Words That Don’t Exist in English

I enjoyed the replies to this question: People who are bilingual in English and another language, what’s a word that exists in your other language that you are surprised doesn’t exist in English?

10 Comments leave a comment below

  1. Backpfeifengesicht.

    drew
    May 26th, 2025 / 11:00 pm

  2. Verschlimmbessern

    René
    May 27th, 2025 / 8:23 am

  3. Wievielte

    Ronald Kyrmse
    May 27th, 2025 / 9:16 am

  4. IMO, no English word fully conveys Gemütlichkeit.

    Sabine
    May 27th, 2025 / 10:04 am

  5. “Madrugada”, Portuguese the represents the period between midnight and morning

    Other interesting Portuguese term we don’t have in English:

    “Aí”, which means something like “there, but in the area you, who are talking to me, are now”.

    Explaining: John is “aqui” (here). Mary is “lá” (there – kind of far) and Peter is “aí”, (there, but close to the people I’m talking to, not there where Mary is). Hard to explain :)). It will be easier to draw.

    Edu
    May 27th, 2025 / 6:43 pm

  6. Sobremesa: Spanish for the time spent lingering at the table chatting after any meal.

    Debbie
    May 27th, 2025 / 7:35 pm

  7. This goes in both directions! The term “cheesy” is such an American term that perfectly describes many Japanese TV shows. Not bad, not tacky, just overdone and intentionally… well, cheesy. I searched for years to find an equivalent word in Japanese, but “tacky”, “cheap” or “old-man puns” just don’t do it justice.

    Amy
    May 28th, 2025 / 7:36 pm

  8. Filipino words:

    kilig – It’s a type of giddiness often associated with romance. Sometimes it’s giddiness from being flattered

    gigil – a strong emotion when overcome with cuteness like you want to squeeze the cheeks of a cute something. It’s also the same word when you’re overcome with anger and frustration

    Zah
    May 30th, 2025 / 11:54 pm

  9. How a about “nasskalt” i.e. the weather being both wet and cold at the same time. Hate the weather but love the word ;-)

    Andreas Laupichler
    May 31st, 2025 / 1:16 pm

  10. Saudade: a feeling of longing, melancholy, or nostalgia that is supposedly characteristic of the Portuguese or Brazilian temperament.

    Equivalents in languages other than English:
    ‘Sevdah’ (Bosnian)
    ‘Karot’ (Armenian)
    ‘Dor’ (Romanian)
    Hiraeth (Welsh)
    ‘Toska’ (Russian)

    Tim
    May 31st, 2025 / 3:24 pm