# English words that pack lots of meaning but other languages don't have a word for it? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 20, 2020, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-pack-lots-of-meaning-but-other-languages-dont-have-a-word-for-it/846726 "2020-01-20T22:35:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2020, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-pack-lots-of-meaning-but-other-languages-dont-have-a-word-for-it/846726/121 "2020-01-24T10:11:59Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > Whatever the clue is, it is not in the spelling, oy. Have you seen printed Yiddish? Or am I betraying my ignorance here, and there really is a way to tell from the spelling? I believe you mean שטיק ? Uh, yeah, that looks _exactly_ like German or English… (I am hoping I did that correctly, not familiar with that abjad) ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2020, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-pack-lots-of-meaning-but-other-languages-dont-have-a-word-for-it/846726/122 "2020-01-24T15:25:26Z")
Yes, and that’s why the original Yiddish spelling (ISTM) doesn’t really help distinguish it from other German dialects once it’s been transliterated into English. My dictionary lists “shtik” before other variant spellings, btw, so how can “sch” be the clue? In modern German it’s spelled Stück, but compare the spelling of words like Schnee. I’m sure someone familiar with German dialects could tell, based on the vowels or whatever, that it is Yiddish rather than Swiss or something, so it would be interesting to hear more details. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2020, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-pack-lots-of-meaning-but-other-languages-dont-have-a-word-for-it/846726/123 "2020-01-24T16:02:32Z")
Yiddish, Schmiddish. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2020, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-pack-lots-of-meaning-but-other-languages-dont-have-a-word-for-it/846726/124 "2020-01-24T16:20:34Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > Oh, here are a couple more I just thought of: > > 1. To make. > English has two separate words–“to do” and “to make”. > Other languages use only one word for both concepts. (example: French “faire”) > > 2. to Love vs to like. > Many languages have only one word for both concepts. (French : “Aime”) These are really good examples. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2020, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-pack-lots-of-meaning-but-other-languages-dont-have-a-word-for-it/846726/125 "2020-01-24T16:41:59Z")
In French one might utter something like “Qu’est-ce que tu fabriques ?” under some circumstances, rather than use “faire”. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2020, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-pack-lots-of-meaning-but-other-languages-dont-have-a-word-for-it/846726/126 "2020-01-24T17:19:08Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > Oh, here are a couple more I just thought of: > > 1. To make. > English has two separate words–“to do” and “to make”. > Other languages use only one word for both concepts. (example: French “faire”) > > 2. to Love vs to like. > Many languages have only one word for both concepts. (French : “Aime”) But both examples are similar in German. We have “tun” and “machen” with similar, but not totally congruent connotations. “Tun” also isn’t used as an auxiliary verb like “to do”, if you wanna say “I don’t smoke”, you just say “Ich rauche nicht.”. “To love” and to “to like” are almost equivalent to “lieben” and “mögen”. ---
**Author:** ![Brayne\_Ded](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Brayne\_Ded](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brayne_Ded)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2020, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-pack-lots-of-meaning-but-other-languages-dont-have-a-word-for-it/846726/127 "2020-01-24T18:10:33Z")
> [@DerNils](#): > > Quenched has no german Translation. There actually was a contest by the Company that sells Quench Juice to come up with a German word for it. > Strangely, it is simply you can be thirsty or not thirsty, while there is a translation for being sated. Linguee finds an answer. Ich trank Wasser um meinen Durst zu stillen. [thirst] Er löschte die Flammen mit einem Feuerlöscher. [fire] Das heiße Schwert wurde in kaltem Wasser abgekühlt. [tempering steel] So, \*stillen \*for thirst, although I am sure I have seen \*löschen \*as well. German does have a number of words that defy one-word descriptions, such as _Heimat_. ---
**Author:** ![Brayne\_Ded](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Brayne\_Ded](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brayne_Ded)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2020, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-pack-lots-of-meaning-but-other-languages-dont-have-a-word-for-it/846726/128 "2020-01-24T18:15:53Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Hebrew is interesting because with many nouns have both a male and female form - this is most common with professions, but is also often used with animals. Thus, we have “male horse” (_Suss_), “mare” (_Sussa_), “male foal/colt” (_Siyach_) and “female foal/filly” (_Siyacha_). Terms like “stallion” or “gelding” are usually just translated as “breeding horse” and “castrated horse”. > > (Side note: generations of Israeli children grow up thinking the writer of _The Cat in the Hat_ was called “Doctor Horse”.) Many languages have evolved a large and very specific vocabulary for animals, including terms for castrated ones. Generally languages where the speakers were usually in close contact with animals. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2020, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-pack-lots-of-meaning-but-other-languages-dont-have-a-word-for-it/846726/129 "2020-01-24T19:07:14Z")
[What English does - but most languages can’t](https://youtu.be/LQEzTcLH27U) Followed up by [Features English is missing - but most other languages have](https://youtu.be/5iLpKFA1ADQ) (NativLang) ---
**Author:** ![Trisha\_Gaurav](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@Trisha\_Gaurav](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trisha_Gaurav)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2020, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-pack-lots-of-meaning-but-other-languages-dont-have-a-word-for-it/846726/130 "2020-01-25T23:20:16Z")
Are there any non-English words for “fainted”? Or do they just say “He/she fell asleep” in their own language whenever someone faints? ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2020, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-pack-lots-of-meaning-but-other-languages-dont-have-a-word-for-it/846726/131 "2020-01-25T23:26:06Z")
> [@Trisha\_Gaurav](#): > > Are there any non-English words for “fainted”? Or do they just say “He/she fell asleep” in their own language whenever someone faints? In German, either “in Ohnmacht fallen”, which is more a whole expression than a verb, or “kollabieren”, but that’s rather the medical term. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2020, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-pack-lots-of-meaning-but-other-languages-dont-have-a-word-for-it/846726/132 "2020-01-25T23:42:04Z")
> [@Trisha\_Gaurav](#): > > Are there any non-English words for “fainted”? Or do they just say “He/she fell asleep” in their own language whenever someone faints? Hebrew: \*Lehitalef \*(להתעלף). In modern Hebrew, it means basically the same as English. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2020, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-pack-lots-of-meaning-but-other-languages-dont-have-a-word-for-it/846726/133 "2020-01-25T23:43:52Z")
> [@Trisha\_Gaurav](#): > > Are there any non-English words for “fainted”? Or do they just say “He/she fell asleep” in their own language whenever someone faints? Spanish: _desmayarse_ ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2020, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-pack-lots-of-meaning-but-other-languages-dont-have-a-word-for-it/846726/134 "2020-01-26T01:43:54Z")
It’s not always to fall asleep; e.g., in French one would say s’évanouir, which is more like to vanish, disappear, fade out. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2020, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-pack-lots-of-meaning-but-other-languages-dont-have-a-word-for-it/846726/135 "2020-01-26T01:47:48Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > It’s not always to fall asleep; e.g., in French one would say s’évanouir, which is more like to vanish, disappear, fade out. Americans use ‘fall asleep’ all the time, and ‘fall ill’ from time to time, but British folk also use ‘fall pregnant’ which sounds very odd to an American. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2020, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-pack-lots-of-meaning-but-other-languages-dont-have-a-word-for-it/846726/136 "2020-01-26T02:22:40Z")
Continuing in French, one can also fall in love, fall pregnant, or fall ill, so it’s not just English; “tomber de sommeil” is to zonk out from exhaustion, but to faint is to fall in the apples (tomber dans les pommes) ! ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2020, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-pack-lots-of-meaning-but-other-languages-dont-have-a-word-for-it/846726/137 "2020-01-26T05:05:41Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > I don’t think this is fully on-topic, but is there a word for “mileage” in metric countries? Both in terms of comparing gas mileage between cars, and also in terms of overuse: “Wow, you’re getting a lot of mileage out of that joke.” In Canada, perhaps because of the proximity to the US, “mileage” is widely used in both the literal and metaphorical sense. But a car’s mileage is more formally called its fuel economy, and regardless of what you call it, the answer is going to come back as a certain number of litres per 100 km. Which not only lacks any alignment with the US mileage convention, it also reverses the meaning so that on the L/100-km scale, the lower number is the better. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2020, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-pack-lots-of-meaning-but-other-languages-dont-have-a-word-for-it/846726/138 "2020-01-26T05:27:20Z")
“Kilometrage” is a word in English… ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2020, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-pack-lots-of-meaning-but-other-languages-dont-have-a-word-for-it/846726/139 "2020-01-26T08:12:47Z")
I used to collect words in Spanish, German and English that were difficult to [translate](http://www.untrans.eu), but I stopped some time ago. Otherwise I could use many examples in this thread, some nice suggstions there. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2020, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-pack-lots-of-meaning-but-other-languages-dont-have-a-word-for-it/846726/140 "2020-01-26T12:33:49Z")
When I lived in Mexico, I found the English phrasal verb “look forward to” difficult to translate — I had to use a full sentence explanation to convey it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-pack-lots-of-meaning-but-other-languages-dont-have-a-word-for-it/846726.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-pack-lots-of-meaning-but-other-languages-dont-have-a-word-for-it/846726.md?page=8)