#three foreign words

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After “Frumious”...

One I like the sound of: Eekhoorn (Dutch): It's pronounced like acorn but it actually means squirrel. I love similarities across languages in the way the same sounds can make completely different words, but sometimes means related things.

One I like the meaning of: Kalsarikännit (Finnish): Translated roughly it means "underweardrunk", or to get drunk alone in your underwear at home. It's one of those words that captures the essence of something that I find incredibly amusing.

One from a language I will probably never learn: Echor (Elvish): Meaning 'encircling mountains'. Gotta say, Elvish has a really nice sound to it, I've tried to puzzle through pronunciation guides for it, but I couldn't really get the hang of it.

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Because Sonder is in English

One I like the Sound of:

Tartle (Scottish) Word meaning to hesitate while introducing someone due to having forgotten his/her name. 

One I like the meaning of:

Duende (Spanish) It’s original use was to describe a mythical entity that lives in forests, sort of like a fairy or a sprite, that possesses human beings and causes them to feel awe, fear, or a sense of beauty in their natural surroundings.  

One from a Language I will probably never learn:

Iktsuarpok (Inuit) the feeling of anticipation when you’re waiting for someone to show up at your house and you keep going outside to see if they’re there yet.

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Kenton's words

One I like the sound of: Ponte (Italian, n): it literally means bridge, but is also used to refer to a Monday or Friday taken off when a holiday lands on Tuesday or Thursday to create a four day weekend. One I like the meaning of: Mistimanchachi (Quechua, n): Literally "that which the Spanish speaking city people fear", this word is used to refer to a light drizzle. An indigenous language of the rural peoples of the Andes, Quechua has my love because they can barely talk about the weather without sassing the people who colonized their lands. One from a language I will probably never learn: Mamihlapinatapai (Yaghan, n): A look shared by two people with each wishing the other would initiate something which they both desire but which neither one wants to start. The kicker is that the middle word part, ihlapi, means "to be at a loss for what to do next". Alas, only 3000 people speak Yaghan, and only one of them is a native speaker, so I'm not likely to ever learn any of it.

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A word I like the sound of...

Cafune (Brazilian Portuguese, pronounced ka.fu.ˈnɛ)- To gently run your fingers through your lover’s hair. 

A word I like the meaning of...

Fremdschämen (German)- The gentler cousin of Schadenfreude: To feel shame for something someone else has done. 

A word from a language I’ll probably never learn... 

Bilita Mpash (Bantu)- An amazing dream. Not just a "good" dream; the opposite of a nightmare.

[kickjam-blog1]

A word I like the sound of ... Varkensvlees (pronounced fvarkinsh-fleas) It means “pork” in Dutch. I should not be so amused by this work, but I love the way it rolls off the tongue.

A word I like the meaning of ... Backpfeifengesicht (pronounced bach-figh-fen-ge-zikt) It literally translates to "cheek" (back-) "whistle" (pfeifen) "face" (gesicht) from German. With the added bonus of being a delight to say, it colloquially means "a face in want of a fist." Basically, someone who looks like they need to be punched or slapped. 

A word from a language I will probably never learn ... 積ん読 (pronounced tsundoku) As cool as Japanese is, there is no way in hell I am going to learn four writing systems for one language. Just no. But I do appreciate unique words like tsundoku, which means buying books and letting them pile up unread. (Guilty as charged.)