Back to homepage

We need more words for things

Language is more than just communication; it shapes our perception and observation. The right words help you see things more clearly, whether it’s an emotion, sensation, experience or the name of a local bird. Although English is pretty good, some things are captured better in other tongues. Here’s some:

• Feyli
  • Dhivehi/ Maldives
  • The feeling of sand between your toes as waves ebb away.
• Komorebi
  • Japanese
  • The dappled sunlight that shines through tree leaves.
• Sobremesa
  • Spanish
  • The time spent sitting around the table and chatting freely long after you’ve finished eating a meal. It’s not about the meal, but the connection aftewards.
• Boketto
  • Japanese
  • Gazing vacantly into the distance without thinking.
• Shemomedjamo
  • Georgian
  • Eating past the point of being full just because the food tastes so good.
• Marek
  • Serbian
  • A feeling of blissful pleasure and contentment derived from enjoying simple, everyday moments.
• Hygge
  • Danish
  • A profound coziness and contentment drawn from simple pleasures, often in shared moments; such as enjoying a warm drink with a friend by a fireplace.
• Wabi-sabi
  • Japanese
  • Embracing the beauty in imperfection and transience; valuing the inherent significance and stories of everyday objects and moments.
• Marmeladenglasmomente
  • German
  • Moments and memories so dear to you, so full of joy and meaning, that you wish you could capture them in a jar and keep them forever.
• Sonder
  • English
  • The realisation that each passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own.
• Quatervois
  • French
  • A critical decision, crossroads, or turning point in one's life.
• Mamihlapinatapai
  • Yahgan
  • The look shared by two people, each wishing the other would initiate something they would both desire but in which both parties are unwilling to do so.
• Meitheal
  • Irish
  • When a group of people come together to work on something for the greater good of the community.Traditionally would describe a group of farmers who would come to gether to work on certain projects like cutting turf or hay, because working in numbers was quicker.
• Tsundoku
  • Japanese
  • The habit of buying books and letting them pile up without reading them.
• Cafuné
  • Portuguese
  • Running your fingers through the hair of someone you love.
• Shinrin-yoku
  • Japanese
  • "Forest bathing" - the simple and therapeutic act of spending time in a forest.
• Ikigai
  • Japanese
  • A reason for being; the intersection of what you love, what you’re good at, what the world needs, and what you can be paid for. Often understood more simply as the thing that gives your life deep meaning and purpose.