Untranslatable Love Words

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In English, we use the word “love” for many things: romantic love, spiritual love, the love between family members and friends, a love of objects — the list goes on. The multi-use nature of the word is baffling to most students of English, as languages from Spanish to Japanese have distinct words and “levels” for love in their languages.

Here are some of our favorite “untranslatable” love-themed words with no direct English equivalent:

• Kilig — Tagalog: The rush you experience right after something good happens, particularly in love or dating
• Cwtch — Welsh: A hug, a safe place provided by a loved one
• Yuanfen — Chinese: The force that brings us together, often referred to as a combination of serendipity and destiny
• Firgun — Hebrew: The simple, unselfish joy that something good has happened to someone else
• Meraki — Greek: The soul, creativity, or love put into something; the essence of yourself that is put into your work
• Gigil — Filipino: The urge to pinch or squeeze something that is irresistibly cute
• Merak — Serbian: A sense of oneness with the universe derived from the simplest of pleasures
• Gezelligheid — Dutch: The warmth of being with loved ones
• Ya’arburnee — Arabic: “You bury me” is perhaps the ultimate, and arguably most dramatic, declaration of romantic love. It means that you wish to die before your partner so that you never have to live a day without them

Don’t you just love that?