DIRECTORY OF BEAUTIFUL WORDS
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TRANSLATING THE UNTRANSLATABLE
Words of Life

WORDS ABOUT LIFE EXPERIENCES

WHAT DOES LIFE MEAN? The meaning of life, I’m sorry to say, is not found on this site. You will however, find many ideas in which you can define meaning for yourself. Check out Pondering the Profound for a healthy start. Life is a unique experience for each of us and is composed of unique elements we pave our journey with. We cannot define it except to refer to the biological functions that keep us alive. Life is subjective and we all define it the way we see it and live it. Our experiences. A profound quote comes to mind that maybe brings a sense of universality to this theme. Marcus Aurelius said “When you arise in the morning think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive, to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.” That should do it.
WORD DESCRIBING THE THEME OF THIS LIST
JIJIVISHA
​refers to the strong, eternal desire to live and to continue living. It is usually used to talk about a person who loves life and always has intense emotions and desires to live and thrive. (Hindi)

​AILYAK - the art of doing everything slowly with no rush, while enjoying the process and life in general; like the Swahili ‘hakuna matata’ (Bulgarian)

APERICENA - this word is the combination of Aperitivo, a late afternoon drink and light snacks, and cena, the Italian word for “dinner.” The result is the untranslatable Apericena which you can consider to be a very sumptuous aperitif with a variety of snacks and little dishes, or a light dinner that you eat standing up. (Italian)

​ASPALDIKO - the joy of meeting up with someone that you haven’t seen in a long time. (Basque)

CAFUNÉ -The motion of running your fingers through your beloved's hair. (Portuguese)

CALCALA - children wading through water as they play (Tulu)

DAUWTRAPPEN - to walk barefoot through the morning grass (Dutch)

DAS FERNWEH - describes the yearning for foreign lands, the desire to travel. This word is the counterpart to Heimweh, which means homesickness. Fernweh therefore describes a kind of homesickness for places you’ve never been to. (German)

DOLCE FAR NIENT - “Sweet doing nothing…” is the literal translation. It’s a feeling that combines leisure, idleness, and laziness all at once. (Italian)

EMPÊCHEMENT - If you’re late and don’t want to be too specific explaining why then you want to use this word. It means an “unexpected last-minute change of plans” and is an excellent way to avoid any additional questions. (French)

ÊTRE À L’OUEST - To be spaced out or daydreaming. Literally translated to, “being in the West,” the phrase might have come from French people dreaming of voyaging across the Atlantic to new lands. (French)

FJAKA - The sweetness of doing (Croatian)

FLANER - leisurely strolling the streets of Paris without any goal or destination simply for the pleasure of soaking up the city's beauty. (French)

FEIERABEND - literally "evening celebration"; the festive mood that can arrive at the end of a working day. (German)

FENSTERLN – When you have to climb through someone’s window in order to have sex with them without their parents knowing about it. (German)

FERNWEH – Feeling homesick for a place you have never been to. (German)

FINGERSPITZENGEFÜHL - an intuitive flair or instinct; a great sensitivity (German)

FIRGUN - describes a generosity of spirit and the unselfish joy that something good has happened or might happen to someone else. (Hebrew)

GEMUTLICHKEIT - literally, it means a 'cozy, friendly, or nice atmosphere', but can also connote time spent with loved ones, the fact of seeing a friend after a long absence, the friendliness or chattiness of a specific person, or a general sense of togetherness. (German)

GÖKOTTA - wake up early in the morning with the specific purpose of going outside to hear the first birds sing. It confers approving societal attention on a highly enriching activity we have almost certainly been neglecting of late. (Swedish)

HYGGELIG - refers to a warm, friendly, cozy, delightfully intimate moment or thing. It gives off imagery of a candlelit winter evening at home with warm blankets and maybe a bit of alcohol. (Danish)

HYPPYTYYNYTYYDYTYS – literally means ‘bouncy cushion satisfaction’. It describes the pleasure and satisfaction derived from sitting or bouncing on a bouncy cushion. (Finish)

IKIGAI - a reason for being; the thing that gets you up in the morning. (Japanese)

JIJIVISHA - refers to the strong, eternal desire to live and to continue living. It is usually used to talk about a person who loves life and always has intense emotions and desires to live and thrive. (Hindi)

JUILLETISTES/AOÛTIENS - people who vacation in July and August, respectively. The French are so obsessed with their month-long summer vacations they even have a name for people based around what month you flee for the South of France! Those who travel in juillet (July) are juilletistes, and those who travel in août (August) are aoûtiens. (French)

KAUKOKAIPUU - a yearning to travel. To faraway places

KUMMERSPECK -Weight gained from emotional eating, often the result of heartbreak. (German)

KWAAKAARI - the glow of the river at dusk (Japanese)

LÖYLY - The steam you get in sauna when you throw water on a sauna stove is called löyly. It is believed there is löylynhenki, the spirit of steam living in each sauna providing a decent heat for its users. (Finnish)

LUFTMENSCH – literally translated to ‘air person’, and refers to someone who is a bit of a dreamer. (Yiddish)

LYUBOVATSYA - to stare at something with admiration and adoration. It has the sense of basking in the wonderment of whatever it is you're looking at, taking enormous pleasure from just being in its presence. It is a much more self-indulgent feeling than the English ‘admire’. (Russian)

​MAGARI - declaring “I wish” after hearing something desirable. (Italian)

MEDIA NARANJA - In Costa Rica you can schmooze your valentine by calling them your media naranja, “the other half of your orange”. Sweet, dimpled and infinitely juicy: the orange is the queen of the citrus fruits. (Spanish)

MENCOLEK – a lighthearted prank where you trick someone by tapping their opposite shoulder from where you’re standing in order to fool them. (Indonesian)

MERIGGIARE - to rest at midday in a shady spot (Italian)

MÍT KLIKU - to have luck, or literally ‘to have a door handle’; often used in situations when you get lucky enough to achieve a good result (Czech)

MOKITA - a painful fact everyone is aware of, but which – out of compassion – no-one mentions (perhaps someone has been unfaithful, or is bankrupt or has lost their job). The ability of a group to manage Mokita is deeply admired. (Kivila)

NATSUKASHII - identifies the feeling of evocative longing for something past: a nostalgia that's so deep that it reminds you that what you are missing will never come again. (Japanese)

NEHROTIT - literally “not to make X into a sharp point"; a choice not to stress about something (Czech)

OTIUM - the condition of being in control of one’s own time; leisure, free-time; ease, peace. (Latin)

PÅLEGG - Anything and everything you can put on a slice of bread. (Norwegian)

PAREA – when a group of friends gather to share life experiences, philosophies, values, and ideas. (Greek)

PISAN ZAPRA - the time needed to eat a banana. (Malay)

QARRTSILUNI - Sitting together in the darkness, perhaps expectantly (e.g., waiting for something to happen or to ‘burst forth’); the strange quiet before a momentous event. (Inuit)

RAME - something that is both chaotic and joyful at the same time (Indonesian)

​RÉ NAO - a place or situation that is ré nao is not only fun and lively, but also has a special vibe that makes everyone want to be there. A lively, special bar or club may be ré nao, but so might a meeting with friends. (Chinese)

SAMAR – staying up late after the sun has gone down and having an enjoyable time with friends. Samar is also an Arabic name meaning ‘evening conversations including Arabic music and poetry’. (Arabic)

SEIGNEUR-TERRACES - Coffee shop dwellers who sit at tables for a long time but spend very little money. (French)

SHEMOMEDJAM - the act of eating something or finishing a meal simply because it is delicious, not because one is hungry (Georgian)

SHINRIN-YOKU – the relaxation gained from bathing in the forest, figuratively or literally. (Japanese)

SOARE CU DINTI – when you look out the window and it looks lovely and sunny until you actually step outside. Soare cu Dinti describes a beautiful sunny, but very cold day. (Romanian)

SOBREMESA - refers to the time spent after lunch or dinner socializing with the people you shared the meal with. Meals are a very important part of the Spanish culture, and the Spanish people value the time spent relaxing and chatting after finishing eating. (Spanish)

TACHIYOMI - to stand in a bookstore and read a book without buying it. (Japanese)

TALAKA - every member of a neighborhood getting together to do a work for free for a poor member of their community (Nogay)

TALKOOT - It means volunteering (often involuntary), wanting or having to do something for the common good. For example, housing complexes hold pihatalkoot twice a year to clean up the common outdoor areas. As a resident, you are invited to volunteer to help and it’s expected that you do not decline. (Finnish)

TARAB - musically induced ecstasy or enchantment. Though the specific songs, emotional reactions, and reasons behind those reactions may vary from person to person, being moved by music is a universal experience—even babies sometimes cry when they hear certain songs. In Arabic, this sense of losing yourself in the music is called tarab. (Arabic)

TRETÅR – A second refill of a cup of coffee; a ‘threefill’. (Swedish)

TSUNDOKU – The act of leaving a book unread after buying it, typically piling it up together with other such unread books.(Japanese)

UKIYO - the floating world - living in the moment, detached from the bothers of life (Japanese)

UITWAAIEN – going out for a walk or to the countryside in order to clear one’s mind. (Dutch)

UTEPILS - to sit outside on a sunny day and enjoy a beer. (Norwegian)

VABBA – a shortened version of vård av barn, which means ‘to be at home with the kids’. (Swedish)

VEDRITI - getting caught in a rainstorm, sheltering and waiting for it to finish. The term can often be used metaphorically as well, to describe a person waiting for a bad mood to pass. (Slovenian)

VOLYA - describes a state of unbounded, almost anarchic freedom – the sense of liberty that you might feel in a place of vast, natural beauty. It’s the opposite of constraint, oppression, drudgery; a feeling that anything is possible and nothing can hold you back. (Russian)

VOORPRET – literally pre-fun, the pleasure feeling one might have before a pleasant event, like a vacation. (Dutch)

VYBAFNOUT - to jump out and say "boo" (Czech)
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