English is often described as a “melting pot” language. It is full of borrowed nouns, differing origins, difficult syntax and it contains 1,025,109 words.
But still, there are some words in other languages that English doesn’t have. Whether they’re untranslatable, or indescribable, English sometimes just falls short.
UK artist, Marija Tiurina, has attempted to convey those words through her series “Untranslatable Words”. The series contains 14 beautiful illustrations to try and explain the beauty behind these unexplainable words.
Palegg (Norwegian): Anything and everything that you can put on a slice of bread.
Gufra (Arabic): The amount of water that can be held in a hand.
Luftmensch (Yiddish): Refers to someone who is a bit of a dreamer, and literally means “air person”.
Torchlusspanik (German): The fear of diminishing opportunities as one ages.
Age-Otori (Japanese): To look worse after a haircut.
Tingo (Pascuense): The act of taking objects one desires from the house of a friend by gradually borrowing all of them.
Schadenfreude (German): Feeling of pleasure derived by seeing another’s misfortune.
Cafuné (Portugese): The act of tenderly running fingers through someone’s hair.
Tretar (Swedish): A second refill, or “threefill”.
Duende (Spanish): The mysterious power that a work of art has to deeply move a person.
Kyoikumama (Japanese): A mother who relentlessly pushes her children toward academic achievement.
Schlimazl (Yiddish): A chronically unlucky person.
Baku-Shan (Japanese): A beautiful girl – as long as she is being viewed from behind.
L’appel Duvide (France): Instinctive urge to jump from high places.
