A while back, we discovered this infographic of words that don’t have a direct translation in English. We loved it so much that we decided to see if there were any more words like these and create our own. So here it is – 10 cool words that don’t exist in English. Please do share any other suggestions as we’re sure there are many, many more…
As always, you’re welcome to share this post with friends, or embed the infographic on your own website, if you’d like to.
Infographic created by Alex, who did all the research, and Luke, our fab graphic designer 🙂
The Norwegian word (Pålegg) looks a lot like the Dutch word (when pronounced) ‘Beleg’ (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/beleg) which means ‘anything to put on a slice of bread’…
Thanks Olaf. Maybe it’s just English that doesn’t have a word for this!
In Finnish there is a word “Juoksentelisinkohan” which means
“I wonder if I should run around aimlessly?”
Thanks Maria, that’s brilliant!
zhaghzhagh in Dutch is “klappertanden”
Thanks Rob, it’s interesting to hear that other languages have these words too. It makes you wonder how English manages to have such a large vocabulary!
Dear All,
You give us the German word “Kabelsalat” when cables are all tangled. Well. we Scots have a word for this and is is “fankled”. (Used for wool long before cables came along.) You, yourself, could also be in a fankle when you are working with a ball of wool or string and it goes awry (for example when the cat gets hold of it) and you could then say “I am in an awful fankle”.
Thanks Arthur – what a great word!
Kabelsalat can also be used in Norwegian, spelled the same way. And of course with the same meaning.
Thanks Filip!
Hello,
Brillant post! And very poetic..
Yet “chantepleurer” does not really exist in France, sorry guys!!
Thanks Marie, yes we’ve since discovered that ‘chantepleurer’ isn’t quite right, but we still think it’s a fun word!
“Magtampisaw” doesn’t mean to walk barefoot through a muddy place. It means to frolic in shallow waters — pools, beach, puddles, etc. It’s basically “Vanessa Hudgens” in english, primarily because that’s all she ever does in the beach (thanks to OMG photos)
Thanks for the correction, Jean – so I guess it does have a translation in English after all! 🙂