- Saudade – Portuguese
- "A deep emotional state of nostalgic longing for an absent something or someone that one loves. Moreover, it often carries a repressed knowledge that the object of longing will never return. A stronger form of saudade may be felt towards people and things whose whereabouts are unknown, such as a lost lover, or a family member who has gone missing. Once described as 'the love that remains' after someone is gone. The recollection of feelings, experiences, places or events that once brought excitement, pleasure, well-being, which now triggers the sense and makes one live again. It can be described as an emptiness, like someone or something that should be there in a particular moment is missing, and the individual feels this absence."
- Toska – Russian
- "'At its deepest and most painful, it is a sensation of great spiritual anguish, often without any specific cause. At less morbid levels, it is a dull ache of the soul, a longing with nothing to long for, a sick pining, a vague restlessness, mental throes, yearning. In particular cases, it may be the desire for somebody or something specific, nostalgia, love-sickness. At the lowest level it grades into ennui, boredom.' - Vladimir Nabokov"
- Vorfreude - German
- "The joyful, intense anticipation that comes from imagining future pleasures."
- Aware (ah-wah-rey) – Japanese
- "The bittersweetness of a brief and fading moment of transcendent beauty... that 'last burst of summer' feel, or the transience of early spring."
- 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."
- Duende – Spanish
- "The mysterious power that a work of art has to deeply move a person."
- Ya'aburnee – Arabic
- "A declaration of one's hope that they'll die before another person, because of how difficult it would be to live without them."
- Wei-wu-wei – Chinese
- "Conscious nonaction. A deliberate, and principled, decision to do nothing whatsoever, and to do it for a particular reason."
- Orenda – Huron
- "The invocation of the power of human will to change the world around us. Set up to be the opposing force to fate or destiny. If powerful forces beyond your control are trying to force you one way, orenda is a kind of voiced summoning of personal strength to change fate."
- Gâchis – French
- "A wasted opportunity. Specifically an opportunity that was wasted by ineptness being hurled at it from all directions."
- Weltschmerz – German
- "World-weariness or ennui, but has the quirk of almost only being applied to privileged young people."
- Kalpa – Sanskrit
- "Time passing on a cosmic scale."
- Razbliuto (ros-blee-OO-toe) – Russian
- "Describes the feeling that a person (generally meant to be a man) has for the person he once loved, but now no longer loves."
- Forelsket – Norwegian
- "The euphoria you experience when you are first falling in love."
- Cafuné – Portuguese (Brazilian)
- "Tenderly running your fingers through your lover's hair."
- 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."
- L'esprit de l'escalier – French
- "The act of thinking of a clever comeback when it is too late to deliver it."
- Mamihlapinatapai – Yaghan
- "A look between two people that suggests an unspoken, shared desire."
- Meraki (may-rah-kee) – Greek
- "Doing something with soul, creativity, or love. When you put something of yourself into what you're doing."
- Waldeinsamkeit – German
- "The feeling of being alone in the woods."
feb 16 2013 ∞
jun 13 2017 +
jun 13 2017 +