Unique words

In most languages you will find words that are unique to that language and/or culture.

Albanian
 hundekuq: a bulbous nose, red at the tip
 kacadre: a moustache with turned-up ends
 vetullhen: an eyebrow arched like the crescent moon
 pagezuar: the state of dying before enjoying the happiness that comes with being married or
seeing one’s children married
Bosnian
 gunj: a vest worn by the shepherds during winter, made from sheep skin
Catalan
 seny: a combination of well-pondered perception of situations, level-headedness, awareness,
integrity and right action
Croatian
 pivopija: someone who likes to drink beer, literally "beer drinker"
Czech
 prozvonit: to call someone's mobile from your own without the other person picking up with
the intention of leaving your number in their phone's memory
Danish
 hyggelig: its “literal” translation into English gives connotations of a warm, friendly, cozy
demeanor
Dutch
 gezellig: depending on context, can be translated as convivial, cosy, fun, quaint, or nice
atmosphere, but can also connote belonging, time spent with loved ones, the fact of seeing a
friend after a long absence, or general togetherness. The word is considered to be an example
of untranslatability, and is one of the hardest words to translate to English.
 broodje-aap: an awful, often invented story that is told as being true, thus becoming a myth.
Literally: a monkey-meat sandwich
 regelneef: a person who loves organizing even without being asked to
English
 higgledy-piggledy: disordered, jumbled, not neat and tidy. According to Oxford Dictionary,
probably used initially with reference to the disordered herding together of pigs
 dilly-dally: to move or act too slowly
Estonian
 koerailm: cat-and-dog weather; really bad weather
 kalailm: good weather for fishing
Finnish
 hiukaista: to feel hungry for something salty
 poronkusema: the distance equal to how far a reindeer can travel without a comfort break
(about 5 kilometres) (literally, reindeer’s piss)
 kuunsilta: the long reflection of the moon when it is low in the sky and shining on the calm
surface of a lake (literally, moon bridge)
French
 yaourt: English pop music sung without any understanding of the meaning; singing to create
something that sounds like English pop music but actually isn’t (literally, yoghurt)
 metro-boulot-dodo: the daily grind (literally, ‘tube-work-sleep’)
 chabrot: to put red wine in your soup, when there is little soup left
German
 Zechpreller: someone who leaves without paying the bill
 Ohrwurm: a catchy tune that gets stuck in the brain or a tune that rapidly obsesses an entire
population (literally, an ear worm)
 Torschlusspanik: the fear of diminishing opportunities as one gets older, especially the fear of
not having a relationship or becoming too old for a baby
 Gemütlichkeit: feeeling comfortable, like in one's home
 Schadenfreude: pleasure derived by someone from another person’s misfortune
Greek
 kamáki: the young local guys strolling up and down beaches hunting for female tourists
(literally, harpoons)
 μάγκας/mangas is a young man who is very self-confident and behaving in a macho way but
still being respected and even admired by others.
 meraki: doing something with soul, creativity, or love: putting something of yourself into
what you're doing
 filotimo:
the intense feeling of personal honour and dignity
Hungarian
 csókolgat: to shower with kisses
 verbunkos: a dance performed to persuade people to enlist in the army
Icelandic
 eldhus-fifi (Old Icelandic): an idiot who sits all day by the fire
 af-vegar (Old Icelandic): fallen on the back and unable to rise
 féauðnu-maðr (Old Icelandic): a man lucky with his sheep
Irish
 plubairnigh: a verb specifically used to describe that distinctive thick, bubbling sound that
porridge makes when it is boiling. "Bhí an leite ag plubairnigh sa phota" ("The porridge was
'plubairnigh-ing' in the pot").
Italian
 mammismo: maternal control and interference that continues into adulthood
 abiocco: deriva dal verbo abioccare, abiocarsi, nella maggioranza dei casi definisce lo stato di
sonnolenza, di affaticamento
Latvian
 vientuliba: loneliness, solitude
Lithuanian
 žlugtas: laundry which is watered before washing
 brekšti: a verb which is used to describe a moment between the night and the dawn
 rymoti: to lean on something (arms, fence, etc.) for some time
 brukti: to suggest something in a very annoying and irksome way
 davatka: a person who is too pious and likes to gossip
Norwegian
 kram snø: snow which is sticky (excellent for making snow-balls and snowmen)
 fiskevaer: good weather for fishing
 sjøstygg: being so ugly that the tide won’t come in, if you’re on the shore (literally, sea ugly)
 giftekniv: a person trying to get two people married
Portuguese
 chico-esperto: used to describe someone who is smart enough to take advantage of situations
even if damaging someone else's interests
 lesma: used to characterise someone who is slow at doing things (literally, being as slow as a
slug)
 coscuvilhice / cusquice: gossiping and/or trying to malitiously enter one's privacy to get to
know and speculate about private life specially of socialites
 saudade: homesickness, longing, missing, heartache, nostalgia
 desenrascanço: capacity to get oneself out of trouble or one who is clever enough to
improvise creative solutions to seemingly impossible situations. The closest English
equivalents are the colloquial "hack"
 compincha: someone who is always ready to join in a programmme of fun or drinks
Romanian
 dor: a feeling of melancholy as a result of the desire to see someone or something you love
Russian
 postrich ochen korotko: to cut one’s nails too short
 deryabnut’: to drink quickly in order to warm up
 dakat’: to keep saying yes
 teplushka: heated goods van used for carrying people
 obkuritsya: to make oneself ill by excessive smoking
 zalipat: stand at gaze
Slovak
 prezvoniť: to call someone's mobile from your own without the other person picking up with
the intention of leaving your number in their phone's memory
Spanish
 chupotero: a person who works little but has several salaries
 piropo: a compliment paid on the street (which ranges from polite to raunchy)
 vergüenza ajena: feeling of shame on behalf of someone else
 sobremesa: sitting on after a meal
 malaje: saying about a person: disagreeable, that has bad (wrong) shade
 jajajear: to laugh in a mocking way
 repeío: a person who is very pompous and considers others in a lower level than him/her
Swedish
 lappsjuka: a melancholy through being so isolated
 fika: coffee-break or an overall word for buns and other snacks that you eat on coffee-breaks
 lagom: not too little or not too big, just right
 myrornas krig: when the television screen turns black and white (with spots) it looks like ants
are having a war
 mångata: the glimmering, roadlike reflection that the moon creates on water
Welsh
 cwtch: an affectionate hug - provide a 'safe' place in someone's arms, a rather special one,
blessed with the warmth and generosity of the Welsh, a truly free flowing expression of love
and acceptance