Eunoia: Words that Don't Translate

Eunoia was built in 24h by Steph. Search 700+ untranslatable words by 80+ languages and 60+ tags, or click refresh to see a new batch. Enjoy!

Word	Definition	Language	Tags
Kweesten	Inviting a lover into your bed for some pillow talk	Dutch	love action event
Stushevatsya	To fade into the background	Russian	action
Umij se	Splash water on your face	Serbian	physical action
Vprikusku	Drinking tea through pieces of sugar	Russian	food action
Ngaobera	A slight inflammation of the throat caused by screaming too much	Pascuense	adverse action health
Zugzwang	To be forced to make a move even though it will likely to be at your disadvantage	German	action interaction philosophy
Dhurna	Extorting payment from someone by sitting at their front door and staying there until you get paid	Hindi	action persistence
Wei-wu-wei	"Action without action" or effortless doing; conscious non-action; the deliberate and principled decision to do nothing for a reason.	Chinese	action life
Tsuji-giri	To try out a new sword on a passer-by	Japanese	action violence
Fensterln	To visit a girl who you fancy either by coming to her window or climbing through it to see her	German	love action persistence
Vybafnout	To jump out and say "boo"	Czech	action funny surprise
Chai-Pani	Literal: "tea and water"; the money and favors given to someone to get things done	Hindi	food action
Bababa ba?	Is it going down? (In the context of an elevator)	Tagalog	action
Palla	To steal fruit off trees	Swedish	funny action food
Pekopeko	Bowing one's head repeatedly in a grovelling manner	Japanese	physical action
Shlep	To bring something from one place to another, but with the implication that its a burden to the carrier. Example: I had to shlep the bag of rocks all the way down the road	Yiddish	physical action
Tôpäj (төпәй)	Interjection that is used to forewarn a child of falling	Bashkir	action
Scrumping	Stealing fruit (particularly apples) from trees	English	food action
Voetstoots	A sale where the thing is sold as is or with all its faults without any guarantees	Afrikaans	action
Saucer	To mop up the sauce from your plate with a piece of bread	French	action food
Trennungsagentur	Literal: "separation agent"; A man hired by women to break the news to their boyfriends that they are breaking up	German	action
Verschlimmbessern	Literally "worsen better"; making something worse while trying to improve it	German	action
Donaldkacsázás	Translated as “Donald ducking” or wandering around one’s house with a shirt but no trousers	Hungarian	funny action
Tulak ng bibig, kabig ng dibdib.	Pretending to dislike something, when it reality you actually like it. Literal translation, "push of the mouth, pull (drawing closer to self) of the chest".	Tagalog	action
Tima	Not being ready to spend time or money on a specific thing, despite being able to afford it	Icelandic	thinking action

Word

Definition

Language

Tags

Audio

Kweesten

Inviting a lover into your bed for some pillow talk

Dutch

love action event

Stushevatsya

To fade into the background

Russian

action

Umij se

Splash water on your face

Serbian

physical action

Vprikusku

Drinking tea through pieces of sugar

Russian

food action

Ngaobera

A slight inflammation of the throat caused by screaming too much

Pascuense

adverse action health

Zugzwang

To be forced to make a move even though it will likely to be at your disadvantage

German

action interaction philosophy

Dhurna

Extorting payment from someone by sitting at their front door and staying there until you get paid

Hindi

action persistence

Wei-wu-wei

"Action without action" or effortless doing; conscious non-action; the deliberate and principled decision to do nothing for a reason.

Chinese

action life

Tsuji-giri

To try out a new sword on a passer-by

Japanese

action violence

Fensterln

To visit a girl who you fancy either by coming to her window or climbing through it to see her

German

love action persistence

Vybafnout

To jump out and say "boo"

Czech

action funny surprise

Chai-Pani

Literal: "tea and water"; the money and favors given to someone to get things done

Hindi

food action

Bababa ba?

Is it going down? (In the context of an elevator)

Tagalog

action

Palla

To steal fruit off trees

Swedish

funny action food

Pekopeko

Bowing one's head repeatedly in a grovelling manner

Japanese

physical action

Shlep

To bring something from one place to another, but with the implication that its a burden to the carrier. Example: I had to shlep the bag of rocks all the way down the road

Yiddish

physical action

Tôpäj (төпәй)

Interjection that is used to forewarn a child of falling

Bashkir

action

Scrumping

Stealing fruit (particularly apples) from trees

English

food action

Voetstoots

A sale where the thing is sold as is or with all its faults without any guarantees

Afrikaans

action

Saucer

To mop up the sauce from your plate with a piece of bread

French

action food

Trennungsagentur

Literal: "separation agent"; A man hired by women to break the news to their boyfriends that they are breaking up

German

action

Verschlimmbessern

Literally "worsen better"; making something worse while trying to improve it

German

action

Donaldkacsázás

Translated as “Donald ducking” or wandering around one’s house with a shirt but no trousers

Hungarian

funny action

Tulak ng bibig, kabig ng dibdib.

Pretending to dislike something, when it reality you actually like it. Literal translation, "push of the mouth, pull (drawing closer to self) of the chest".

Tagalog

action

Tima

Not being ready to spend time or money on a specific thing, despite being able to afford it

Icelandic

thinking action

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