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
Zechpreller	A person who leaves a restaurant without paying	German	adverse action food
Chai-Pani	Literal: "tea and water"; the money and favors given to someone to get things done	Hindi	food action
Hanyauku	To walk on tiptoes across a hot surface	Rukwangali	physical action
Uitbuiken	Literally means giving your belly or stomach space to expand after a proper dinner. It signifies being so full that you really have to go lay down and ''uitbuiken''.	Dutch	food action
Bababa ba?	Is it going down? (In the context of an elevator)	Tagalog	action
Vybafnout	To jump out and say "boo"	Czech	action funny surprise
Blunda	To close your eyes. Can be used literally or figuratively; refuse to see something.	Swedish	action
Nedoperepitj (недоперепить)	To drink more than one should have, but less than one would have wanted. To fail to drink too much.	Russian	funny action
Kombinować	to conspire/try to resolve a problem with unusual methods or through connections	Polish	creative action
Ngaobera	A slight inflammation of the throat caused by screaming too much	Pascuense	adverse action health
Dhurna	Extorting payment from someone by sitting at their front door and staying there until you get paid	Hindi	action persistence
Tima	Not being ready to spend time or money on a specific thing, despite being able to afford it	Icelandic	thinking action
Voetstoots	A sale where the thing is sold as is or with all its faults without any guarantees	Afrikaans	action
Mencomot	Stealing things of small value, mostly for fun rather than out of necessity.	Indonesian	action funny
Madrugarse	To stay up until the wee hours of the morning	Spanish	time action
Chantepleurer	Singng and crying simultaneously	French	action
Trennungsagentur	Literal: "separation agent"; A man hired by women to break the news to their boyfriends that they are breaking up	German	action
Gongoozler	A person who enjoys watching activity on the canals of the United Kingdom. The term is also used more generally to describe those who harbour an interest in canals and canal life, but do not actively participate.	English	action nature
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
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
Beau geste	A gesture noble in its nature or intention but ultimately meaningless in substance	French	action
Zhaghzhagh	The chattering of teeth from the cold or from rage	Tamil	adverse action physical
Guddle	To fish using the hands, by searching under stones at a river bank	Scottish	action nature
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
Tachiyomi	To stand in a bookstore and read a book without buying it	Japanese	society funny action

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