Translating is not easy, especially when you meet terms that our mother tongue just fails to express because there is actually not a single suitable term! There are words that are untraslatable in Italian (but also in other languages), to make the meaning of the word fully clear, we must use an entire sentence.

No wonder these words often express moods, emotions, sensations; what’s more complex than a human emotion? Yet some languages have entangled sensations and feelings in a single term!

Here are the ones we liked the most!

Petrichor / English language

It is a somewhat obsolete term, but still in use, and describes the scent of wet earth after a storm.
Pure poetry in one word!

Ohrwurm / German language

Can’t you get a tune out of your head and keep humming it quietly? The German word “Ohrwurm” is for you.
It comes from “ohr” (listen) and “Wurm” (warm): a song that has become almost a parasite of your brain!

Engentar / Spanish language

Loneliness is not always negative, there is also that sense of serene tranquility, that desire to create a space for oneself where to indulge before returning to the frenzy of the world. Two lines to say what the Spaniards express with a single word: “engentar”!

Desenrascanço / Portuguese language

Procrastinate a certain thing endlessly and in the end do everything in a hurry and succeed very well. The Portuguese language has managed to express such a concept with a single word!

Laotong / Chinese language

Do you have that fantastic and inseparable friend who would follow you to do the craziest thing in the world? In Chinese this bond has a name and is called “laotong”: a feeling of completeness and extreme complicity between two women linked by deep affection and spiritual affinity.

Mamihlapinatapai / Yamana language

Awarded by the Guinnes World Record as the most concise and most difficult word in the world, in the yamana language “mamihlapinatapai” means looking at each other hoping that one of the two will do something they both desire, but that neither one, nor the other finds the courage to do. It’s an expressive masterpiece!

Wabi-sabi / Japanese language

In a word, a whole worldview for the Japanese: “wabi-sabi” means appreciating imperfect beauty. The term derives from the combination of the word “wabi”, which indicates a fresh and almost rustic simplicity, to the word “sabi”, which means the changing beauty that accompanies the advancing age.

Cwtch / Welsh language

We end with this Welsh term that – without even having a vowel – manages to express the sense of a warm and affectionate embrace, which makes us feel safe, loved, protected, at home.

What is your favorite?
P.S: Yeah, we bet you sent the term Laotong to your best friend!

More insights on untranslatable words here:
Donna Moderna, Solo Libri