20 of the World's Most Beautiful Untranslatable Words

Just would like to share this with you guys. Included in this article is our native word "kilig". Maybe some of your native words are also there. :)

20 of the World's Most Beautiful Untranslatable Words

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This dictionary gives an ok definition ok kilig.

kilíg: [noun] shudder; tremble; shiver.

leosmith wrote:

This dictionary gives an ok definition ok kilig.
kilíg: [noun] shudder; tremble; shiver.

I think the author of the blog that i posted is referring to native words with no direct translations (one word) in English...I also don't know why that tagalog-english dictionary site is referring to "kilig" as stand alone words "shudder/tremble/shiver". It could actually mean "shudder/tremble/shiver in excitement or happiness". The stand alone english translations given by the dictionary site could actually elicit negative emotions like fear, which is the exact opposite of the true meaning of "kilig"

In Swedish - Mångata

This beautiful Swedish word refers to the road-like reflection of the moon on the water. It's the long, wavy shape that appears across the water when the moon is shining on it. It is made up of the prefixes "Måne" meaning moon, and "gata" meaning street/road. For this reason, it is sometimes indirectly translated as "moon-path," "moon-river," "moon-track," or "moon-wake."

There is another Swedish word that we use. The word is "Lagom", which can be translated as "just the right amount".

If I ask you - how much coffee do you want? You can answer "lagom" :) 

Scots use the word tartle for the minute you panic introducing someone whose name you have forgotten. 

I'm sure there are tonnes of weather related words I can't remember but here is one zhaghzhagh Persian word for teeth chattering in the cold 

Oh and here they say come-moscas to describe someone who talks a lit but says little of any value