Untranslatable words

Last year, or it might have been the year before, I’ve forgotten now, I made a New Year’s resolution. It was simple. It was possibly achievable. And it was only a-distant-third-cousin-twice-removed relation to body weight (as many resolutions focus on). It was: Want Less. I don’t know how successful I’ve been. I’m not sure how ...

anthophile (n.) a person who loves flowers

I learned a new word tonight… I’ve not been one to believe in matters of luck or fortune, but neither have I entirely cancelled them out as hogwash. Tonight’s word is kismet. A very peculiar word f…

Cafuné — the act of tenderly running fingers through someone’s hair.

There may not be a term for these ideas in English, but other languages have really funny words to express them.

These words describe the emotion and actions of love, yet are difficult to translate.

Cafuné — the act of tenderly running fingers through someone’s hair.

holophrasis

Meaning of greek word Meraki • Μεράκι

The English language contains one million, twenty-five thousand, one hundred and nine words. Even so, there are some words that don’t exist in English language but do in others, used to describe certain feelings and situations. There are situations in life that can make the biggest vocabulary master struggle to put them to paper. Situations...

Did you know that the Japanese have a word to express the way sunlight filters through the leaves of trees? Or, that there’s a Swedish word that means a traveller’s particular sense of anticipation before a trip? Lost in Translation, a New York Times bestseller, brings the nuanced beauty of language to life with over 50 beautiful ink illustrations. The words and definitions range from the lovely, such as goya, the Urdu word to describe the transporting suspension of belief that can occur…