a…

თამადა

ta-MA-da

The toastmaster who conducts a Georgian feast is not a…

Hungarian4

kocsi

Every Uber, every sports mentor, every bus you've ever…

puszta

The Hungarian word for 'empty' named a grassland so…

Tokaji

A Hungarian wine from volcanic soil was called 'the…

vizsla

The golden-rust hunting dog that aristocrats of the…

Yiddish4

קיביצן

kibitsn

A Yiddish word for the peewit — a noisy, meddlesome…

נודזשען

nudzhen

A word for persistent, low-grade pestering that…

שטיק

shtik

A shtick is literally a piece — but it became the word…

זאַפֿטיק

zaftik

A word meaning juicy — applied to ripe fruit and then…

Portuguese4

barroco

The art-historical term for Europe's most elaborately…

fado

Portugal's great music of longing is named for fate —…

sargaço

The mysterious floating weed that fills a still patch…

saudade

A word that defines a nation's soul—and has no…

Ancient Egyptian3

ḥrrt

hreret

The flower that became a symbol of purity in Christian…

Maat

Ancient Egypt built its entire civilization on a…

sšš.t

SEHS-shet

The rattle that kept the universe in motion — ancient…

Hawaiian3

holoholo

A Hawaiian word for going out for pleasure — walking,…

lū'au

lūʻau

A Hawaiian word for the taro plant's young leaves —…

nalu

A Hawaiian word for wave — and for the act of riding…

Classical Chinese3

氣

Qì

Qi — the vital breath or life-force that flows through…

仁

Rén

Ren — benevolence, humaneness, the supreme Confucian…

道

Tào / Dào

Tao — the Way — is the untranslatable concept at the…

Old French3

chatepelose

Medieval French farmers looked at a fuzzy larva…

grille

A Latin word for a lattice of woven bars — a…

parbouillir

A word that originally meant 'to boil thoroughly' —…

Turkish3

bey armudu

A Turkish phrase meaning 'lord's pear' -- a fruit too…

bulgur

A Turkish word for cracked, parboiled wheat that…

yatağan

A curved sword without a guard -- named for the…

Amharic3

ዕንሥጥ

ənset

Scientists have called it 'the tree against hunger' —…

ጌሾ

gešo

Every batch of tej — Ethiopia's ancient honey wine —…

እንጀራ

injera

The spongy, sour flatbread that serves as plate,…

Maori

aroha

The deepest word in Maori for love contains, at its…

pounamu

The Maori word for New Zealand nephrite jade names a…

tuatara

The tuatara has been called a living fossil — but the…

Russian3

атаман

ataman

The Cossack chief who led free riders across the…

белуга

beluga

The Russian word for 'white' gave its name to two very…

дача

dacha

A Russian word meaning simply "gift" became the…

Finnish3

löyly

The untranslatable Finnish word for the sacred steam…

sauna

The only Finnish word in everyday global use—a hot…

sisu

The untranslatable grit that let Finland survive—and…

English2

safeguard

saggar

A dialect corruption of 'safeguard,' the saggar is the…

whiteout

A twentieth-century compound born in the Antarctic —…

Old Norse2

skaða

The Old Norse verb meaning 'to harm or injure' gave…

þeir

The pronouns 'they,' 'them,' and 'their' are not Old…

Medieval Latin2

aqua regia

It took the alchemists a mixture of two corrosive…

nux gatum

A Latin phrase meaning 'nut cake' traveled through…

Javanese

ꦒꦩꦺꦭꦤ꧀

gamelan

Gamelan is the name for the bronze percussion…

wayang

Before cinema, before television, there was a leather…

Persian2

بریان

bi-RYA-ni

The most beloved rice dish of South Asia carries a…

شاه

shah

The game the Indians invented and the Persians named —…

Inuktitut2

amautik

The Inuit woman's parka with its capacious back pouch…

umiak

The large open skin boat that carried Inuit families…

Basque2

bertsolari

A Basque oral poet who improvises sung verse in public…

galdegaia

Unexpectedly, galdegaia is a modern Basque compound.

Old English2

āgefull

Awful once meant what awesome means now — full of awe,…

steorling

A tiny star stamped on a Norman penny may have given…

Sinhalese

තුරමලි

turamali

Sri Lankan gem traders called it turamali —…

Yiddish from Hebrew

חוצפה

chutzpah

The audacity to sue your parents for giving birth to…

Spanish (vaca + -ero)

vaquero

The American cowboy, the rodeo, the lasso, the ranch,…

Afrikaans1

stoep

The shaded ledge before a Cape farmhouse became the…

Danish

hygge

The world's coziest word began with a verb for…

Tupi1

jabuticaba

A Brazilian fruit tree keeps a Tupi name the colonists…

Bengali1

আড্ডা

addā

A word with no English equivalent became the name for…

Akkadian1

𒀭𒌓

Šamaš

Shamash was the Babylonian sun god, but his deeper…

Marathi1

डब्बावाला

ḍabbāvālā

A Marathi word for "box carrier" became the name for…

Papuan Malay (via Malay)

kèsuari

cassowary

The cassowary — the world's most dangerous bird —…

Old Norse / Scandinavian

gala

A word that may have begun as a Scandinavian verb…

Portuguese (from Chinese/Sanskrit)

pagoda

Buddhist towers needed a European name—Portuguese…

Kimbundu (Angola)

kingombo

A Bantu word for okra became Louisiana's signature…

German (Swiss dialect)

Löss

Loess is a wind-blown deposit of fine silt that…

Romani (from Sanskrit/Hindi)

nāk

The English slang word for a police informer comes…

Spanish (possibly from Portuguese or Khoikhoi)

corral

co·RRAL

An enclosed space for horses or cattle that became a…

Brazilian Portuguese

cafuné

cafune

Brazilian Portuguese has a dedicated word for the act…

Amharic / Tigrinya

ዘቡ

zebu

Every hump-shouldered cattle breed from Rajasthan to…

Powhatan (Algonquian)

pawcohiccora

Hickory is the only major English tree name derived…

Middle English1

fonned

Before it meant loving and affectionate, fond meant…

Old French from Latin/Greek

dolce melos

The hammered string instrument's name literally means…

Louisiana Creole French

zarico

A word likely born from the Creole pronunciation of…

Amharic / Ge'ez

ጥምቀት

TIM-kat

The Ethiopian celebration of the Baptism of Christ…

Quechua1

ayllu

The fundamental unit of Andean social organization —…

Hindi / Urdu (hybrid of English + Arabic)

मेमसाहिब

memsāhib (Hindi/Urdu)

Half English, half Arabic, born in colonial India —…

Algonquian (Virginia Algonquian)

torope

Terrapin entered English from the Virginia Algonquian…

New Latin1

Dahlia

A Swedish botanist named a Mexican flower after a…

English from Old French / Latin

osprey

The hawk that plunges into water for fish carries a…

Tibetan1

སྐོར་ར

kora

Kora is the Tibetan practice of circumambulating a…

Vietnamese

áo dài

OW die

Vietnam's national costume is named for something…

Mexican Spanish1

mariachi

A word of disputed origin — possibly from a French…

Zulu1

ubuntu

I am because we are.

Arabic (place name)

mocha

al-Mukha

The word that names a flavor — the dark, chocolatey…

Tupi via Portuguese

acaju

The Brazilian nut that hangs from a fake fruit — named…

Kimbundu / Haitian Creole

mambo

A Kimbundu word for a voodoo priestess crossed the…

English (from Middle English barre)

barrister

A barrister — from the bar, the physical railing that…

Irish Gaelic1

caoinim

The most human sound in the world — the wordless wail…

Kimbundu

semba

A Kimbundu word for the navel-bump — the moment when…

Russian (from Sami)

тундра

tundra

The treeless frozen plains needed a name—Siberian…

Filipino (Tagalog)

balut

A street food wrapped in newspaper, sold at night —…

Bantu (various)

marimba

Wooden keys singing over gourds—an African instrument…

Aramaic

ܐܒܐ

abbā

Jesus's intimate word for God — 'Abba, Father' —…

Nyungar (Aboriginal Australian)

karri

The third-tallest tree species on Earth — a…

Mongolian1

гэр

ger

The portable home that moved with empires and still…

Old French (from Frankish/Germanic)

scroll

The rolled document that defined reading for three…

Bugis

anoa

A buffalo shrank on an island and kept its old name.

Middle English / Germanic

slēt

A word from the cold margins of Germanic Europe —…

Greek (modern coinage)

δεινόσαυρος

deinósauros

Richard Owen needed a name for the terrible,…

English (coined from Tanzania)

tanzanite

A blue stone found in only one place on earth — a few…

Serbian

гусле

gusle

A one-string instrument name carries centuries of…

Malay1

parang

The heavy chopping blade used throughout Southeast…

Bantu (Kongo)

kivili-chimpenze

A word from a Bantu language of Central Africa —…

Cantonese1

叉燒

chāsīu

The lacquered, red-glazed roast pork hanging in…

West African (Mande languages, via French)

guiriot / jali

griot / jali

West Africa's living libraries — the keepers of…

Okinawan / Japanese

ヌンチャク

nunchaku

Two sticks connected by a cord — a weapon born from…

Scandinavian / Middle English

fog

A word of murky origin — possibly Scandinavian,…

Javanese / Malay

tempeh

tempe

A cake of soybeans bound by white fungal threads,…

Lithuanian (also Latvian: dziesma)

daina

The Baltic folk song tradition so ancient it preserves…

Yiddish (from Hebrew)

משוגעת

meshugaat

The Hebrew word for madness became Yiddish's…

Northern Sami (spoken in Finland, Norway, Sweden)

joiku

The Sami song that does not describe a person or place…

Nahuatl1

ōllamaliztli

ulama

A precolonial ballgame word still lives in northwest…

Louisiana French (from Spanish la ñapa, from Quechua yapay)

lagniappe

The Louisiana word for the little extra a shopkeeper…

Welsh1

hiraeth

heer-eyeth

Hiraeth is routinely described as untranslatable — a…

English (technical)

software

A mathematician coined the word in 1958 as a…

Tagalog1

barong Tagalog

The national formal garment of the Philippines is a…

Dutch / German

wagen

A Germanic word for a wheeled vehicle — from the same…

French (from Greek)

hélicoptère

We say 'heli-copter' as though it means something that…

Hebrew1

אָמֵן

āmēn

Three letters — Aleph, Mem, Nun — meaning 'firm,…

Telugu1

పందికొక్కు

pandikokku

How a Telugu pig-rat crossed oceans and lent its name…

Swedish1

ombudsman

In 1809, Sweden invented a new kind of official—the…

Spanish (sobre + mesa)

sobremesa

Spanish has a single word for the unhurried time spent…

Polish / Turkic origin

ułan

ulan / uhlan

The lancer cavalry who became the most feared and…

Tupi (via Portuguese)

macavuana

The brilliant parrots whose feathers once served as…

Amharic / Ge'ez (Beta Israel)

ሲግድ

sigd

For over two thousand years, a Jewish community in the…

Greek (via Latin)

παλίμψηστον

palímpsēston

A scraped parchment with old writing bleeding through…

French (place name)

Cognac

The world's most prestigious brandy is named after a…

Noongar (Australian Aboriginal)

numbat

The only marsupial that feeds exclusively on termites…

French/Italian (origin debated)

domino

The domino tile may take its name from a priest's…

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