Does Not Translate - Words That Don't Translate

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背影杀手·A woman who looks beautiful from behind, but is actually quite ugly.

Chinese

Backpfeifengesicht·A face badly in need of a fist.

German

Sommarplåga (lit. summer torment)·A pop song released around spring that gets overplayed during the summer.

Swedish

Mellandagarna·The days between Christmas and New Year’s, literally translates as “the middle days”.

Swedish

Friede, Freude, Eierkuchen·A situation which is excessively joyous on the surface, its problems are deliberately being overlooked.

German

拗口 aòkǒu·Hard to pronounce, lit. “mouth-defying”.

Chinese

Keimschleuder·A thing or locality that presents a health threat by constantly emitting germs.

German

Lassen·To not do something or to cease doing something.

German

Bear favor·To do something for someone with good intentions, but it actually has negative consequences instead.

Swedish

Sanatria·Linking work introducing a hypothesis you strongly hope will never happen.

Malagasy

Smitthärd (lit. contagion hearth)·Something that readily transmits diseases.

Swedish

חזר בשאלה·When an orthodox jew becomes less orthodox / non-jewish.

Hebrew

Osvensk (a.) (lit. un-Swedish)·Outspoken, uninhibited and unapologetic. To not conform to the bad Swedish stereotypes or the Law of Jante mentality.

Swedish

अंग्रेज़ी का औलाद·Angrezi ka aulad Literally translating to child of English, it's used to refer to an Indian person who's obsessed with using proper Queens English.

Hindi

På bit·Drinking coffee with a lump of sugar in your mouth or between your teeth.

Swedish

تجيب المغرب·Literally, To bring down the Maghrib prayer (in Islam). Means to pass time doing something unproductive until the sun set.

Moroccan Arabic

Tarjeta·To be able to withstand the cold.

Finnish

Overheid·A general term for government institutions.

Dutch

Klämdag (lit. squeeze day)·A work day squeezed between two days that are off.

Swedish

Paragrafryttare, lit. paragraph rider·Someone who pedantically follows written rules and regulations (beyond reason).

Swedish

Mula·The act of rubbing snow in someone's face.

Swedish

Tody·The fact something bad will happen to you if too many persons hold a grudge against you.

Malagasy

Honne (本音)·The contrast between what one truly believes honne and what beliefs one displays in public tatemae.

Japanese

Ilunga·(described as one of the world's most difficult word's to translate) A person who is willing to forgive abuse the first time; tolerate it the second time, but never a third time.

Bantu

Congenial·Pleasing or liked on account of having qualities or interests that are similar to one's own.

English

قهقهة·ḲahḲahaThe weird sound that sounds like you're coughing while laughing.

Arabic

Tinfed·In reference to a path / road / accessible area; to be able to lead to, open up to or otherwise give access to another known path (even if you can't presently see the junction). Without a reference to a second path, it simply means that the path is not a dead-end.

Maltese

Hoşbulmak·Well-found.

Turkish

Hibakusha·A term used to refer to those who survived the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki; literally translates as explosion-affected people.

Japanese

lattepappa·A dad who takes paternity leave instead of the mom and is supposedly often seen with a latte; kind of a lifestyle.

Swedish