The human experience includes many things that we can all relate to, but they don’t all have words. . . at least not in English. Here are some of the better ones!
- Age-otori (Japanese): to look worse after a haircut.
- Aware (Japanese): the brief, bittersweet enjoyment of transient beauty.
- Backpfeifengesicht (German): a face badly in need of a fist.
- Fernweh (German): missing a place you’ve never actually been to.
- Fremdschamen (German): feeling embarrassed for someone who should be but isn’t.
- Gigil (Filipino): the overwhelming urge to squeeze or pinch something cute.
- Goya (Urdu): good storytelling, when a story feels real.
- Greng-jai (Thai): when you don’t want someone to do something for you because it would be a pain for them.
- Hanyauku (Rukwangali): to tiptoe across hot sand.
- Iktsuarpok (Inuit): the feeling of anticipation before someone arrives.
- Jayus (Indonesian): a joke so unfunny or told so poorly it becomes funny again.
- Komorebi (Japanese): sunlight filtering through the trees.
- Kummerspeck (German): excess weight gained from emotional overeating.
- Kuridaori (Japanese): to eat yourself into bankruptcy.
- Lagom (Swedish): just the right amount.
- Mamihlapinatapai (Yaghan): the look between two people when both want the same thing, but each wants the other to act first.
- Menkolek (Indonesian): tapping someone on the opposite shoulder to fool them.
- Mudita (Sanskrit): vicarious joy–happiness felt at the happiness of others.
Palegg (Norwegian): anything you might put on a sandwich.- Pana po’o (Hawaiian): to scratch your head to help remember something.
- Pelenti (Buli): to swish hot food around in your mouth.
- Pochemuchka (Russian): someone who asks too many questions.
- Prosvonet (Czek): letting a phone ring once so that the other person will call back.
- Saudade (Portuguese): missing something one has lost.
- Sgriob (Gaelic): the itchiness of the upper lip before taking the first sip.
- Shemomedjamo (Georgian): accidentally eating the whole thing (instead of savoring it or stopping when you’re full!).
- Sobremesa (Spanish): talking after a meal.
- Tartle (Scots): the panic when you have to introduce someone whose name you can’t quite remember.
- Tingo (Pascuense): taking all you want from a friend by gradually borrowing it all.
- Tsundoku (Japanese): buying books and never getting around to reading them.
- Voorpret (Dutch): the fun felt right before a party or event.
- Wabi-Sabi (Japanese): the art of finding beauty in imperfection.
- Wei-wu-wei (Chinese): conscious non-action.
- Ya’aburnee (Arabic): a declaration that you want to die before someone else.
- Zeg (Georgian): the day after tomorrow.
Lumpy Guppy 