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- abendrot (german): atmospheric phenomena accompanying the daily disappearance of the sun
- b'shert (yiddish): the seeking of a person who will complement you, and whom you will complement perfectly; one's predestined soulmate
- (lit. translation: "destiny")
- boketto (japanese): to gaze vacantly into the distance without thinking
- cafuné (brazilian portuguese): the act of tenderly running one's fingers through someone's hair
- chrysalism (english): the amniotic tranquility of being indoors during a thunderstorm, listening to waves pattering against the roof like an argument upstairs, whose muffled words are unintelligible but whose crackling release of built-up tension you understand perfectly
- cualacino (italian): the mark left on a table by a cold glass
- eunoia (english): beautiful thinking; a well mind
- fernweh (german): a longing to travel; the feeling of missing or yearning for a place one has never been
- flaneur (french): a person of leisure, deliberately aimless, simply wandering the streets and soaking in the city
- forelsket (norwegian): the euphoria one experiences when first falling in love
- gigil (filipino): the overwhelming urge to squeeze or pinch something very cute
- goya (urdu): the suspension of disbelief that occurs in good storytelling; a story that feels like reality
- hanyauku (rukwangali): to walk on tiptoes across hot sand
- hiraeth (welsh): a homesickness for a home one cannot return to, or a home that never was
- hobbledehoy (scots): a clumsy, awkward, gawky, ungainly youth
- hygge (danish): an absence of anything annoying; pleasure taken from the presence of gentle or soothing things
- iktsuarpok (inuit): to go outside and check if anyone is coming
- iridescent (english): producing a display of rainbow-like colors
- jayus (indonesian): a joke so poorly told and so unfunny that one cannot help but laugh
- komorebi (japanese): sunlight filtering through trees
- l'appel du vide (french): the instinctive urge to jump from high places (lit. translation: "the call of the void")
- l’esprit de escalier (french): the feeling one gets after leaving a conversation, when one thinks of all the things one should have said (lit. translation: “the spirit of the staircase”)
- laotong (chinese): a friendship bonding two girls together for eternity as kindred sisters
- limerance (swedish): the state of being infatuated with another person
- litost (czech): a state of agony and torment created by the sudden sight of one's own misery
- mamihlaptinatapai (yaghan): the wordless look between two people who both desire something, yet are equally reluctant to initiate
- meraki (greek): to do something with soul, creativity, or love; to leave a piece of oneself in one's work
- mudita (pāli, sanskrit): delight taken in the happiness of others; vicarious joy
- nunchi (korean): the ability to gauge the mood of others, read the atmosphere, and react appropriately
- onsra (serbian): the bittersweet feeling that love won’t last
- orenda (iroquoian): a mystical force present in all people that empowers us to affect the world or to effect change in our own lives
- petricho (english): the pleasant, earthy smell after rain
- serein (french): the fine, light rain that falls from a clear sky at sunset or in the early hours of night; evening serenity
- shinobi naku (japanese): to shed silent tears so as to not be heard crying
- sobremesa (spanish): the time after lunch or dinner spent talking to the people that one has just shared the meal with
- sturmfrei (german): having the house or flat to oneself, due to the absence of parents, housemates, or flatmates (lit. translation: "storm-free")
- tartle (scottish): the act of hesitating while introducing someone because you've forgotten their name
- tidsoptimist (swedish): a person who is always late because they think they have more time than they do; a time-optimist
- tingo (easter island): the act of taking objects one desires from the house of a friend by gradually borrowing all of the desired objects
- torschlusspanik (german): the fear of diminishing opportunities as one ages
- tsundoku (japanese): the act of buying books and not reading them; letting books pile up unread on shelves
- velleity (english): a wish or inclination not strong enough to lead to action
- vellichor (english): the strange wistfulness of used bookstores, somehow infused with the passage of time, filled with thousands of old books you’ll never have time to read, each of which is itself locked in its own era, bound, dated and papered-over, like an old room the author abandoned years ago, a hidden annex littered with thoughts left just as they were on the day they were captured
- voorpret (dutch): pre-fun; the sense of enjoyment felt before a party or event takes place
- wabi-sabi (japanese): a way of living that focuses on finding beauty within the imperfections of life and accepting peacefully the natural cycle of growth and decay
- ya'aburnee (arabic): a declaration of one's hope to die before another person because of how difficult it would be to live without the other person (lit. translation: "you bury me")
- yaourter (french): to attempt to speak or sing in a foreign language one doesn't know very well, usually involving a lot of mondegreens (misunderstood or misheard words/phrases)
- yoko meshi (japanese): the peculiar stress induced by speaking a foreign language
- yuputka (ulwa): the phantom sensation of something crawling on one's skin; 'a word made for walking in the woods at night'
- zhi zi zhi shou, yu zi xie lao (chinese): to hold hands & grow old together
nov 12 2011 ∞
jan 5 2024 +
jan 5 2024 +