Wednesday, 15 August 2012

• 20 Relationship Words That Don't Exist in English

  

  
  In Japanese, we have a word called seishun. Written with the characters for blue and spring, its closest relative in English is 'youth.' However, that is not the entire definition, as the full implications of the word are impossible to translate into English. It implies the rapidity of youth, the enjoyment of youth, and a rich medley of other meanings that the word 'youth' is too colorless to convey.
  
  Recently, my family has been on a kick thinking of Japanese words that don't have an English equivalent, as there are quite a few. So for Datingish, I decided to collect foreign relationship-related words that don't exist in English. This is my list, courtesy of Big Think, the Matador Network, Better Than English, So Bad So Good, Wikipedia and WeHeartIt.
  
  1. Mamilhapinatapai (Yaghan - indigenous language of Tierra del Fuego): "The wordless yet meaningful look shared by two people who both desire to initiate something but are both reluctant to start." (MN)
  
  2. Koi No Yokan (Japanese): "The sense upon first meeting a person that the two of you are going to fall in love." (BigThink)
  
  3. Gigli (Filipino): "The urge to pinch or squeeze something that is unbearably cute." (SBSG)
  
  4. Manja (Malay): "'To pamper,' it describes gooey, childlike and coquettish behavior by women designed to elicit sympathy or pampering by men." (SBSG)
  
  5. Okuri-okami (Japanese): "A man who feigns thoughtfulness by offering to see a girl home only to try to molest her once he gets in the door - literally, a see you-home-wolf." (BTE)
  
  Continued after the jump
  
  6. La Douleur Exquisite (French): "The heart-wrenching pain of wanting someone you can’t have." (BigThink)
  
  7. Forelsket (Norwegian): "The euphoria you experience when you are first falling in love." (SBSG)
  

  9. Kilig (Tagalog): "That feeling you get from having interacted with a person you love or find attractive – butterflies in your stomach, blushing, giggling/smiling uncontrollably." (BigThink)

  10. Fensterln (German): "Climbing through a window to avoid someone’s parents in order to have sex with the someone without the parents knowing." (BTE)

  11. Queesting (Dutch): "To allow a lover access to one's bed for a chitchat." (BTE)
  
  12. Cafuné (Brazilian Portuguese): "The act of tenderly running one's fingers through someone's hair." (MN)
  

  13. Yuanfen (Chinese): "A relationship by fate or destiny....In common usage yuanfen means the "binding force" that links two people together in any relationship...Even if lovers are fated to find each other, they may not end up together." (BigThink)  

  14. Geborgenheit (German): "To feel completely safe; like nothing could ever harm you. Usually connected to a particular place or person." (BTE)

  15. Ilunga (Tshiluba, Congo): "A person who is ready to forgive any abuse for the first time, to tolerate it a second time, but never a third time." (SBSG)
  
  16. Trennungsagentur (German): "Someone hired by a women to tell her boyfriend he has been dumped." (BTE)
  

  17. Retrouvailles (French): "The happiness of meeting again after a long time." (BigThink) 

  18. Ya’aburnee (Arabic): "'You bury me.' It’s a declaration of one’s hope that they’ll die before another person, because of how difficult it would be to live without them." (BigThink)
  
  19. Saudade (Brazilian Portuguese): "A deep emotional state of nostalgic longing fo an absent something or someone that one loves. It often carries a repressed knowledge that the object of longing might never return...It may also be translated as a deep longing or yearning for something that does not exist or is unattainable." (Wikipedia) 
  
  20. Razblyuto (Russian, pictured): "The sentimental feeling you have about someone you once loved but no longer do." (WeHeartIt)

  What's your favorite? Do you know any relationship words that don't exist in English?

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