Bilinguals Share 35 Native Words That Don’t Have An English Translation

Upon discovering that the Italian word ‘abbiocco’ describes the drowsiness one feels after a full meal, I realised it was a favourite concept of mine that had long felt indescribable. The boundless nature of certain ideas often proves difficult to encapsulate in a word or two, and English, in particular, sometimes struggles with such limitations. Surprisingly, many concepts lack a specific term in English, and this is true for numerous examples across various languages. 

#1 Just enough, not too many

Lagom. It means “the right amount” so “how many cookies do you want?” “lagom.”

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#2 English, Where’s Your Heat Game?

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Spanish has caliente and piquante for hot food, meaning two different types of heat. I wish English had that.

#3 Mood Weight Gains, Literally

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Kummerspeck … Grief (or worry) bacon. It’s the weight you gain from emotional eating.

I also like Backpfeifengesicht … It’s a face just asking to be slapped.

#4 Existential Family Tree Problems

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A Filipina lady said “I was talking to my…” and stopped and asked me what the English word is for a parent of the person your kid married–the parent of your son or daughter in law. It’s a relationship that we have no word for.

#5 Where’s Our Casual “Yay” Move?

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Finnish language is famous for “kalsarikännit” (getting drunk in your underwear), so I wasn’t surprised it doesn’t exist in English. But I was gobsmacked when I found out English has no casual word for “tuuletus/tuulettaminen” (a gesture for “yay!!!” or “wooo!!”). They just call it “goal celebration” or celebrating… Seems wild.

#6 When Saying Goodbye Hurts Forever

Irish. Beochaoineadh. Literally “alive crying”. It means a lament for those who still live but you know you may never see them again or is otherwise lost to you in a permanent, painful and irreversible way.

When you consider we’re a nation of people who have a history of leaving our loved ones behind in a desperate search for something better, it makes sense we have such a word.

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#7 Bonus Round: Chatting Calories Don’t Count

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Sobremesa, it’s the period of time you stay seated at the table talking after you’re done eating.

#8 Finally, a word for play vibes you actually get

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Swedish: Lek (unstructured play or game) and spel (structured play or game).

For example a tug or war with my dog is lek, while monopoly is spel.

I do game design and while i can talk about structured and unstructured play i cant do so effortlessly with people knowing exactly what I mean.

#9 Mom Level: Unbothered and Unshakable

“Alcahueta” – I learned that from my Colombian husband. It refers to an enabling mom who can see no wrong in their son, who is perfect in their eyes. I use it often when gossiping about relatives 🤣.

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#10 Sort Yourself, Honestly

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A beautiful expression we have in Italian is “arrangiati”. There do exist turns of phrases in English that mean more or less the same thing, e.g. “do it yourself” or “you’re on your own”, but “arrangiati” is the imperative and reflexive of “arrangiare” (to organise, arrange, make do, manage) – basically “sort yourself”. However, arrangiati has the same heft and directness, and general sentiment, of basically telling someone to go f**k themselves. No direct English translation leaves me satisfied as telling someone “arrangiati!” does.

Another one that comes to mind is “abbiocco”, which is the drowsiness you get after a big meal. It is a tiredness and brain fog exclusively associated with a full belly. Very useful in Italy.

#11 Name twins, but make it personal

Tocayo/tocaya is a person who shares your first name. I like it because my name is not that common, so I can say “hola, tocaya!” when I notice another one of us :).

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#12 Energy Vampire Alert

In French, calling someone a “fatigant” .. someone who sucks the energy out of you.

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#13 Big Cuñado Energy

A new Spanish word that has become popular in recent years is *”cuñadismo”* (brother-in-law-ism) that means the opinions given by a know-it-all, like your BIL, that knows a faster way, knows a cheapest and better product, knows how to solve the problems of the world in one day…

Certain president is very adept to say cuñadismos.

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#14 Waiting, Hoping—Same Word, Different Vibes

On the other hand, Esperar. Means both to wait and to hope, in Spanish. I guess the context helps, but in English we definitely use them in very different circumstances.

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#15 Ice Bath or Nah?

Otužovat se = getting your body used to cold temperatures in order to be healthy.

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#16 Snack hacks for the open road

Padkos. An Afrikaans word that literally translates to “road food” aka road trip food. The closest English translation is “provisions” but it’s not quite as specific.

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#17 Mastering the polite awkward pause

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Korean 눈치 (noon-chi)! it means the ability to notice other people’s subtle emotions or thoughts. for example, if someone kept talking about something that clearly bores the other person who is too polite to leave the conversation, you’d that that person doesn’t have noon-chi, or the ability to notice (that they want to talk about something else).

#18 Soulful hugs only

Apapachar, to hug with all your soul.

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#19 When Pride Gets Complicated

In French we have 2 words for “pride”.

*Fierté* is the usually the pride you feel in your accomplishments or those of someone you like.

*Orgueil* is the pride you feel about who you are. It not as superficial as vanity but often has negative connotations.

Your wealthy boss shares his *fierté* about the money he’s made. But *orgueil* will forever keep him from seeing his employees as an equal.

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#20 That Moment When Words Just Say It All

Eish. Word used as exclamation in South Africa to express a variety of feelings such as surprise, disgust, disappointment, fear, impatience, etc. Example: “Eish! My team lost the game” or “Eish… my manager asked me to work overtime”.

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#21 That Hurt… But In A Good Way

痛快 (tong kuai) is something you say when something hurts but it feels good in Mandarin, like a super deep massage. It means happy pain :).

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#22 That’s a mood, honestly

Schadenfreude..🇩🇪.. Rejoicing 😃 in someone else’s misfortune 😔..

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#23 Just Wandering, Not Lost

Flâner

That’s when you stroll aimlessly through a city, just enjoying the surroundings without a set destination.

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#24 Cold? Yep, That’s Me

Friolento! (Friolero in other regions I believe) I’m a persona friolenta myself (Friolento means somebody that’s too affected By the cold weather or it’s constantly feeling cold).

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#25 The Ultimate Comeback Word

In German there’s the “Doch”It’s a word that means “nuh-uh”. But it carries such power when being used. You can totally shut down someone’s argument with just that word.

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#26 French Hitting Us with That Fancy Circumlocution

I got a reverse one; I speak french and we don’t have a word for “Cheap” isn’t that crazy? Such a simple word. We just say not expensive or affordable.

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#27 When language keeps it extra clear

Lithuanian has two distinct words for law as in laws of physics, and law as in codex. We don’t need to clarify if breaking a law is illegal, or impossible. Feels like a given to have!

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#28 Mastering the “Get It Done” Vibe

In Polish – załatwić. It basically means to get something done, don’t ask me how.

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#29 Smells Bad, Feels Good

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Chulé – bad foot odor

Cafuné – running your fingers through someone’s scalp affectionately

Portuguese.

#30 Waiting for the rain to decide

“Uppehåll” in Swedish. Basically it means “right at this moment it is not raining” and I havent found and equivalent word in English yet.

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#31 Too Rich to Even Care

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Vaska (Swedish) = it means pouring something down the “vask” (kitchen sink). usually something expensive, for bragging rights, to show you are rich. you can say vaska about anything you destroy to show you are too rich to care. like, “im gonna vaska this car. god im so rich.”.

#32 When Snacking Becomes a Stretch of Silence

口寂しい ‘Kuchisabishii’ – Lonely Mouth, it’s stress or boredom eating. Eating out of habit? or chewing on something to have something to do.

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#33 Words That Carry Whole Worlds

Considering my language predates all European languages every being spoken in America; In Lakota (Sioux Nation) there are many words and phrases that, while technically have translation to a point, dont embody the cultural or spiritual implications of them in English. So Šúŋkawakȟáŋ would roughly translate to “Spirit Dog” but is a phrase that describes horses in the context of their impact on our people and their spiritual significance. It doesn’t just mean “a horse.” There are also MANY different ways and accompanying words/phrases that can accompany it that would change the implication of the words.

Another example would be Makȟá. The direct translation would be the earth but also means the soil, nature, the spirit of the earth and the creator spirit. Variations of its use would be Makȟáta: to be on the Earth or in nature. Makhíthma: to be in or one with the Earth/nature/the spirit of the creator. Or Uŋčí Makȟá which is used more strictly for ceremonial purposes.

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#34 Why English is still figuring out a gender swap

For me it’s surprising that words “friend” and “cousin” don’t have a gender. So you have to say “female friend/male cousin” instead of using a single word that exist in many languages (e.g. italian amico/amica, cugino/cugina etc).

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#35 That Word Hits Different

Portuguese- “saudade” . A feeling of homesickness for something.

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